Ah the Frying Pan. This is one of my favorite crags, and it’s discovery was truly a privilege. After our success with the Narrows and Coal Creek, we were on a roll. It seemed as if the entire area was a blank canvas of undiscovered cliffs just waiting for us to poke our heads around the corner. It was with this optimism that Luke Laeser and I parked near the Reudi Dam one spring day in 2005 and started walking up hill.

The crag is obvious when you are coming down the road from the reservoir, and we figured others had surely gone before. Asking around, however, no one knew anything about it. We checked out the upper cliffs through binoculars, and could see what looked like good stone and even some splitter cracks. Alright!

We left the car and just started going straight up the steep hill, passing a lower chossy crag along the way. We soon came to a boulder, and found that the rock was quite good! There wasn’t an abundance of holds, but it was solid. With this promising piece of info, we continued higher up the hill and soon came to the streaked walls of the Skillet. We could barely believe our eyes. Here was a crag that looked like a cross between Eldo and Mill Creek, and it was in our backyard! We walked along the walls, envisioning the lines. “That looks like a good warm up. That looks hard!” We moved up along the cliff, and were even more amazed as the walls continued to rise.

As we drove back to Carbondale that day we knew we had seen the future, and it was good. With the help of others, most notably Jeff Jackson and Josh Gross, it’s quickly become one of the top crags in the region. Look for full beta in the new Western Sloper guidebook, coming out in June.

Photo courstey of Erik Hendrix

It’s another sunny day here in the mountains. The sun is shining, the wind is moving through the trees. And yet, a sad and reflective day, as one of our own has passed on to the next great adventure.

Lathrop Strang died in a fall down the Laundry Chutes on Mount Sopris on Friday afternoon. Lathrop wasn’t a close friend, but whenever our paths crossed it was always fun to see his smiling face and share our latest adventures. He was someone who’s presence was making this world a better place. He touched numerous lives in the valley and will be missed by many.

While freak accidents are something you can’t control, I imagine there are some lessons to be learned. Perhaps the most important of all is to live a life full of passion and kindness. Stop putting off all the things you want to do and say, and go do them now.

Lathrop was a shinning example of a person who pursued life to the fullest. That in itself is a gift we can all take something from.

Below are several articles in the local media about the accident:

WildSnow.com Report

Guest blog by Rob Griz.

How to build your desert rack real cheap

Nothing like some killer splitters to start off a rock season after a stellar (and still hanging) ice season. Something kinda nice about chasin’ the sun instead of the shade for sweet lines, wearing a lot less, hiking a lot less and suffering a lot less (kinda). Maverick Buttress, a mini-Creek with a much shorter drive and hike, is a gem of Wingate splitters that rival some of the routes at the Creek. To protect the (?) innocent (Including my own namesake), I have changed the name of my partner.

So there we were, warming up on the likes of the Texas Two Step, Saddle Sores and Round up. Lead, lower, clean and swap out to lead, lower and clean. The climbing was superb and setting idyllic. Deep in the recesses of ‘Timmy’s’ head though, he had an agenda, Gunsmoke, a 5-star classic consisting of a pure 150’ of continuous crack climbing. So we saunter over to this classic line to find a duo taking a final lap. ‘Timmy’ starts diggin’ for the beta, how many of these and how many of those. Was it cupped hands or ring-locks, the questions spilled like the spring rains off slickrock.

I tear out the rack (damn we still have alotta gear!) and lay it out for ‘Timmy’s’ assault. Done with his interrogation and brain overloaded with beta, he turns to the business of racking up. With my arsenal of gear laid out before him, I never took notice of the other party’s rack neatly draped on a rock just off ‘Timmy’s’ left shoulder. The boy was psyched and he was in the ‘zone’. I flake the pair of ropes and Timmy ties in with a rainbow of cams dangling from his harness.

The other party is pulling their line and Timmy is almost wailed by the tail…I’m tellin’ ya, this boy was in the ZONE! Just as his hands touch the tawny sandstone, one of two guys from the other party speaks out and says “Hey buddie, that one cam on your harness, is that blue/yellow tape, looks kinda like one of ours?”. With his focus partially broken, Timmy looks down at the rack as I glance over. “Ain’t my cam, bro” I say. Timmy, unphased and whacked on ZONE-Chi, casually strips the piece and apologizes to the other fellas as he turns back to the line. “Wait a minuet” the guy says again, “I think I see another one of our pieces on your right side…dude, I gotta check you out now!”.

