Graduated Wilderness First Aid Course

August 22nd, 2010

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. Read the rest of this entry »

Rock Climbing – First Flatiron, Bakerdango (5.6)

August 21st, 2010

Lauren & Clare First Flatiron Summit
Wake Up Time: 4:45am
Meet Up Time: 5:15am
Chatauqua Parking Lot: 6:15am
Discovery of Clare’s Missing Harness/Belay Device: 6:20am
Ad Hoc Solution Via Swami Belt using Lauren’s Long Sling: 6:40am
Begin Hiking: 6:50am
Start Climbing: 7:45am
Summit First Flatiron: 1:20pm
Painful Swami Belt Lowering: 1:30pm
Chatauqua Parking Lot: 2:30pm
Lunch at Brasserie Ten-Ten: 3:00pm (Got Nicoisse Salad-YUM!!!)
Home: 6pm

Day time temps were in the mid 90s, which was scorching on the rock!

I’m glad we had a 70 meter rope, but it still wasn’t quite long enough to combine pitches 3 & 4 without simul-climbing. In future, I would do it with a 60 meter rope, and just know that I’d have to simul-climb.

Wearing the swami belt was uncomfortable and painful. It made me feel grateful for the generations before; it is their pain & suffering which has promoted the shift in design and innovation for safer, lighter, and stronger equipment!

Thank you, Lauren for the extra sling & belay device. Without your extra gear, we wouldn’t have been able to do the climb! More pictures below…
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Hiking – Cimarron Canyon State Park, NM

August 15th, 2010

Lauren & I went to Cimarron Canyon State Park under the auspices of checking out some climbing areas. In her Taos Rock Climbing guidebook, it lists a couple of crags in the park as having some moderate climbs. We hiked up to the Maverick area, and scoped it out.

I AM NOT POSTING ANY OF THE PICTURES I TOOK BECAUSE THIS WALL IS CLOSED. In fact the entire SP has been closed to climbing. From reading the following forum, posted on Mountain Project, I did not get any happy vibes that this issue would resolve anytime soon. So, saddly, we didn’t climb there. Even though, it looks like tons of fun!

Rock Climbing – El Rito, NM (Day 3)

August 14th, 2010

Clare, Lauren, and Cookie Belle at El Rito

Saturday morning I woke up to an ominous sound. A stomach rumbling followed by a bit of nausea. Not so good! I thought I had been doing a good job of staying hydrated, but after yesterday’s heat & sun exposure, maybe not. Read the rest of this entry »

Rock Climbing – El Rito, NM (Day 2)

August 13th, 2010

Clare Happy Post Climbing Glow
Friday morning was wet & cold. We decided to wait a little bit to let things dry out. We had a leisurely morning, and left for the crag around 10am. As we ascended the slope, my excitement was building…look at all these amazing cobbles! I was psyched. Read the rest of this entry »