Back to Boulder...

Juno with her Sister from another litter Lucy

Hey everyone sorry for the lack of posts lately... First off I want to give a shout out to Mickey for the awesome photos he has given us! After getting flooded out of Rifle and heading to Vail for the Teva Mountain Games Mike and I made our way back to Boulder.  I miss this place.  I dropped by the Brewing Market, the greatest coffee shop and my old work place, and was offered some hours for the summer.  I am gonna be working a few days a week here and climbing on my days off (and days on since work starts at 5 AM).  I went back to Littleton to celebrate my birthday last week.  As is typical with a Seymour birthday (no offense mom and dad) I picked out the majority of my gifts myself which included a new camera tripod, a Boulder Canyon guide book, and a rope and draws.  Perfect gifts for Boulder Canyon which is where we will be climbing a lot this summer.  We have been climbing there a few days already and have had a lot of fun on the granite walls that I didn't climb even once during my 5 years living in Boulder.  Mike and Mickey went down to Newlin Creek, an area south of Canon City last weekend and had a great time.  He should be posting some pics soon!

Which one is which?

Along this trip people are always asking me if the outdoor climbing in Boulder is as great as it is rumored to be, and I can hardly answer with confidence.  I never climbed in Boulder Canyon, Clear Creek Canyon along with many others.  For the most part I have only climbed in RMNP (which IS as great as rumored), Mt. Evans (also as great as rumored), Flagstaff (not my favorite), and some smaller areas near Lyons.  So far since we have been back in Boulder I have climbed in Lincoln Lakes and Endo Valley, 2 areas that have seen a recent surge in development, as well as Boulder Canyon.  In comparison to its neighbor Chaos Canyon, Endo Valley is much more accessible, less snowy and much more condensed.  We have spent two impressive days climbing here working on problems such as Dave Grahams "Extra Alientated" and Johnny Horks "Merkin."  With an easy approach and a lower elevation that Chaos Canyon RMNP, this area is perfect for the early summer months when Chaos is still covered in snow.  Yesterday Kayla, Angie, Mike Holly and I met Kevin and Liesel, some friends from this trip in Endo Valley.  Angie killed it.  Nice work!!!!  I have a few projects there that I am hoping to get a chance to climb again this week before going to Fripp Island, South Carolina for our annual family reunion.

"Extra Alienated" in Endo Valley, RMNP

Our one day in Lincoln Lakes (Mt. Evans) turned out to be less than expected.  Unfortunately for us there is no guide and hardly any information concerning the area, so we went in not knowing what to expect.  After a 20 minute scramble/sled down to the boulders we had a hard time finding anything with chalk on it, and nothing that we recognized from the movies.  Luckily some people told us where to find a few problems that we spent the rest of the day on.  I think I am still recovering from the grueling hike out, but I am psyched to go back with some people that are more familiar with the area.  TJ is getting in some time next week (assuming he doesn't dilly dally like last time) and I'm looking forward to seeing what he thinks of Colorado climbing.

With my work schedule I am planning on climbing in Boulder Canyon almost every day this summer.  On days off I will head to the park, Mt. Evans and Rifle Mountain Park.  In fact, I think I am going to head to Boulder Canyon right now.

Adios!

-Thomas

I will be working on some more video now that I have a tripod that works.  Keep checking!!!  Thanks for following our blog by the way.  I hope it is entertaining.

Rifle and Colorado pics

Here are some photos from the last 2 days.  We got flooded out of Rifle, so we went to an area pronounced "The Pukes" right off of I-70.  Mitch and I both got all the moves on "Urban Cowboy," a great overhanging 5.12...Hoping to make it back to link it all.  We also met some friends for the Teva Mountain Games.  Enjoy.

Rifle and the "Unnamed Dog"

We have made our way back to Colorado and it is strange knowing that we won't be heading west any more along this trip.  Alex Vidal came out to visit over Memorial day weekend and we had a blast despite the fact that I wasn't able to climb.  We left Joe's Valley 2 days ago after getting one last morning of climbing in Joe's and spent the night in a Wal-Mart parking lot in Grand Junction.

Combing our hair is quite a luxury...

After arriving in Rifle yesterday afternoon Mike and I embarrassed ourselves on the easiest pumpy limestone routes available in RMP.  They are LONG.  Much longer than the routes we did in New Mexico and Red Rocks.  As with all new climbing areas, it takes some time to get used to the style of climbing, especially in a place like Rifle which is extremely unique.  Rifle is a 2 mile long narrow canyon lined with limestone cliffs, and is said to be the best limestone sport-climbing area in North America.  Rifle Creek runs through the canyon and with the recent rain and snow melt, parts of the road are flooded and a handful of routes are still too wet to climb.  

