Bridge Building...

First things first:

Cam Cross, Old Man, and Chip Phillips are TOTAL BADASSES.

I had the good fortune of enjoying a mid-week session with them. Upon rolling up to Area A at Evans, it was clear that the rag-tag bridge that had been constructed to cross the stream just would not do.

These guys took the initiative to tear apart the old one, and build a proper bridge that should withstand several seasons of traffic. Behold:

First order of business was to tear apart the old bridge. This proved to go quickly. Next Chip and Cam started constructing supports.

I'm desperately trying to keep from making "old-man sawing logs joke". This is a PAIN IN THE ASS. We all took turns sawing through downed trees and I can honestly say that I AM THE WEAKEST LINK.

Cam and Chip digging the supports in.

Finished product is SOLID. The trees we cut up completely bridge the gap now and the water flows freely beneath so there is no soggy stuff.

We will all be enjoying this new addition to the area for seasons to come.

Please take the time to thank these guys for putting aside climbing for a morning of HARD work in the interest of bettering one of the country's best bouldering areas.

You guys ROCK!

New site

I've finally taken the time to get a website up for myself. It's mostly for my professional work i.e. cinematography, but there's also a page with some climbing videos you may / may not have seen. Check it out if you get a chance, and let me know if anything isn't working right. I've never built a website before so any feedback is appreciated.

http://www.chuckfryberger.com/

** OLD NEWS ** - Flann sends Tommy's Arete

...and as it turns out I took pictures of the whole thing. Who knew? Way to crush Flann!

THE END

Summer Blockbusters

I've come to the conclusion that there is a reason none of us are movie stars.

Hitman is easily my second favorite.

Swoll-o-clock!

Creating the one above will doubtlessly lead to the one below.

I think this one came out the best. Blow it up and scope it out!

Evans Clean and Climb

As some of you know, the Mt. Evans Clean and Climb was scheduled for this past weekend. I'm proud to report that despite being pushed back a day (to Sunday due to conditions) and an unfavorable forecast, several dedicated stewards showed up and accomplished an impressive number of projects!

The hike in gave us all a chance to discuss different ideas we had for the day and get to know the rangers a little better. We also picked up small pieces of trash along the way which I'm happy to report were minuscule. It was amazing how easy this hike is with no pad / pack. Thank you to Patti for driving our stuff up!

Aside from trail maintenance, the rangers noticed a few things in the area that were not quite on par with the wilderness rules and we helped to fix the issues. Just after crossing the stream that runs through the canyon, the rangers had us dismantle the fire pit (too close to the stream). They were impressed with the blocked off social trail as you cross the stream as well as the efforts of someone to plant willows back in that section of the trail. Whoever you are, thank you for the help!

They also noticed a sort of lean-to that was probably just some bored camper messing around and we scattered that all over the area! Here is Amy making her "I'm having fun with constructive destruction" face.

One of the main projects for the day was to place rocks between the ladder and the Seurat boulder where the trail gets boggy and muddy to keep people from walking on the foliage next to the trail. Here, Alex finds a perfect shim to help steady one of the bigger rocks.

We all took turns moving stone, digging holes to place rocks in, and trenching drainage away from the trail Here, Dave and Will are piecing together a path in the super boggy section just leading away from the warm-up / ladder boulder.

The Forest Service Rangers were completely hands on throughout the entire process and gave much needed direction to our efforts. This is Marshall placing more of the path up to the makers mark area.

I believe this to be the work of Le Baron Von Choss Crush -aka- Sir Hands of Soxley -aka- Jaegervitch -aka- JJ. He went up on Saturday despite terrible weather and worked his butt off placing stones and improving the boggy areas. He was unable to attend on Sunday due to prior obligations but made sure to do his part as best he could. A BIG-TIME thank you to such a dedicated climber!

After fixing most of the boggy sections, we focused on cutting down on the social trails that exist between Seurat and the Dali wall. Don't worry, no trails that lead to our precious stones were marked for extinction. Just the weird meandering ones that made no sense. As you can see here, the "Real" trail has been pruned and marked off a little better (top left) whereas trails that went off with no particular destination have been covered and hidden with shrubbery and marked off with logs (lower right). I guarantee you will notice a difference on your next trip.

