The weather in Boulder is in that perfect zone of springtime sunny and pleasant without being too hot. Last weekend I and several of my friends took advantage.
It started on Thursday when Kim and I repeated the Bastille to Outer Space that Eli and I did a few weeks ago. We got on the rock at 6:15 pm and I belayed Kim up the last pitch in the starlight. In our hurry to get out of town we forgot headlamps and that definitely made the last pitch tough on Kim. We wandered our way down the South side of the Bastille under the eerie cloudless sky. The Redgarden wall looked enormous in the ghostly silver light. We made it back to the car at 10:30 and munched some of Kim's homemade egg rolls which were amazing as usual.
Friday was a little more casual as Ryan, Charlie and I ventured to Sherwood Forrest in lower Boulder Canyon. We climbed a tricky 5.11, Merry Men, and then I was very happy to struggle to an onsight of Robbin' the Hood, a hard 5.11 with footwork at the crux reminiscent of the heel to toe jamming of an offwidth.
A beautiful Saturday was no time to let up and several of us made our way to Upper Dream Canyon. We warmed up on a classic 5.8, Wrinkles in Time. Then I once again got tricked up on what is becoming a project, Mud Shark. I can't wait to get back to that one because I'm really close. We also climbed Sargasso Sea, a fantastic 5.12a with a deviously thin crux. The entire time I was clipping the crux bolt I felt like I was going to peel.
On Sunday we slept in and then went to the Plotinus Wall of Lower Dream Canyon. The popular trail to Boulder Falls was closed so we bushwhacked our way there. Surprisingly, we were the only people who decided to do so because on a perfect Sunday we had the crag all to ourselves.
Me warming up on Snooze Button
Among the lines we did was The Scientist (me, right), a mean 5.11 granite slab, about as thin as you can get with a couple desperate moves that feel as insecure as a GM pension plan.
Then I was excited to get the redpoint of Boulder Quartz System, a unique line on a ledge overlooking the creek. For the first half of the route, the feet are all quartz. I've never climbed anything quite like it.
Now we're getting ready to head for the quality limestone pockets of Shelf Road next weekend...
Great post, Adam! It was amazing to have Lower Dream to ourselves on Sunday. A great day of climbing, beautiful weather and fantastic people to share it with.
ReplyDeleteHow did you guys like Sherwood Forest? Hope you liked the routes as much as I did.
ReplyDeleteNice to have you posting, Adam. I always enjoy your humor and juice-makin' details. See you at Shelf!
ReplyDeleteSherwood was a really good time. It was perfect for a day after work and a couple beers. It's worth a trip back to give a few of the other lines a go. There's kind of a funny story about our trip there:
ReplyDeleteMerry Men and Robbin' the Hood are 10 feet apart and share the same anchors. When we got there we had planned on warming up on one of the 5.10s up the hill, but there was a group that had the area pretty well taken over. So we said screw it and just hopped on 5.11s right out of the gate. Ryan was at the top, off belay and cleaning Merry Men, and I was at the base of Robbin' the Hood, scoping out the route. One of the guys from the other group came up to me and the conversation went like this:
#1 Super Guy: Are you going to climb this route?
Adam: Yeah, it looks like fun.
#1 Super Guy: Are you ready?
Adam: My friend is cleaning that line and when he gets down we're going to hop on this one.
#1 Super Guy: I'm ready right now.
Adam's thoughts: (Are you kidding me?)
Adam: Well, I'm standing right here and my friend will be down in about two minutes to belay me. You're welcome to climb either the one we just did or the 5.12 to the right.
#1 Super Guy (irritated): Well I told you I'm ready to climb this one right now.
Adam (irritated): And I told you I was going to climb it but screw it, it's yours.
#1 Super Guy (realizing I wasn't super happy): No, no man. You just climb it.
Adam: OK.
Two minutes later I was on the route and twenty minutes after that Ryan had it clean and we were packed up and moving on. #1 Super Guy got on it and rainbows appeared. Not in 4 years of climbing, not even in the gym have I ever been annoyed at a fellow climber like that. It was as if we were at the bar playing pool, I was walking over to a table, quarter in hand and somebody ran around me to toss his quarter down.
After we got off the line, he and I chit chatted. I offered him a beer and we smoothed things out. I don't think he was a bad guy, but he wasn't trying to catch a taxi in Manhatten. He was out on a beautiful night climbing.
Wierd.
Funny story Adam. Had a similar experience happen once when Joe and I were going to do East Buttress of El Cap in the Valley. We began the approach, which is basically straight up a talus field and then easy traversing for a couple hundred yards once you reach the base of El Cap - maybe 45 minutes total. We had never done the route and didn't know exactly where the start was, but we had a good idea. However, several minutes after we reached the traverse portion of the approach some other climbers appeared somewhat out of nowhere, but indeed behind us - they had taken a slightly different approach. It was a party of four and *one* of them had done the route before, so we digressed to allow him to show us the start since we were rubbernecking. Well, the chicken sh*t got there and started racking up and climbing right off. No courtesy offer to us or anything. To top it off, they were as slow as a wet weekend; and the route takes a full day's worth of climbing (10 or 11 pitches). We ended up having to call it and rap down after pitch two because up to that point there was no opportunities for passing and they had killed a few hours. We did manage a great day of short trad cragging, but that's straight-up uncalled for.
ReplyDeleteAnyhow, sounds like you guys are tearing it up. Good for you!