Its officially gym climbing season. More because of the short hours of daylight than the temperatures. It's tough to make it up Boulder Canyon or down to Eldo after work. Outdoor climbing is now relegated to the weekends, and lower elevations. Unfortunately the snow hasn't showed up yet in the high-country, so it's not ski season either. Investing in a pair of ice tools and screws could be a good investment this year. It looks like there is already some great ice and mixed climbing to be had up in RMNP.
I had the pleasure of wrapping-up my climbing season with a trip to Indian Creek. I had never been before and it was everything I had hoped it would be: splitter cracks, great weather, fun camping, and a great crew of friends. Conveniently, we had 5 doubles racks so we could easily get on any climb. My brother Matthew and I arrived on Friday night, with just enough daylight for 1 climb. We headed up to the Rambo Walls, which was close to our campsite in the cottonwoods. We hopped on a 2 star 5.9 called Rochambeau. If that climb were anywhere else it would be a 4 star classic. After such a great warm-up I was stoked and knew we were going to have a great trip.
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| Matt cleaning Rochambeau (5.9) just before sunset |
We spent all day Saturday at Battle of the Bulge and Donnely Canyon. The Cave Route (5.11), Railroad Tracks (5.10), Mr. Peanut (5.10+), and Chocolate Corner (5.10-) were the highlights of the day, as well as the company of our group! In fact, the company was as good as the climbing in my opinion. Time around camp cooking, talking, eating, drinking and spending time around the campfire was great.
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| Breakfast in the Cottonwoods |
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| The base of the Cave route (5.11) |
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| Railroad Tracks (5.10) |
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| Chocolate Corner (5.10-) |
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| Campfire |
Sunday, we headed back up to the Rambo Walls. Before sunset on Friday, Matthew and I ran around the base of the cliff scoping cool lines and assembling a tick list. The crag was PACKED when we got there, and all the lines we had scoped were taken, which is a terrible feeling. We were obviously trying to get our bearings and find something...anything that was open. To make the situation worse, a famous old-school hard-man came over to us and started spraying. He capped off his unsolicited advice by recommending we go climb somewhere 5 hours away in southwestern Utah. By that point in the day it would have been the same if he had recommended climbing in the Yosemite Valley. Our group scrambled around to Left Rambo where we finally found some great, available climbs. We spent the day working back along the crag and by late afternoon all the early birds had left and we had the crag to ourselves. So, it all worked out in the end, except that we were too exhausted to make a real attempt at Way Rambo (5.12). The best climbs of Sunday were Way Rambo, Blue Sun (5.10-), and the Monk (5.10).
Those of us who played hooky and stayed until Monday headed over to the Fisher Towers for a quick lap up Stolen Chimney on Ancient Art (5.10d) before hitting the road. Any time I plan for a smash and grab ascent of a classic line I inevitably get stuck behind a slow party, and this time was no exception. We got gummed up behind a slow party of 3 who must have been really slow as our party of 5 caught them very quickly. Thankfully the route has massive belay ledges, so we were able to sit around comfortably while we waited and we made friends with the slow party. The climbing was pretty good and the summit was outstanding!
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| Fisher Towers with the Stolen Chimney Summit in the upper right |
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| Anthony on pitch 1 Stolen Chimney (5.10) |
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| The famous summit |
