(In no particular order)

10. Hang out at the library and surf the internet. Just don’t bring coffee or you’ll have to sit on the bench at the entrance and finish it.

9. Give directions to lost German climbers. Then just give them a ride because it’s easier than explaining it all.

8. Get a delicious Albuquerque Turkey sandwich from Milts, perfect recovery food.

7. Hang out at the Moab creamery, they may even give you a cup of coffee for free if you don’t have the right change!

6. Go for a hike in Arches, it feels like walking on another planet.

5. Mess with the WFR class that’s going on in the field across from the library by falling down and pretending you’re a victim.

4. Visit Ye Old Geezer Meat shop and try the best jerky you’ve ever had.

3. Hike out to Corona arch and marvel at the crazies who flew planes through the opening.

2. Go play on the big sand dune near the entrance to Arches, run up and slide down. Warning, this could potentially end the rest of your trip due to the possibility of injury during a high speed descent.

1. Go take a nap on a sunny rock and let the desert silence sooth your soul. (Unless it’s Jeep Safari weekend in which case you’ll likely need therapy afterwards.)

From the Aspen Times:

“On Tuesday, a team of six hiked up the mountainside some 900 feet to remove loose rock with pry bars and other equipment until about 5:30 p.m., according to CDOT. The team reached the unstable rock that needs to come down and, losing daylight, attempted to pry sections loose and locate areas in which to effectively place and charge explosives, but were unable to do so.”

Alright CDOT, the 10 hour detour is probably a lot of fun, and I’m sure the Steamboat businesses are psyched about this surprise stimulus package, but it’s evident you need to bring in some experts to finish the job. Now, I know some fellas that are real handy with a prybar and a wall hammer, and I bet we’d do ok with some explosives as well. Send us up there, and we’ll have your big bad boulder down onto the road in no time. Then you can focus on getting everything fixed and back to running like normal.

Of course, the longer the closure is in place, the more likely it is that you’ll have a crowd-free climbing experience in western Colorado and southern Utah. The Creek will probably be noticeably quiet this weekend, and if it was Rifle season, the canyon would likely be dreamily empty.

But back to the work at hand, CDOT, you know where to find us. I’ll even bring my special prybar, the one I call WMD. Hasn’t failed me yet…

ClimbingNarc.com is arguably the most popular climbing blog out there, with a loyal following that goes into depression when the site goes down for the weekend. I recently caught up with Brian Runnells, the Climbing Narc himself, to talk about the site and being a climber in the Midwest.

When did ClimbingNarc.com get started?

The site started 3 years ago during one of my frequent breaks from climbing due to injury.  One day I came up with a name, opened a blogspot account and started posting.

How has it evolved over the course of those 3 years?

I probably do fewer posts about myself than I used to, otherwise my main focus of drawing people’s attention to whatever is happening in the world of climbing has largely stayed the same.

Do you find it hard to balance keeping fresh content on the site with other commitments?

Yeah, this is probably the most difficult aspect of running the site.  I would like to be able to devote more time to developing ideas and stories but for obvious reasons the site has to take a backseat to things like work and family time.

You cover a lot of breaking news, how do you stay on top of the latest and greatest?

I’ve been reading as many different sources of climbing information as I could for a number of years now, and the increased popularity of blogs and RSS readers was like giving me steroids.  I’m constantly checking for updates that might be of interest to my readers.

Switching gears a bit, what’s your favorite climbing discipline?

Despite the fact that I injure myself with alarming frequency while doing it, bouldering will always be my favorite thing to do.  In the past few years I’ve tried to branch out into trad climbing but there’s no substitute for pulling hard on the smaller rocks.

How would you describe life as a climber in the Midwest?

Frustrating.  While there are some decent spots to climb locally (2 hours away), the better areas (RRG, HP40, etc) are at least 8-12 hours away.

What are some of the good local spots and what are they like?

Local is a relative term when the nearest crag is 2 hours away, but the best local area is without a doubt Devil’s Lake.  ‘The Lake’ is an old school area sort of like the Gunks or Seneca Rocks.  There are no bolts and everything is done using traditional gear.  To me toproping is kind of boring, but for classic trad climbing on vertical, almost frictionless, quartzite the Lake is great.  There are some pretty fun boulder problems scattered around the park as well, although the vertical style of the problems is not really my favorite.

How’s the climbing scene/community there?

I’ve been climbing at the same gym for over 10 years now so there is a really fun scene there.  Outdoors the scene is quite a bit more fragmented.  Most of the people at my gym prefer making the drive down south for their weekend trips so there isn’t a real strong scene at a local place like Devil’s Lake.  On any given weekend I would be much more likely to see people from my area down at the Red than at the Lake.

How did you get started climbing in such a vertically challenged part of the country?

My interest in climbing began after I read Into Thin Air for a High School English class.  Since the tallest mountains around here are trash heaps I figured I’d give rock climbing a try.  I was really terrible at first but for some reason I stuck with it.

From what I gather your wife climbs as well? Did you meet through climbing?

