On Sept. 21st, I met Margaret at the REI Flagship store in Denver for a day of climbing at North Table Mountain. She was feeling rather ill (a nasty nasty cold), poor thing.
We drove up to Golden, and by 11am we were climbing. There was hardly anybody up there. I had made a bunch of printouts of The Risk Area and Winterfest Wall. We ended up walking right past the Risk Area and landed at Twelve Pack Wall.
On Friday, I got off work early to drive my friend Barry from his interview in North Denver, and my friend Margaret (who was visiting) to the sunny cliffs in Golden.
It was raining in the hills, but by the time we got to Golden, it had mostly dried up. We led some 3 pitches (unknown climbs) and we left when it started getting dark. Climbs were ~5.10/5.11. Margaret didn’t struggle much on any of them, so that’s how I know.
On September 7th, I met with Eckhard & Galen at Eckhards groovy pad for a day of climbing. We headed out at a respectable hour to tackle some climbs up in Eldo.
When we got there, it was a madhouse. There were climbers everywhere! Galen bought a guidebook from the Rangers’ Station, and we were on our way. (more…)
On August 23rd, I attended my first “Meetup” outdoors. I met with Rebecca, Chris, Stan, and Eckhard for a day of fun at the Avalon Wall in Boulder Canyon. The weather was nice, and I was excited to be visiting a new crag.
I was a little nervous about being belayed by people I just met, but that was the my only concern. In order to reach the Avalon wall, one has to use a Tyrolean. I was a bit excited (maybe too excited?) to be going across one of these for my first time. (more…)
On August 2nd, I met up with Dave and we climbed the 2nd Apron of Mt. Evans, 5.6. It was a gorgeous day for climbing. Dennis met us at the top, after ascending via a ridge hike, and we three hitched a ride back to Summit Lake.
This climb has several good qualities, a short 30 minute approach, 5 pitches of beautiful lichen spotted granite Alpine climbing, a spectacular ridge topout, high altitude exertion, and fantastic views.
It took us between 2.5 and 3 hours to complete the route in 5 pitches. The last pitch is not really necessary to rope up, if one is experienced and comfortable bouldering. We took a #1-#3 cams, aliens, a few metolius tcus, and a set of large cams. Nothing special required.