Having spent most of the last two weeks in and around Moab, I had some rest days to kill, and these are my top picks for what to do while you’re waiting for your muscles to stop hurting and the skin to regrow on the backs of your hands.
March 12th, 2010 | BJ Sbarra | 4 comments | ContinuedTrip Reports
Winterfest Fun in Redstone
This past weekend marked the first Redstone Winterfest, a celebration of winter that included ice climbing demos and clinics. My friend Ya and I decided to check it out, and we met up Saturday morning at a casual 10:30am, thanks in no small part to the groovy disco beats of Sparkle Motion in Carbondale the [...]
February 8th, 2010 | BJ Sbarra | 0 comments | Continued
The End of Outdoor Climbing?
Sunday afternoon in Boulder. We could have gone to Eldo, and climbed a couple of cold, chossy pitches, but it was much easier instead to head over to the new Movement Climbing + Fitness gym. My third day in a row there, I couldn’t help but wonder if this ultra-modern facility signals the end of [...]
January 19th, 2010 | BJ Sbarra | 9 comments | Continued
Fun in the (Winter) Sun
This past weekend I had an experience, one of those eye opening ones, that has changed my perspective permanently. On Saturday, several of us decided to head out to try to climb some rock, despite a forecast that called for a high of 25 in Carbondale. We had heard of a local spot that bakes [...]
January 14th, 2010 | BJ Sbarra | 5 comments | Continued
Redstone Ice Conditions 1.10.09
For Redstone to have a banner ice year, we need the perfect mix of snow and sunny days that are warm enough to get some water moving but not so hot everything falls down. This year it’s been sunny, but way too cold for much ice to come in other than the usual routes. Here’s [...]
January 11th, 2010 | BJ Sbarra | 0 comments | ContinuedBig Piles of Rocks
That’s probably what the Native Americans would have called it. We focus on the trees, and call it Joshua Tree, a climbing oasis in southern California. We got two days in early this week, temps are still in the mid 80’s so we had to scrap most of our tick list and chase shade. Still, [...]
November 6th, 2009 | BJ Sbarra | 1 comment | ContinuedRadioactive Cragging in Southwest Colorado
Last week I got to volunteer on a CRMS fall climbing trip to the Paradox Valley in southwestern Colorado. I’d heard good things about the area, but never had a chance to check it out aside from driving through once on a back road trip to the Creek. What we found was fun climbing and [...]
October 6th, 2009 | BJ Sbarra | 3 comments | ContinuedLumpy Ridge in the Summer
During the summer of 2000, I lived in Estes Park, working as little as possible and spending a lot of time in RMNP and Lumpy Ridge. I’ve been back many times, but it had been 4 years since my last trip, and Tracy had never been, so we loaded up the van and headed north [...]
July 15th, 2009 | BJ Sbarra | 5 comments | ContinuedWho’ll Stop the Rain
As we enter our seventh day in a row of rain here in western Colorado, many folks are beginning to wonder, who indeed will stop this rain?
May 26th, 2009 | BJ Sbarra | 0 comments | ContinuedSylvan Lake Photo Gallery
I thought I’d share some shots today from my recent trip to the Needles. These are from the area around Sylvan Lake itself. Enjoy!
May 22nd, 2009 | BJ Sbarra | 0 comments | ContinuedFive Towers in Five Hours
Yep, you read that right. Five towers in five hours. So where did this Herculean feat occur? The Bridger Jacks? Castle Valley? Try the Needles of South Dakota. I got to make a quick one day visit to this incredible place with my friend Lynn while on a service trip to the Pine Ridge Indian [...]
May 7th, 2009 | BJ Sbarra | 3 comments | Continued