No, we actually dated for a number of years before I was able to convince her to try climbing.  Despite suffering a couple major injuries already she stuck with it.  Being able to travel and climb with her has been great.

Any big trips or goals for the coming year?

Nothing too major.  Since I never know when my next injury is going to happen I’ve sort of stopped making long range plans when it comes to climbing.  It’s a bit cliché, but I really just try to live in the moment when it comes to climbing.  After years of obsessing over future plans and dreams this new approach has served me well the past couple of years.  It’s helped make them the most enjoyable of my climbing career despite not climbing as much as I would have liked.

Great, thanks Brian!

Be sure to put ClimbingNarc.com in your feed reader!

MB:  You were talking earlier about some of your routes.  Some of your routes could be said to be dangerous.  And therefore, a lot of people won’t climb them.  I interviewed a California first ascenter, and this gentleman came to the realization that he wanted people to climb his routes, so he started making them safer.  What’re your thoughts on that, Jason?

JH:  Well, I don’t have a problem with other people’s style.  Maybe I’m, perhaps, a little too lazy to bolt myself.  I just like the aspect of the unknown and the adventure side of things.  So, that’s what works for me today.  I’m a little bit younger and maybe, perhaps, a little bit dumber.  So, I’m willing to take those risks right now.  But, I’ve been climbing a lot in the South Platte lately, and replacing some bolts down there and working on a guidebook for there.  And talking to some of the old first ascensionists, they kind of regret their run-out routes, because people aren’t repeating them.  Looking back on that, 20/30 years later, [they] really wish that they had done them in a different style.  So, I think there’s something to be said for that, of looking back on your routes.

(Thanks to ClimbingNarc.com for the heads up on this one.)

Because people no longer climb their routes, these guys in essence are saying they wish they’d made them safer.  At some areas, old routes have been upgraded with better/more protection and have subsequently become popular classics, and I think this is a debate that’s going to come up more and more in the climbing world, especially as the old guard starts to fade. In some areas, like the South Platte & Tuolumne, you have massive resources of rock that are not being climbed, because the routes are simply too dangerous for the average recreational climber. Safer climbs at popular cliffs see lines on weekends, while these runout, usually slabby, affairs sit there fading into obscurity. And while there will always be a place for dangerous climbs that require you to rise to the occasion, the simple fact is that most climbers today pursue the sport as recreation, and as such are looking for safe venues in which to follow their passion.

My prediction would be that as this older generation passes on, at least some of these routes will be upgraded in a style that preserves the adventure aspect, but makes it more attainable to the climbing masses. Instead of a bolt every 30 feet, you might have them 15 feet apart, which is still plenty spicy by today’s standards, but would make the routes much more attainable. And guidebooks could even note the original style of the ascent, paying homage to a bygone era, so the masses could ponder those who had gone before and just how big their cajones must have been.

Now, I’m not saying I’m gonna go out and retrobolt anything, and I’m not endorsing the concept, I’m simply talking about a possible direction the sport could take, especially as it continues to become more popular and the need for more climbs increases.

What do others think? Am I way off base here? Will there always been staunch traditionalists who will defend these sacred testaments to climbing’s more dangerous past? Or will they remain obscure forever because most of them are slabs anyway, and slabs aren’t fun, or cool, and probably won’t be again any time soon?

Back to the Roots: M.D.M.C.P. a new 5.13 in Indian Creek from Cedar Wright on Vimeo.

Avocado Gully – fat & cruiser.

Dancing in the Moonlight – fat.

Crystal Visions – in WI5 shape.

Tomato Chimney – fat, but good luck on getting in there.

Dirty Linen Gully – snow on rock.

The Pencil – dry as a bone.

Coal Creek – soaking wet today, not much ice, dry tooling routes still climbable.

The Drool – fat & cruiser.

Redstone Pillar – fat.

Redstone Slabs – WI5 conditions, looked sunbaked.

Marble Falls – haven’t heard, could be scary thin at the top as it starts to warm up.

The futuristic d30 shock absorbing gel, molded into the back of the glove, is flexible under normal situations but seizes up upon impact, molecules locking together, to absorb energy and create a protective barrier between your fingers and the not so forgiving ice.  When I got the gloves early in the season all I could think was, “shock absorbing material, really?”

While descending from a day out searching for new ice, I’d gotten a bit ahead of my partner and started contemplating these new gloves.  Since I wasn’t finding any actual ice to bang my knuckles on I thought, what the heck, this wall looks tough enough, I’ll just punch the crap out of it and see how it feels. I punched the menacing rock once, and decided I could handle a bit more and punched again, this time a bit harder.  Soon I was going at it full boar.  As my partner rounded the corner he stopped in his tracks, got all wide eyed and just shook his head as if this was just another one of my moments he’d never be able to explain to anyone else.  There I was boxing away like I was in the title bout of my life.  I took the gloves off and handed them to him, “Your turn. Try to make it hurt”.  In the end we were both quite amazed at how hard we could punch without feeling much pain.  Shock absorbing material? Check! I’m a believer.

