Climbing IceCapades

Wow it's gotten cold and snowy at Mt. Evans in the last couple weeks!!!!

The hike wasn't too bad. Just some ice and snow in a few areas, but the talus fields up above a were absolutely treacherous!

The T.J. was on hand for the early morning shenanigans and fun was had by all.

Although no pictures to confirm, our day started off with a very novel experience... After only minutes of hiking up the road, a kind lady whose family owns one of the cabins on the road let us ride on her tailgate as she tore ass up the road. Sketchy for sure, but better than walking!!! This caused us to arrive at the boulders before the sun had come all the way into the canyon, and it was decidedly too cold for climbing yet.

Luckily, it was the perfect temperature for messing around. As we played Bruce Lee and broke up pieces of ice like total badasses, the sun finally made its way up and started the warming process.

T.J. crushing with his head! Sick!

Once again, T.J. put forth an alternate reality in which I sent 2nd go.

He was wrong once again unfortunately.

I sent on go # 4.5.

Actual send photos below.

Rich showed up just a few minutes before the send burn. I owe T.J. many many thanks for the days he spent under this with me, and to Rich and Dave for all the spots and encouragement.

"Don't screw up, Don't screw up, Don't screw up"

Genuine psyche!

The rest of the day was spent rock-shopping in the scary talus field above area a.

Not much was found, but T.J. did locate, clean and send this problem. It has a scary landing that the pictures do not convey, and the heel-hook is pretty committing.

No photos of the actual send due to spotting duties, but it is a very cool line and will hopefully draw some repeats!

In typical T.J. Humility, a grade has not been assigned. It sure looks tough.

GREAT WORK MAN!

How was every one's Saturday?

I'm headed up to Evans again today with "Sir Hands of Soxley".

Check back for more photos.

Raining = no sending.

Colorado weather is unpredictable at best.

The last few days have definitely been a testament to that. No getting out due to rain = no sending.

It is looking better today, and the forecast for Sat. and Sun. continues to improve.

(That's good news)

So here is the question...

Should I head to Upper on Saturday and try to finish an 8, or go to Evans and try to finish a 9. I'm SOOOO close on both.

Decisions, decisions.

Evans...Again...Cuz It's Awesome...Shut-up.

Ok Kids.

I don't know if you can handle this, but this is a CLIMBING POST!

Tried bierstadt again on Thursday. T.J. set forward an alternate reality...In which I sent first go...and which SHOULD have been actual reality.

Bummer. Didn't happen. Oh well. There's more juice where that came from right? Wrong. Dave was looking extremely strong on the problem, and I thought he was going to send right away too. Wrong.
Suck.
Anyone seen Boondock Saints?
"Wyatt-Fucking-Earp" Anyway, we ended up enjoying another "suess the beta" session immensely. There is no such thing as a bad day bouldering when it is cool out, sunny, and you are around people that make you laugh to the point of urinating your prana pants.
No, REALLY. We climbed the thing for hours and are both prepared for a rested assault with what we have learned.
(Mainly, we learned this bitch is within reach, and we both need to do it.)

T.J. spent some time with "ground control", which was close, and was climbing. I think he was mainly trying it so that Dave and I didn't feel guilty that he sat under our project all day, but whatever. So this piece of chos...AHEM...granite-heaven turned out to create a mini-epic for us.

T.J. and Dave spent some time cleaning up holds, and then tried it out.

Unfortunately, after sending the stand start, Dave tried the sit and broke a hold off into his and T.J.'s faces, cutting the top of Dave's wrist pretty severely, and T.J.'s ankle a bit.

Sketch.

After patching Dave up, he stopped bleeding enough to hang-out for a while. (he's a trooper)

Dave ended up with a few stitches in his arm, and a pretty F-ING SWEET campfire story for years to come.

We also ran into Chris Shulte while we were up at area B, and got to watch him send a pretty sweet new arete problem.

This thing looks like so much fun! The pictures don't convey the striking nature of this feature. It is freakin COOL!

The good news is, he reports it as being between 7 and 10. Maybe in my "kill-zone", maybe not. Either way, I'm psyched to try, and it's a pretty damn cool line!

Nice Work Chris!!!!

So yea... Another amazingly beautiful day at Mt. Evans. The season is growing short kids. If you plan on getting up there, you better do it soon. As you can see in the photo, the scrub-oak is shedding leaves, and the aspens are turning.

IT IS THE ELEVENTH HOUR!!!! HOPEFULLY SENDS COMING SOON!

The times they are a changin...

Wow. It's been a LOOOOOONNNNNNNGGGGG time since the few readers who check this have had to suffer through a post from me.

Hopefully this will be a taste of more to come. It may not always be climbing, but I will attempt to keep it entertaining.

This past weekend, I had the pleasure of enjoying an amazingly snowy day at the park on Saturday, and an absolutely gorgeous day on Sunday at Evans. Yea, the forecast was bad, and yea, we risked it, but it was one of those magical days where it all works out, and you climb with no one else in sight the entire time!
Justin and TJ were on hand in full shenanigan mode, and we had a great time sending "Oreo toss direct" (V7) and "Oreo bounce" (V10 Flash)
Oh yea, and some climbing happened too. Jaeger impressed us all with his climbing prowess while removing his shirt (a-la Chris Sharma during "just do it") during an epic send of the ladder. Sorry ladies, he's taken.
I worked the proj. (bierstadt) and sorted some beta and hope to send sometime soon. The season is getting short, and alpine temps are prime with friction right now. It's comforting to know that the more things change, there will always be friends and fall temps to look forward to.
Stay psyched kids!