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Climbing, Adventure, Gear & Choss
Trip 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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Big 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, [...]
Radioactive 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 [...]
Lumpy 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 [...]
Who’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?
Sylvan 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!
Five 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 [...]
Life is Swell
Last week I was forunate enough to help out with a Colorado Rocky Mountain School climbing trip in the San Rafael Swell. It was an intro to crack climbing for most of the students, and we had a blast. For starters, the weather was perfect, other than the first day when we got snowed/graupele on [...]
Mitten Slab – Route of the Month
By Lynn Sanson Having lived in Estes Park for 7 years I was spoiled with many easily accessible moderate multi-pitch routes. While Carbondale has great local crags, there are few options where one can go to get off the ground without driving an hour plus. So my interest was peaked when I heard about a [...]
Car Camping Epic
This was not going well. We had just been shut down by the third place we had tried to find camping outside Saint George, Utah, after arriving in town a little after 12:30 am. The first campground was full, the second had a big rave going on, and the third was closed. We again consulted [...]
Alpine Climbing “Lite”
Towering walls of rock surround me on either side. I press my back to the wall behind and swing my tools for some purchase in whatever lay beneath the snow. Finding something, I gingerly move on and continue up the pitch. Up close, I could be in Rocky Mountain Park or some other alpine climbing [...]
Stoneyfest vs Ouray
For many people, the second weekend in January means one thing: the Ouray Ice Fest. Axe wielding maniacs travel far and wide to party it up in the small town in southern Colorado. Some may even go to climb, although this is doubtful, as it’s probably the worst possible weekend to climb ice in Ouray. [...]
Vail & Redstone Ice Featured in North Face Athlete Videos
It’s mid winter, might as well keep the ice climbing stoke going! The North Face just released two new videos profiling their athletes Emily Harrington and Sam Elias, with some sweet footage shot at Vail and Redstone. It’s also cool to get some insight into how each of them approaches the sport, as they are [...]
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