All around these gloves impressed me.  While I still carry two pairs, one for leading and one for belays, I found these to work quite well for those dripping wet cold leads, where thin gloves cause me to loose more energy just trying to stay warm than I would waste on the extra effort big gloves require for placing gear.  With a pre-formed curve they are quite dexterous for their size, and wrap around the ice tool nicely, perhaps reducing a bit of pump from gripping the tool.  But I’ve been most amazed with their warmth and water resistance.  I have yet to get cold hands in them aside from one bitter day in the negatives.  And my hands always seem to stay dry even on extended days out.  I wore them all day long on a cold ascent of Dreamweaver in spindrift conditions, and the wrist cuff performed wonderfully, keeping the snow out while not being bulky and awkward like so many gloves I’ve worn.

I love the clip in loops on the middle finger, a must with ice gloves, allowing you to clip them to your harness on the warmer leads while keeping the snow and ice from annoyingly collecting inside.  While I first thought the lack of a wrist strap might cause a loose feel, they seem to stay on my hand well and work good for those of us that still use leashed tools from time to time.  Lastly, the palms seem to be holding up quite well to numerous high speed rappels.  They show no signs of burning through even the first layer of leather which is quite rare.  They are a bit on the expensive side so you will probably want to protect them a bit more than I have but I wanted to see what they could handle and I must say I’ve been impressed.  A quality glove that I hope will last longer than those I’ve had in the past.  Time will tell.

Ryan Jennings is an avid ice climber, father, and Roaring Fork Valley real estate expert.

From the article:

“The moratorium will stay in place until they can develop a ‘comprehensive climbing management plan,’ said open space ranger John Armstrong. ‘There has been a real influx in the amount of people climbing there,’ ranger Armstrong said, ‘and we don’t actually have any developed climbing policy.’

Violations of the code would result in a $100 fine for a first offense, $500 for a second and $1,000 for any infraction beyond that.

‘Really that’s what we’re trying to avoid,’ he said. ‘We will put up flyers in climbing shops and we’ll meet with climbers and the climbing community because right now this is more about education.’

Local climbers are meeting with the Open Space board this week to tour the climbs in question and see if a common understanding can be reached. Climbing is becoming more and more important to the economy of the town of Redstone, with visitors coming to the valley to check out both the rock and ice climbing opportunities there, and we can’t help but wonder if they will voice their opinion in the matter.

Climber’s have stayed under the radar for a long time with regards to fixed anchors, but as the sport continues to grow, it’s only a matter of time before these kinds of management plans become more common place, and yet another reason to be on our best behavior when it comes to bolts in high visibility areas.

As for this particular plan, no details were given for an approximate timeline of when it will be developed and put into place.

The Good

I’ve been using this pack since last August for everything from casual cragging, to full on sport development, to ice climbing. It has held up to the abuse rather well, minus a puncture in the bottom that nothing outside of a haulbag could have withstood. As far as carrying capacity, it’s listed at 35L, but the floating lid allows it to be expanded to 48L, and it felt like it held significantly more than my Black Diamond Sphinx 45L. Maybe there is some shoddy math going on here, but whatever the reason, this is one of the few climbing packs that I feel can carry everything I need for a day at the crag, plus a rope on top. The outer fabric is durable but light, and the pack’s shape makes it easy to pile stuff into it. The suspension is nice and carries really well, even with heavier loads like, say, a drill, bolts, rope, etc.

As far as other features I like, there’s an inside pocket for a hydration bladder, as well as ice axe loops, and 3 haul points should you be bringing it up on a route with you. The hip belt is designed so that you can wear it climbing and rack gear on it, or clip it out of the way so it doesn’t interfere with your harness. And there’s also a removable bivy pad that’s part of the back panel, leave it in for comfort, or take it out to go fast and light. And speaking of fast and light, the top lid is removable if you are trying to strip the pack down to a bare minimum.

The Bad

Not too many gripes here, but I do feel that a climbing specific pack should have a good system for carrying a helmet. A simple cord on the top lid would enable this,which is much nicer than having to stuff it in the pack or clip it to the outside where it can bang around or get caught on stuff. The only other complaints I have come from using the pack in the cold and snow. One chilly morning I broke one of the pull tabs, which was really brittle in the low temperatures.  And the small waist buckle seemed to get easily clogged with snow, which then prevented it from snapping shut.

The Fun

Now, these were originally intended for racking gear, but of course I found an excellent alternate use for them: bolt bandoleer. Never again fumble around in your satchel for the right bolts, this keeps your handy implements close and allows for rapid route development. Other suggested uses include a holder for cigarettes, if you are more Euro, and licorice if you have a sweet tooth.

All joking aside, this is a very worthy climbing pack. For cold weather pursuits it seemed to have a few quirks, but for rock climbing, it’s a great bag. If they add a better way to carry a helmet, it would be a contender for one of the best out there.

Disclaimer: The FTC wants you all to know that this product was provided to SplitterChoss.com for the purpose of reviewing. We beat the hell out of gear and don’t post about it unless it’s up to our standards.