Rock Climbing – Boulder – Satellite Boulders

Jen Warming Up at Satellite Boulders

On Saturday, I woke up to cold & wet weather. Not a great combination for climbing. It was 38 dF at my house, and I grumpily called Jen. We had a short 10 minute conversation which resulted in no immediate decision. I was still coughing up aliens from a recent cold, and she was dead tired after a poor nights sleep.

I called her back around 12:30pm…or did she call me? I can’t remember, all I do know is that by 1:15pm I was driving up the 76 on my way to her house. We trounced out the door. It was now sunny, but misty up in the mountains, and still cold (around 45 dF).

We started our hike up to the Satellites around 2:30pm, and I was greatful the hike is all uphill. The hike warmed us up, and we were all ready to put our hands on rock by the time we reached the crag.

Warm Up Boulder

We climbed a variety of V0’s & V1s, only taking one break for an apple. Jen did great, imo. And she was super fun to boulder with…We both have such different styles of climbing and body types, it was a real problem solving venture trying to figure out what beta would work for us. We did a lot of talking and trying out of different angles. We even did some problems that had no chalk on them, moss covered rocks just begging to be climbed.

Jen's Mantle Technique Jen All Smiles After Finishing Boulder Problem

I made an attempt on this V5 I started the last time I was here…it’s called “SDS V6” (but it’s not a V6; the folks on Mountain Project claim it’s a V5).

There was snow around the base of my “project” but, when I peeled off it, I managed to land on the only protuding rock around…what’s the probability of that happening? I left in a big heap of anger.

More Whining…8^)
That rock is so sharp, I can only try the problem 3 times before my fingers feel like I’ve stuck them in a meat grinder. And, on Saturday, I didn’t even try it 3 times…the digits were numb from landing in the snow, my elbow was sore, and the skin on my fingers was as red as cherries from the grating of the rock. Geez Louise!

Next time, I vowed!!!

Later in the afternoon, we saw some climbers who were going to ascend the 3rd Flatiron, but they came down dejected as the rock is closed for Raptor Nesting until July 31st!

We also spotted about 3 other boulderers over the course of the afternoon, but they were doing really hard problems and we mostly just heard the thwapping sounds of their boddies when they missed their intended targets.

After nearly 3 hours of bouldering, we hiked back to the car. The clouds had lifted, and we were treated with a pretty view of Boulder.

Tags: , ,

Comments are closed.