The scene is looking more like a drug-bust pat down as Timmy is carefully tag-teamed by the other two guys, damn if he didn’t have another cam of theirs! Timmy is now losing a bit of the focus and feeling kinda funny. I’m amazed how he took all the beta and just did the math; 4-#3, 5 #2, 3#1, 3 #.75 and 3 #.5, and took exactly what he needed (apparently from all available racks!). The only bummer is that at the time I only had 2 each of the .75 and .5 cams. Can’t fault the guy for wanting to be safe!

Timmy sent the line is style, even though he was a few cams short. In the end he didn’t even the need the extra support. And as we parted from our excellent weekend of desert towers and cracks, I made him dump his bag and double check, because after all…Gunsmoke can blind a man!

Guest blog by Mike Schneiter.

“Quartzite climbing in Glenwood Canyon?” The question is usually accompanied by a quizzical stare of disbelief. For the vast majority of climbers in the Roaring Fork Valley, climbing in Glenwood Canyon consists of clipping bolts on the limestone of the Puoux and trad climbing on granite at No Name. The towering limestone/quartzite walls of Glenwood Canyon are a beautiful site for those passing by on Interstate 70 but are mostly looked upon with horror by climbers as a towering jumble of ugliness.

I had always wondered that in all that vertical real estate and over 10 miles of canyon, surely there must be some redeeming rock. If you do your homework, you’ll find stories of climbing in Glenwood Canyon from the likes of Layton Kor and Michael Kennedy in the 70s and 80s. Their stories don’t draw you out to the canyon in search of lines. With route names like Death Wish and descriptions of rock so bad that it wouldn’t hold gear, pin, or bolt, it makes you think that their hard-earned lessons should save you the trouble.

A few years ago, I was out on a long trail run, exploring parts of the canyon I had yet to visit. The most popular trail in the White River National Forest is the Hanging Lake Trail, with over 100,000 visitors a year. Veering off that trail is the Dead Horse Trail, featuring tight undergrowth and loose rocks, but with a nice climb to the top of the canyon and on to the Flat Tops.

Minutes off the Hanging Lake Trail I was struck by a short, nice looking wall of quartzite. The quartzite appeared to be compact and solid, with horizontal bands running along it. One of the many walls met the trail and it was there that I laid hands on some nice stone and started wondering.

Now, flash forward to the spring of 2007. Our climbing plans are falling apart as light rain, cloud cover, and cool temperatures threaten. Talk turns to doing some exploration or trail work at new crags to make the best of a gloomy day. Although my memory is hazy, I suggest that we investigate the wall at Dead Horse Canyon that I glimpsed years previously and have never been able to get out of my mind. Until you actually take a rope and a rack to a wall, you never know if it’s good or not.

Of course, it’s not as tall as I remember, but the rock is better than I remember and the slight overhang of the wall has kept the rock dry. I reject a proposal to hike to the top and throw a toprope down on what appears to be an easier offering. “Let’s do it the way Kor and the boys would have done it.” Once on the rock, I realize that we’ve found a true gem. The rock is hard with perfect incut edges and the movement is delightful. And, with that, the climb Homage was born and a mini-revolution of Glenwood Canyon quartzite climbing was started with the Dead Horse Crag.

Now, about exploring the rest of that quartzite in Glenwood Canyon…

You can stay on top of all Mike’s explorations in choss land over at Chossmonkey.com

I recently picked up the new Black Diamond Apollo lantern, and I have to say, I’m impressed. I’ve used some dinky little battery powered LED lanterns before, but this one is different: it comes with all the bells and whistles.

First off, it’s a nice size, big enough to be effective car camping, but not so big you wouldn’t consider throwing it in your pack for a short overnight trip. Also, the amount of light it puts out is impressive. We pulled into our camp below Castleton this past weekend well after dark. When I flipped on the Apollo I was immediately surprised by how bright it was! If you need something a little more subtle, it’s even got a dimmer switch to lower the intensity.

It runs off of 4 AA batteries, or if you are more eco-minded, you can get Black Diamond’s NRG rechargeable battery kit, and there is handy indicator on the lantern that tells you how much power you have left. If you are on the road for an extended stay, hook it up with a Brunton solar panel, and you’ll have as much light as the sun can give you.

Overall, this is one slick product. It does everything it should do, and does it well. If you’ve been looking for a small lantern like this, go get one of these for sure. I know it’ll be coming on many more trips with us.