Posts Tagged ‘CO’

Jim Plant Memorial Ski-Orienteering Contest

Saturday, January 21st, 2012

Clare and Kelly Get Checkpoint #13
Team Clearly Elk (anagram of Clare and Kelly) braved wintery conditions for the Jim Plant Memorial Ski-Orienteering contest. For those who don’t know, Ski Orienteering is where one skis around a course as fast as one can while reading the map and hitting checkpoints in order.

Jim Plant Memorial Ski Orienteering Contest Map The 10th Checkpoint
The Map and a Checkpoint

It’s a combination of athletic prowess, endurance, map and geography negotiation, and patience. Kelly and I demonstrated all of these attributes over the course of the day. We did not come in last place, so that was nice…but we definitely have a long way to go before we dominate. (more…)

Rock Climbing – Third Flatiron, East Face (5.6)

Friday, November 11th, 2011

Clare & Jeff Ready to Rappel Third Flatiron

Jeff and I climbed the Third Flatiron on Veteran’s Day. There was one other party climbing with us, but they were nice dudes and so it was okay. Jeff had never led the East Face route, so he did the evens while I did the odds. It worked out really well.

The Flatirons - Boulder, CO View Northward - Third Flatiron Nerd Spotting on Third Flatiron Jeff Launching up Pitch 2 - Third Flatiron

Timeline:
10:30am, started hiking.
12:00pm, started climbing.
3:40pm, summit.
4:00pm, joined another party for one long rappel.
5:00pm, back to packs (It was dark, so we had to use our headlamps!).

The hike back to the packs was treacherous as the trail on the north side of the Flatiron was compressed snow and ice. A few times we slipped, but thankfully we didn’t twist an ankle. Microspikes would have come in really handy!

Rock Climbing – Third Flatiron, East Face (5.6)

Friday, October 21st, 2011

Clare Enjoying Third Flatiron Summit

Wayne - Conquerer of Third Flatiron
Wayne and I climbed the third flatiron on Friday. We had lovely fall weather and came across very few people. It was great to swing lead with Wayne. He hadn’t led this route before, so it was fun for him too. I did the odds and he did the evens.
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Rock Climbing – Happy Hour Crag – CMC

Friday, October 7th, 2011

Alex Finishing Twofers (5.8)
Alex At the Top of Twofers

On my flex Friday, I took a group of CMC folks out rock climbing. Brenda was my trusty co-leader for this trip (Thanks, Brenda). Rounding out our posse were: Michael, Michelle, Slava, and Alex. Alex had led on other CMC trips and so it worked out really well for him to be an on-the-spot-co-leader (Thanks, Alex).

With 3 groups of 2, we were able to do a super nice tour of the Happy Hour Crag moderates… (more…)

Basic Rock School – Field Trip #2

Friday, September 30th, 2011

On Saturday, we had our 2nd field trip for Basic Rock Climbing school. Kent took us to Dome Rock, where we took the students up their first “multi-pitch” climb.

Basic Rock School Group Picture

The first “pitch” was 4th class and ended at a large alcove/ledge with a tree. The next pitch was low 5th class. I led the crack while Kent put up a fun face section, and Michael assisted with the belay station. Our 6 students (Erin, Derrick, Chris, Max, Ian, and Walt) did great. (more…)