Weekend prep: Highland Park and ‘gar.
ɕ
Photos
Eldorado Canyon
We were in Eldorado Canyon on three separate days. These photos are from Wednesday the 20th, when we went in to climb the Wind Ridge route on the Wind Tower. As you approach Eldorado Canyon, you’re driving into the “front range”. You leave the Flatirons to your right, and wind your way into the canyon.
Once you get inside the Eldorado Canyon State Park, there’s world class climbing just jammed everywhere. Just inside the park is a foot bridge that leads to the south side climbing, and the Bastile is just a few paces up the road.
Climbers are always on the Bastile. At the bottom, they’re basically standing in the [dirt] road. But, you can see them from various other places in Eldo. Here, I took a pause climbing to get the camera out and snapped these photos across the canyon.
From the Wind Tower you get a better sense of the size and layout of the canyon. This first photo is taken while walking off after the climb. So we’re descending and heading back towards the creek and road. The second photo is from the very top of the Wind Tower, looking across the canyon (the road and creek, in the bottom of the canyon, are not visible.)
Finally, some views of the Wind Tower itself. As you enter the canyon, it is on the right — the lighter colored mass. The slightly darker rock, on the left, is another feature, with a trail snaking up between them into a high ravine. To get a sense of the scale, note the huge flake of stone that has slid off the tower.
ɕ
testing. one. two. three.
ɕ
The Edge of Time (Tue 26th)
In Jurassic Park there’s a route called The Edge of Time (5.9R ***) which is on the cover of the guide book.
Simply an unbelievable piece of rock carved into a literal prow.
My attmept was sketchy. I spent a while projecting the 5.9 crux (which is way above my climbing grade.) Eventually, I punted and move left to East of Eden (5.9 *) and worked my way up, and then back over to finish the arete. (Sadly, no photos of me un the upper part of the Edge.)
Mike’s run up was a straight shot as he put up the top rope for the rest of us.
ɕ
Left Hand rock, Dinosaur Rock (Tues 26th)
A short walk up from Lily Lake is a hidden ravene with sport climbing routes galore. (There are bolts drilled into the rock making it easy to clip in for protection.)
The first rock on the left is, well, “Left Hand Rock” and is home to Dark Days (5.8), which simply runs straight up a seamingly featureless curved slope. The next rock up is Dinosaur’s Foot, with the aptly named Index Toe (5.8) and Middle Toe (5.9—).
ɕ
Lily Lake
To get to the “Jurassic Park” climbing,area, we parked at Lily Lake. Spectacular walk around the lake to get to the climbing approach.
ɕ
Aspen Glen Campground
It’s been many years since I was camping, but this campground was superlative.
ɕ
Catchin up with Mike Allen
If we’d had any more fun, we’d have been arrested.
Mike drove up from Denver, and we headed up to Oskar Blues brew pub. We ordered two flights of their beer samples — ten delicious beers — and a kick *ss burger with arugula and a touch of honey. Da-YAM! …Mike knows how how to pick ’em.
Back story: Mike and I were in St. Martin back in 2001, and Mike introduced me to cigars — Cuban cigars to be exact. So I pulled up Yelp! and found Jonnie’s Cigars in downtown Boulder. We spent an hour or two working our way through two big, fat stogies, and several doubles (Glenmorangie and Stranahan’s) while people watching from the patio.
From there, we found our way to Pizzeria du Lupo. Mike ordered his favorite appetizer, and I suggested we send Summer a photo… “no! wait! dont tell her I ordered our favorite… ” <snap>
We rolled out of there, stuffed to the gills. And Mike says, “there’s one other place…”
What is this i dont even . . .
ɕ
Sport Climbing at Mary’s Lake
The local gear shop in Estes Park suggested a couple spots to do some top-roping nearby before heading into Rocky Mountain National Park.
We spent several hours climbing 20 foot routes up this “little” rock next to Mary’s Lake. I think I did 7 or 8 routes practicing footwork and technique with Mike either lecturing on details, or scrambling up to show me examples.
…unfortunately, neither of us took pictures of the climbing. Good practice, but not very photogenic.
ɕ
Drive to Estes Park
On Monday (25th) we left Boulder and drove to Estes Park, just outside of the Rocky Mountain National Park.
It’s a smooth cruise north along 36 out of Boulder. Construction on 36 near Lyons had us detour onto route 7. And what a spectacular detour! Route 7 winds up a narrow canyon, and then down into Estes Park.
In Estes Park, we found the local gear store, picked up a guide book for Lumpy Ridge and directions to some nearby sport climbing.
ɕ
Cob Rock
In prep for going to Lumpy Ridge this week, we decided to go back into Boulder Canyon; climb on some granite, and work on some finger-jam cracks to push my grade. (Lumpy is notoriously stiff.)
