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Climbing, Adventure, Gear & Choss
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Early Season Avalanche Awareness
It’s been snowing in Colorado… a lot. I can’t remember the last time there was this much snow up high this time of year, though my friends tell me two years ago they were getting faceshots. Maybe on tele skis, while dodging between weeds. Or maybe they smoked too much weed. Either way, there is [...]
Gold Butte Closer to Opening…Or is It?
From the Aspen Daily News comes this information about the possible reopening of an old climbing area right outside the town of Aspen. The deal will basically be decided by whether the owner of the land gets what he wants in regards to what he can build on the property. If he gets a satisfactory [...]
Photo Of the Moment – Thompson Creek
Photo of the Moment is a new section on the site that will feature photos we want to share, some with a relevant story, others that are just nice images. Today’s shot is of Tracy Wilson on End of the World Party in Thompson Creek. This was the first route that was bolted there, and [...]
Small But Motivated
As I sat around the other night, sorting through some aid gear with a friend who was headed into the Elks for round two on a major new route project, it occurred to me that though the crew of local developers may be small, they sure are motivated. Just in the last week, several new [...]
The Narrows Makes It Big
The Narrows is a scruffy little area between Carbondale and Redstone that sat quietly neglected for many years. A few adventurous locals, including Harvey Carter, made forays up some of the obvious lines, but for the most part it sat ignored until about six years ago when we went looking for something close to town [...]
Discuss the Future of Climbing in the Roaring Fork Valley
For those who aren’t aware, the Hidden Gems Wilderness Campaign seeks to preserve and protect wilderness quality land around the Roaring Fork Valley. As climbers, we welcome protecting the land from things liking mining and oil and gas exploitation, but in this case there is a possible conflict of interest. The nature of most of [...]
City Of Rocks – Wallpaper Download
City of Rocks is a beautiful place. Granite crags, domes and spires are scattered across the high desert, and the landscape has a surreal atmosphere to it. Most weekends, you’ll find just as many non-climbers, if not more, who are simply there to wander around the maze of rocks, and marvel at those of us [...]
Can Worn Biners Cut A Rope?
Many modern sport crags have fixed draws, especially on the popular routes. Over time, the rope end of the ‘biners on these draws gets worn down, and start to develop some pretty serious grooves. Kolin Powick, the quality assurance guy over at BD, has conducted a test on these worn ‘biners to see if the [...]
Wallpaper Download – The Skillet
The Skillet is a high quality crag that sits above the Frying Pan River, 13 miles from the town of Basalt. Recently featured in a Rock and Ice photo essay about the area, this is one of the best crags in the area. This month’s wallpaper showcases the route Nose Job, one of the more [...]
Coal Creek Craggin’
As I’ve mentioned before, the ice cragging options in Redstone are generally pretty slim. But what if I told you there is a place that is exploding with new route potential, where you can walk from thirty seconds to five minutes to an incredible variety of climbs, from stout WI 5 pillars to M10 cave [...]
Wallpaper Download – The Drool
Yet another new monthly feature here on SplitterChoss.com will be a wallpaper download of the month. I’ll try to make it something that matches the season, so for February it’s ice climbing, next month maybe a desert shot, and so on. This month’s shot is from the second pitch of the Drool, in Redstone. Typically [...]
The 4th Annual Glenwood Ice (and Snow) Festival
Well, yet another underground festival has come and gone. This one is a little tame compared to StoneyFest, but still a great time. For the last four years, we’ve had an informal ice (and skiing) festival centered out of Glenwood Springs. Folks come to join us from all over the West, and usually we have [...]
More Shots Fired in Coal Creek!
Wow, just when you thought you’d seen it all… I got an email this afternoon from a climber who went to scope the ice in Coal Creek and came across a guy shooting at the ice formations hanging from the cliffs up there. Sounds like he got some of them to fall to the road, [...]
Wandering the Web
As I’ve mentioned already, backcountry skiing is the choice activity this month, but our training program is in full swing. We’ve taken a sample program out of the book Training for Climbing, and it’ll be interesting to see what kind of results we get. And while plastic is all I’m pulling for now, there’s still [...]
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 [...]
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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