Dennis Scrambling up to the Rim of Leprechaun
Kim and Dennis Down Climbing in Leprechaun
Jill Prepping a Hand Line
Erin Down Climbing – Props to Byron for this rad picture!
Climbergirl is Canyoneering!
Coming Out of the Darkness of Leprechaun
We woke up to a beautiful desert morning. Clear as a bell and already warm at 6am! I was excited for my first dry canyoneering experience. (more…)
Our Shade/Mess Tent!
We had so much fun wet canyoneering in Portugal, Dennis and I decide to try our hand at Dry Canyoneering. Another trip leader from the CMC, Jill Yarger, tells me about a trip she has done to North Wash, Utah in the past. She is thinking about leading another one and I immediately volunteer to co-lead the trip. I was so happy she was willing to take a couple of newbies out!
Prepping for our adventure tomorrow!
Back in Early May, Jill gave a canyoneering refresher training class, which went over skills such as assisted climbing techniques, meat anchors, and how to rig a single strand for rappels. After the training class, I spent the next couple weeks gathering maps, doing research, printing articles from other bloggers, and finding guidebooks (noteably, Technical Slot Canyon Guide to the Colorado Plateau, 2nd Edition by Mr. Kelsey).
I would like to thank the following bloggers and sites. Their research and clearly presented data helped to make our trip a huge success!
Tom’s Utah Canyoneering Guide, Courtesy CanyoneeringUSA.com
Todd’s Desert Hiking Guide
BluuGnome – GPS Waypoints and Pictures!
Pictured above: David, Slava (Assistant Instructor), Wendy, Roger (Assistant Instructor), Kimberly, Zack, myself, James, and TeeJay
This spring, I volunteered to be the Senior Instructor for the Colorado Mountain Club Boulder Section’s Basic Rock Climbing School. This means, I was in charge of picking our field trips, ensuring everybody was safe, selecting assistant instructors, and teaching the techniques, theory, and application of course material.
It was quite the undertaking, but by having Slava and Roger as my assistants, I felt much more confident we would have success. Roger is the Chair of the Boulder CMC Council and has been one of the knot testers for the club in past years. Slava is a serious mountain man and somebody I definitely trust at the other end of my rope!
CMC Trailblazers on Lost Lake! Totally Fun Group!
I joined the CMC Trailblazers for a nice half day hike up to Lost Lake, near the Hessie Trail Head. I rode with Josh and Erin in the most awesome little Jeep named Ruby. Ruby handles the snowy mountain roads with no problem what-so-ever!
The snowshoe up to Lost Lake was fairly mellow and not all that memorable. What was, however, was visiting the Very Nice Brewery in Nederland, CO, afterwards. They are as the name implies and we had a blast hanging out post hike.
Left to Right: Chad, Chris, Andy, David, and Slava. Leader Clare in Front!
Trip Leader Portrait
I led a CMC trip to the Whale’s Tail rock formation in Eldorado Canyon. It was a chilly fall day, but with very little wind, we’d have a super time. The Whale’s Tail formation is a good place to take a small group of people; I found that no more than 6 people is really the ideal group size.
I have climbed a bunch at Whale’s Tail, so none of the routes were new. However, Slava and I did have a good deal of fun climbing the center route in our approach shoes (on top rope, of course!).