Well we finally got up to Independence Pass on Saturday for the first time this season. We decided to check out a crag called Phat City in the Lincoln Creek area, it’s a newer cliff with a good range of routes from 5.8 to 5.11, and the book recommended many of the lines. Hiking up through the woods it looked like we might have been the first people to walk up this trail this year, with a couple of lingering snow patches we had to walk over. A quick 20 minute jaunt brought us to the base, and the views were fantastic, as they often are on the Pass. The climbing turned out to be a mixed bag, some of the routes were lame, some were really good, regardless of whether they were recommended in the guidebook or not.

The one thing we all agreed was lame, however, was the state of several of the anchors up there. Now I know firsthand that putting up routes is expensive, but if the route is worth doing, it’s worth having good hardware on it. This is completely unacceptable:

The skinny chain is attached directly to the bolts, with no hangers to clip. It’s also hard to get a biner through the chain links, and there is just one skinny link for lowering. And this was on one of the better routes up there. This is just lazy, go back and spend the extra $7 to put some hangers on there, buy some real chain and big quick links.

Despite the shoddy hardware, we had a blast, though I wouldn’t recommend the crag. It’s got a lot of choss, and there are way better cliffs up there. Now we know, and it’s always fun to check out a new spot.

A local paper, the Post Independent, has an article today about the new Rifle Mountain Park & Western Colorado Rock Climbs guidebook. It focuses on Dave Pegg, the motivating force behind the guide and the founder of Wolverine Publishing. Definitely worth a quick read.

In other news, NPS officials are starting to confiscate stashed pads in Rocky Mountain Park. This seems to be somewhat of a controversial issue for some, but if you’re too lazy to carry crash pad a couple miles, then maybe you shouldn’t be back there.

Also, the Climbing Narc is giving away some DVD’s and Pimpin and Crimpin has an entertaining interview with Climbing Mag Editor in Chief Matt Samet.

Here at SplitterChoss.com headquarters we’ve got some more reviews coming down the pipe, as well as some interviews with local climbers, and a whole lot more.

Here it is! The new guidebook for climbing in Rifle Mountain Park and other areas in Western Colorado.

Featuring over 900 routes at the following areas:
Rifle Mountain Park
Rifle Arch
Main Elk
The Fortress
Glenwood Canyon
The Narrows
Redstone
Coal Creek
Frying Pan
Lime Park
Hagerman Pass

Many of these areas have never been published before and are a wonderful addition to the climbing in this part of Colorado. This book is packed with incredible action photos and concise beta that you can’t find anywhere else, not even on this site!

Check out the sample pages below:

Project Wall - Rifle
Glenwood Canyon Intro
The Skillet - Frying Pan

All orders get a free SplitterChoss.com sticker. So what are you waiting for?

Had a nice mellow weekend, checked out a new zone at the Narrows that should yield some fun new routes on great rock. I thought the pitches would be long, but the upper half of the formation is hollow, too bad. Still, these 50′ routes will be a lot of fun and nice addition to the place. Stay tuned for a topo once it’s all said and done.

Also got out to Thompson Creek, had the place to ourselves except for one other party that came and went pretty quickly. The skies flirted with rain all afternoon, but we enjoyed nice temps and got some good climbing in. And for me it was yet another brutal reminder of how long the ski season was, and how much climbing is kicking my ass right now. At least it can only get better, right?

The access situation at Thompson Creek remains the same for now, so please continue to respect the voluntary measures that are in place limiting climber “impact”. Hopefully in the not to distant future the local climbing community can enjoy unrestricted access to this excellent local resource.

Big shout out to Mike Schneiter and Steve Smith who are going for the Nose in a day today. They were crushing while we were in the Valley last week, so I don’t doubt it will go well for them. As I sat and stared up at El Cap, it definitely boggled my mind that it can be climbed so fast. Word on the street is that Hans and Yugi are going back to reclaim their record, should be interesting to see how it all shakes out. Generally I think speed records are kinda of silly, but you gotta respect covering 3000 feet in only 2.5 hours. Damn!

In other news, ever wonder how Sonnie Trotter trains for all those 5.14 trad routes? All Climbing has a great video showing his typical training routine. Pimpin and Crimpin highlights Eldorado Canyon. And lastly, the new Rifle/Western Colorado guidebook will be available for sale on this site starting on Monday, just got to get some kinks worked out in the backend.

Have a great weekend everybody!