Cob Rock was the obvious choice being so assessible.
This is another roadside park, Tyrolean over Boulder Creek, and up a short scramble. We started up a 5.6+ which was a real struggle for me; but I did it. Then we moved onto the main 5.7+ route up the center of the north face. Parts were straightforward, but one off-width crack, and a second jam crack really gave me trouble. Took my first real fall off the wall at one point, and even had to jug up the line to get around one section. (Involves tying special knots with slings and standing up on the sling to move up the rope. Total cheat, but when your completely stuck on a face, up is up!) Fortunately we had just been practicing this the previous day.
When we left, we discovered some local kids had rigged a slack line under the Tyrolean making for some unexpected fun on the exit!
ɕ
Flagstaff Road
I had a Saturday to myself while Mike was working. I ran some errands, cleaned, organized etc in the hotel, dodged two hours of heavy rain, and then took a drive up Flagstaff road.
ɕ
Best Beginner Climb in the Solar System
(That’s what the guide books say.) After our climbing in Eldorado and Boulder canyons, we decided to go back and run up the third Flatiron.
We started from the now familiar Chatauqua parking lot, and tore up the approach. Mike’s favorite dig is, “hiking?! …you mean walking. That’s what we do to get to the climbing.”
We walked up about 500 vertical feet to the third Flatiron. Gorgeous trees, rubble fields, scree… and all the while this huge prominence of rock is sticking up into the sky. The face is about a 60 degree incline, with just little undulations, texture and some little ridges for hands and feet. From the top, it’s a triple rappel off the back side, then a “walk off” — which means you scramble doen the steepest, gnarliest terrain you could imgine ever “hiking” down.
Our climb on the first Flat was more epic; mostly because it was my first climb and it took seven pitches, mostly in the dark. The third was a fun, three pitch cruise. The left edge, bottom to top, is about 1,800 feet (if memory serves). On our ascent, we started about halfway up, on the right side. By the second pitch, you’re looking down on Boulder, and the raptors are cruising *below* you sailing the ridge lift.
ɕ
The Edge of Time (5.9 R)
Tiny glimpse from Jurassic park in Estes Park CO.
This route is from the cover of the guide book. Mike pulled this clean, but I had to start way left after failing the crux down low at the start.
ɕ
Lumpy Ridge
Our project for Mon thru Fri is Lumpy Ridge.
We’ll head up to the town outside of Estes Park to pick up provisions and to visit the local climbing shop for a guide book and local knowledge. We’ve a campsite a short distance from the ridge. So we can ride our bikes a few miles to access whatever we want to climb.
So far, my visit to colorado has been pretty easy; hotel rooms, and climbing about half the days. But this week is going to be a lot more climbing. Yesterday (blog post/photos not yet up), we climber two single-pitch routes on Cob Rock in Boulder Canyon to get me some time doing jam cracks on granite. Oof! Burly stuff.
ɕ
Wind Ridge climb in Eldorado Canyon
Photos from our ascent of the Wind Ridge (5.6) route on the Wind Tower in Eldorado Canyon.
The canyon is an indescribable mecca of climbing, with classic routes just criss-crossed all over the canyon walls. We selected Wind Ridge because a) I could climb it and b) it was a short three pitches with easy access to water for our ALS ice water challenge.
ɕ
Cascade Crag, Boulder Canyon
This had my name written all over it. (“Craig” means “dweller of the crag”.)
After climbing the first Flatiron, we only got a few hours of nap time. After some shopping, (new climbing shoes!) we heading into Boulder Canyon to climb on some granite in a “sport climbing” setup – meaning the rock had countless rock bolts set making it super easy to setup the fall protection.
Turned out I was so burnt from the previous day, I could only do a couple small sections. On the up side, I got to spend a lot of time belaying Mike while he worked on some project routes.
Getting to the climb involved a short walk down the road, traversing the roaring creek on a tyrolean traverse and a short walk back up the other side. Seriously fun!
ɕ
First Flatiron – photo update
Sunday evening, on a whim, we decided to tackle the first flatiron. (My details on the climb are in my Flatiron #1 post.)
ɕ
Red Rocks – photos update
A gallery of a few photos from my first hike in Colorado. I arrived late in the evening on Saturday, and this was my first exertion to see how the altitude really felt. Great little hike up a couple hundred feet.
ɕ
Louisville Colorado
Almost to Boulder. Spent the night — after some epic delays in Allentown, missed connections, missed standby, and terminal hussle in Chicago — in Louisville Co. Caught up with Mike; dinner, beer, and probabaly the last/only night under a roof. Sorted all my gear out this morning, and Mike’s leaving me the van for today. Couple stops, then off to try a trail hike to see how this “thin air” really works out.
ɕ