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 for the weekend. I had almost forgotten how good the trad climbing there is, and we had a blast sampling some of the moderate offerings at the Book. Kind of nice to have to use your feet for a change, everything around here is so steep that slabby granite feels completely foreign at first. Tracy loves this style of climbing, and wants to go back every weekend!

We also met a lot of great folks at the cliff, most of whom seemed to know friends of ours, so we were all connected in some way. This lead to a lot of “Ooohh” moments from Tracy, like  “ooooh how nice were those people” and “oooh look at all the new friends we have.” A big shout out to Ken and Aaron, and Myles, great to meet you guys!

Tracy on the approach to the Book.

Enjoying the first pitch of Melvin’s Wheel.

Our new friend Karen on the 2nd pitch of White Whale.