On Saturday, I headed up to meet the Boulder Rock School Instructors for their training day. Brenda, the CMC coordinator contacted me and asked if I would be interested in volunteering my skills for the day. I couldn’t say no!
We reviewed knots, freeing the hands from the belay, passing knots on rappel, and ascending ropes using prusiks. I paired up with Franchesco and Roger for the day. Jill gave us a great review of the Mule-Munter Hitch. Thanks! (more…)
Kat, Lauren, Dennis, and I climbed at the El Rito Sport Crag in Northern New Mexico. We had a fabulous day, climbing for about 7 hours. After climbing, we had a fantastic dinner of salad, homemade organic pickles, roasted corn, and pasta. (more…)
Lauren & I roll into El Rito just as the heat gets hot. We decide not to climb in the rubber melting temperature, so we hike to the Trad Area for an exploratory look. The route to the Trad Area was a few miles down the gravel road from the Sport Area, and we found it without too much trouble. Lauren wears her VFFs for the hike and has a good time walking in them. I think Cookie Belle was jealous. (more…)
Lauren & I climbed the East Face of the Third Flatiron with her 70 meter rope. We did the route in 4 very long pitches, with way more gear than we should have taken. Extra weight is good for training, right? We had enough stuff for a 120 meter rope (if they make such a thing!).
Wake Up Time: 4:45am
Meet Up Time: 5:10am
Chautauqua Parking Lot: 5:50am
Hiking: 6am
Climbing: 7:15am
Summit of Third Flatiron: 10:45am
Finish Rappelling: 12pm
Back to Packs: 1pm
Lunch at South Side Walnut Cafe where I had the artichoke heart & swiss omelette & french toast. Totally YUMMY!!!
Temps got up to the mid 90s, and again, it was a scorcher. At times, both Lauren & I were uncomfortable as the heat radiated off the rock. Good thing we were fast and started early! Pictures below, (more…)
I joined Kat for an all day practicum with the Colorado Mountain Club. This final day was the most insightful and useful class! Dennis had also signed up for the class (3 lectures and the practicum), but he bugged out on the last day, in favor of playing Ultimate.
The practicum took place at a park in Golden. They split the class into groups of 4 and had us travel from one scenario to another. The scenarios were representative of common emergent situations in wilderness. There was everything from person who had a serious fall from a rock into a creek, to a person with AMS. (more…)