I'm very proud to report that the rangers repeatedly stated that the Area A bouldering area looked substantially better than it had in their visits the year before. They commented that the trail had been much better cared for, social trails are becoming less of an issue, there was little to NO micro trash lying around under the boulders (tape, wrappers, etc.) and NOT A SINGLE STASHED PAD COULD BE FOUND in almost an hour of looking! That is truly incredible! Let's all do our part to keep that trend alive!

Thank you to everyone who showed up to help keep the Mt. Evans bouldering area a user friendly destination and everyone who works to keep climber / land manager relations strong everywhere. Your efforts are not in vain and go a long way towards establishing Boulderers as a responsible and respectful user group.

THE CREW:

Also a special thank you to the Forest Service Rangers (Patti, Ralph, and Marshall) who gave their time and effort to help! See you all next season!

I’m sorry Alexa, but that’s just how I feel.

Guidebook Controversy

As an aside from the usual light-hearted foolishness that occurs on this blog, I just wanted to take 5 minutes to spread the word.

As most of you know, there is a controversy going on right now regarding a new climbing guide for Colorado. This guide is to include all of Mt. Evans, and R.M.N.P.

I won't try to sum up the issue, as others have done it far more eloquently than I can.

Climbing Narc has a well thought out post HERE.

Jamie Emerson, who has had some time with the guide also reports some of the inaccuracies HERE and HERE.

I believe that there is no stopping the guide, but I certainly would appreciate it if they would put out, as climbing narc says, "a responsible and accurate guide".

You can email any thoughts or comments to Falcon at guides@falcon.com and I would encourage you to do so. Please do not just send useless slander or outrage, but make intelligent points. I've sent an email and would be happy to forward it to you if you would like to see what I mean.

Back to the silliness soon kids.

In the meantime, I believe the Mt. Evans Clean and Climb has been rescheduled for Sunday, August 17 due to the lousy forecast for Saturday. Contact me if you need last minute updates! Situner@aol.com

Drenched in Sendage

Despite a lousy weather forecast (which I neglected to check) Sunday was another day in Chaos Canyon. We headed up VERY early, which was a good thing because we totally got rained out.

It wasn't all bad though, we had time to warm up and a couple kids sent their projects!

Kristen sacked up and pulled off Autobot in good style! (nice work)

Rich put to bed REVENGE which has been an epic struggle for him and it is nice to see him pull the lip!

CONGRATULATIONS TO BOTH OF YOU!!!!!

In other news, Dave and Karen got rained out of their first day of Chaos. (booooo) and Situner has deemed "Gang Bang Arete" unclimbable by humans.

I don't care if you've sent. It's not possible. Put yourself on the mutant list or something.

Terrified Kristen!

On the first camping trip I ever took with Kristen, she had yet to experience the "Man Beta" for starting the fire.  (Pour on the white gas until the logs appear wet)  She insisted on lighting it, but was not prepared for the outcome that was to follow.  Behold:

See the half amused, half flirty-angry face she is making?  That was at me.

SO WORTH IT.

Clear Creek Animal Rafting

This past weekend, we celebrated the 24th anniversary of the beginning of Dig's tyrannic reign over the high seas.  As you will see below, the festivities on Sunday were fitting for black-beard, PIRATE OF THE HIGH SEAS!

As usual, Le baron showed for the shenanigans and promptly started picking minor skirmishes.  He felt the seahorse could take on the world.

Luckily Dave stepped in and proved his alligator prowess.

Le baron's face is still recovering.

Jaeger and Thomas experiencing the "wow, this is a little colder than I had imagined" before putting in.

Where is the prowess?!?

I'm not sure if Dave is winning or losing here, but at least he is smiling!

Happy Thomas.

And here is the Diggs rocking her battle stingray with "high powered water canon".  Quite possibly the worst pool floaty in attendance.

Justin's confidence in the seahorse seems to have disappeared the second he tried to use it to float.  Hilarious results though.

Notice the Kayakers wearing helmets, life jackets, etc.  Now notice Justin trying to dodge them with only board-shorts and a battle stingray.  Classic!

Turtle was by far the best pool floaty.  Not only was it COMPLETELY stable, it was large enough to hold an adult comfortable, and it was a MAD CHICK MAGNET!!!!

Dave looks a bit like the front of a viking ship in this picture.  The rapid wrecked him, but at least he looks confident.

Thank you to all who were in attendance despite blowing rain and less than ideal sunshine.  We had a great time and I know Kristen was psyched you were there!  To the rest of you, I'm certain we will be doing this again so get a pool floaty while you still can and be ready when the time comes!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KRISTEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!