We’re still out and about, doing Christmas stuff with the fam. Back to regular blogging next week. For now, here’s a clip of Fred Rouhling climbing an impressive looking 9a+ somewhere on the other side of the world. Enjoy.

To celebrate the shortest day of the year, Mike Schneiter, Bob Cornez and I decided to drive out to Coal Creek to try to grab an ascent of the elusive Cold Heaven. This is one of the finer pitches in Redstone when it’s in condition, but it’s difficult to catch in good shape. It’s a snow melt climb, but faces south east, so you need good snowfall, with sunny days, and cold nights, usually right around the solstice while the sun is still too low to do much damage.

Bob gets nasty on the wide start.

We headed out on Friday afternoon with high hopes, as I’d seen the climb on Monday and figured by now it should be thick enough for a reasonable ascent. Driving up we saw some folks on the mixed lines at the Pencil, pretty sure it was the Rock and Ice crew. Slackers!! Who is putting that magazine together?!?

Man, this ice is kinda thin!

When we got to Coal Creek, it was quickly apparent the climb wasn’t much bigger, if any, than on Monday. Bob decided he was game to try it anyway, and off we went. He put a proud effort in, grunting up the mungy Fisher Towers-esque offwidth at the start, then dicing it out up some steep thin ice. Once past the hard stuff at the beginning, it looked like he had one more short, cruxy section left and then it would be easier to the top.

Looking for love in all the wrong places.

Unfortunately, he found poorly bonded, chandeliered ice, which would require hard, committing moves above crap gear. Wisely, Bob decided to bail, and hopefully we’ll be able to catch it in better shape later this season. Even though Mike and I didn’t get on it, we all had fun of course, a day out in Coal Creek was certainly better than sitting here in front of the computer.

Next time…

I’ve been following a recent forum thread over on MountainProject.com, about the upcoming 2nd edition of the Indian Creek guidebook. Author Dave Bloom put out a request for any photos or info people might like to see added to the book. In return, he got an earful from a vocal minority, some of whom were blaming him for “ruining” the creek. I always find these arguments entertaining. I mean can someone really be so blindly ignorant as to think that a guidebook is the reason a world class climbing area is crowded? Maybe it’s the easy, road side access, or the thousands of splitters, or the perfect weather… Nope, it’s the guidebook’s fault, and especially that evil, greedy author! Let’s string that guy up by his balls! Then I’m sure everyone will stop coming!

Sure, climbing at crowded areas generally sucks compared to having the place to yourself, but that’s the reality of living in a world where there are only going to be more and more people, and more climbers. Might as well figure out how to make the most of it, and be good to each other. We’re all in this together.

The Climbing Narc has an in depth look at the premium content area of Momentum Video Magazine. Sounds like they have some cool clips you can view in the subscriber-only section, I’ll have to throw down and take a look myself one of these days. It’s not very inspiring when the free videos don’t even load properly though… It’d be great if these guys can make it happen, hopefully they have some good brains running the show.

Well, I’m finally back in town after completing a Wilderness First Responder course up in Jackson, which was a great experience. I feel way more confident to deal with emergency situations in the backcountry, and for the time being, have a pretty good knowledge of what to do in specific situations. Broken femur? Traction splint! Open chest wound? Cover it up! A couple things really stood out to me, one being how many different ways there are to die! A whole book full of them, in fact! It gave me a new appreciation for how fragile life is, despite how tough we think we are at times.

On a lighter note, we got out on some ice yesterday, and things in Redstone are looking great with all the new snow. There is ice dripping in everywhere, including a few pitches I’ve never seen before. Game on!

Also, Bryan Gall reported on the message boards that Pitkin County recently purchased the parcel of land that’s home to the Drool, one of the finer routes in Redstone. I talked with a rep from Pitkin County Open Space who confirmed that they had indeed purchased it, and that access to the ice route will be preserved. They will most likely be working on a management plan for the parcel this coming summer. Kudos to these folks for securing an excellent climbing resource for the community. That was only part of the appeal on their end, but for climbers, this is fantastic news.