Climbing on Independence Pass this time of year is truly incredible. We got out to Lincoln Creek on Saturday and enjoyed a full day basking in the warm sun, climbing some excellent routes, and taking in the awesome scenery all around us. We marveled at the stunning line of Dean’s Day Off and struggled to comprehend how Henry Barber lead the first ascent barefoot! Most folks are plenty content to take a top rope up this incredible and demanding route.

Many of the aspens were already turning, and once you climbed above the trees, you looked down onto a glowing sea of gold. We had a large group and thoroughly enjoyed each other’s company, and the challenge of the routes at hand. Days like that are a blessing for which I am genuinely thankful.

Steve Smith takes a trip up Honest Abe, Lincoln Creek Cliff.

This morning as I was sipping on some coffee, staring out at the new snow on Sopris, I got to talking with our roommate about climbing and grades, and how many people are drawn to routes simply based on the grade. I think this is lame on several levels, it’s much more important to me how the route climbs, how the movement is. Who cares what the grade is. Obviously grades give you an idea of what to expect difficulty wise, but leave it at that.

If you’ve climbed for any substantial length of time, you know that grades vary from area to area. A 5.10 in Yosemite is usually much more demanding than a 5.10 in Red Rocks. Grades at Rifle are stiffer than most other sport crags in the country. The list goes on. What’s important is that you get a general idea of how hard something is, especially compared to other routes at the same area. Many people like to bicker over grades so they can compare themselves to (and often make themselves feel better than) other climbers. This is just dumb. The grades at any area are reflective of a general consensus. Holds break, new holds are found, short people find some climbs easier, tall people make longer reaches with more ease.

The climbers I’ve always admired the most are the ones that can climb hard, but that have fun on any good pitch, regardless of the difficulty. Enjoy climbing for what it is, and stop worrying so much about how hard it is. Challenge yourself, and get to know the other climbers, instead of trying to compare yourself to them. You might actually find you have a better time.

Friday afternoon we hopped in the car and headed to Salt Lake, the drive went quick and we crashed at our friend Katie’s house for the night. An early wake up call, some coffee and bagels and we were off to Pocatello! We got to the event as the second heat was in progress, so we got our bearings and found our friends. The format of the pump is that on Saturday there are three heats, each lasting an hour and half, in which you try to climb as many routes as possible. Hence the name, the Pump. It’s a great atmosphere, with everyone pushing themselves hard, lots of helpful beta being thrown around, and good energy. After Tracy climbed in the third heat, we spent the rest of the day chilling out until the big party that night, which is thrown in conjunction with the town, so there are hundreds of people that show up. A decent cover band rocked out some fun Dead covers and other crowd pleaser’s under a crisp, starry sky.

Sunday is the lead day, you can try 9 climbs and count the top 8. Points are doubled on the lead day, so this is a big one. You have to do some strategizing, because while you can get more points for harder climbs, if you fall off more than one, you are not going to get as much as if you did a slightly easier climb. Good fun. Not nearly as many people compete on the lead day, so the vibe was mellower, but everyone was still super amped and encouraging others to climb their hardest.

When the dust cleared, Tracy won here division for the fourth year in a row. Way to go T! The awards ceremony/raffle is the highlight of the event for many folks. Regardless of how well you did, anyone can walk away from the raffle with some great gear. The amount of stuff they had was overwhelming, and everyone who competed got a least one thing! Peter Joyce does an incredible job putting this thing on, it’s one of the coolest comps I’ve been to and I’d highly recommend it to anyone who wants to go have a great time with some good folks in Idaho.

Tracy sporting the new SplitterChoss stickers. Available at Bristlecone Mountain Sports in Basalt or if you see me out at the crags.

We’re off to Idaho this weekend for the Pocatello Pump, one of the oldest climbing events in the country. It’s a competition with a super friendly vibe, and this will be my first year checking it out. Full report when we get back.

In the meantime, here’s a little tidbit about climbing on chossy rock, straight from Climbing.com’s online tech tips section. Good advice, from avoiding it all together to climbing delicately. Check it out here.

On Monday afternoon I was sitting on top of Capitol, staring at the ridge that runs from the summit over to Snowmass Peak. This tottering pile is one of the most challenging alpine ridges in the state, and has seen few ascents. It got me thinking to an article I read recently in the Vail Trail about how crowded the 14ers are, and how many have taken to climbing lower peaks that are more challenging to escape the happy throngs of Goretex people. In my experience, the easy 14er’s usually have lots of folks, but as soon as you get up on the more technical peaks, you are more likely to find yourself alone with the mountains. Tackle a challenge like the Capitol-Snowmass Ridge, and you have a better chance of winning in Vegas than seeing another person.

I remember my shock the summer I climbed most of the Elk Range peaks and then took a trip to go up Grey’s and Torreys, to find a parking lot with 50 cars in it at 6 in the morning! So this was peak bagging, Front Range style. I saw more people on top of Grey’s that day than I had seen all summer on all the other peaks I did combined.

It seems like many like to take the crusty, elitist attitude and bag on all the folks who are climbing the gentle giants that are most of Colorado’s 14ers, but I think it’s great that people of all abilities can enjoy being up so high. The other week on La Plata we met a group that had done many of the easier peaks, and when I told them I had spent most of my time in the Elks, they trembled and said those peaks were too dangerous. The peaks they climbed presented all the challenge and risk they were willing to take, and they were thoroughly enjoying themselves.

Of course, people will always be lured in by the numbers, to the peaks that because they sit above an arbitrary point in the sky, garner so much attention. But if you want to find seclusion, follow the advice of the article, and seek out the hundreds of other peaks in the state that don’t have the same notoriety as the big boys. You’ll probably find yourself alone, experiencing another incredible day in the mountains.