RMP (Rifle Mountain Park) is known for its lack of beginner or intermediate climbing.  It is famed for its long, steep, hard pitches - and an prodigious amount of classic 5.13's.

Yesterday Mike and I worked on some of the classic 11's that are mostly climbed as warm-ups by the local crushers.  It is hard to trust the greasy footholds. 

This is partly to do with the geology of the rock as well as the fact that we were climbing the most popular warm-ups.  The rock is distinctively blocky.  It was frustrating climbing at a much lower level than we did in other places, but after a few days I am hoping that the style becomes more familiar.  I am also hoping that after a few days I won't have to worry about my tendons.  Luckily I didn't rupture anything but I do think I stressed the tendon which makes pinches, crimps and underclings really uncomfortable. 

Last night Mike and I camped in an area off the road that was described as free camping on public land in our guidebook.  The book was written in 2008, so there is a chance that had changed.  As we were eating dinner a couple on a camouflage ATV approached us.  The guy gave Mike and I the look of hate as he passed us, and after fiddling with some instruments in the creek they came over to talk to us.  He told us that although the land was not his, and it was technically public land, he did have a problem with people 

camping on it and he often drove up there to F*$@ with campers.  We were the fortunate campers that night.  He got a huge kick out of the fact that our bus looked like a "short-bus" and the fact that we did not have any LSD, shrooms or weed on us.  We could not have been any more different from this guy, and he was certainly more than confused as to why 2 young guys and a dog were sleeping in a bus traveling the country to climb on rocks.  I concluded that this guy, who referred to himself as the unnamed dog even after everyone introduced themselves, would make the perfect character for a movie.  His giddy personality and childish laugh mixed with his cowboy attire and hickish language made him terrifying (at least to me), and the fact that he owned all the land around us (and probably an arsenal of guns) only exaggerated the fear I felt.  Mike did not appear to be as nervous.  After exalting himself and making fun of climbers for about 20 minutes (laughing fitfully), and telling us not to "fall of them there rocks" because the flight for life helicopters scared his cows, he decided to leave, making sure one last time that we didn't want him to bring us a "dooby." We won't be camping there again tonight, as I would rather pay $5 to stay in the park than have another unbidden discussion with the "unnamed dog."  Besides, he told me if Juno got off the leash his dogs would tear her apart.  I'm a good dad and I know how curious Juno is with cows and horses.  It's not that i am scared for myself...ha.

We will be in Rifle for a few more days and should be back in Boulder/Denver for the summer before my birthday on June 9th.  

Cheers,

Thomas

  

When it rains it pours...

Well this has been an interesting past week.  Mike and I both went home to visit friends and family.  We both enjoyed it but the difference in daily routines from home and bus-life are very noticeable.   I went to Ouray again and had a blast, although sitting in the hot-springs rapidly deteriorates the hard tips I have built up over the trip.

My buddy Matt Moskal came out to hang with us in Joe's for a few days as part of road trip out to the west coast.  I had a lot of fun learning (and being the best) at fishing.  We spent a few afternoons at Joe's Valley reservoir fishing for the rumored 40 inch + tiger musky, only managing to catch their food source of small lake trout.  It was a nice break from climbing every day.

We also drove out to Salt Lake City to pick Mike up from the airport.  On our way we drove through BYU campus in Provo blasting Slim Shady.  We received some strange looks to say the least.  Salt Lake was impressive.  The Mormon temple is a gothic style cathedral with an office building (the largest building in the city) right next door.  It was interesting to see how large the Mormon influence is on such a large city.  Of all the cities in Utah it has the lowest Mormon population, but it is still the first thing we noticed about the city, especially after listening to John Krakauer's "Under the Banner of Heaven" on tape.

I also found out the hard way that leaving your bus parked for over a week might be somewhat hard on the alternator, and after having having the bus jumped a dozen times we finally made it to the local mechanic and were told it would be a $350 repair.  Bummer especially considering it needed to be kept in the shop over night and that is my home.  Luckily we spent the night in a motel in Salt Lake.  That was the beginning of a series of unfortunate events.  Yesterday we went out to New Joe's and worked a bunch of fun problems.  One of them is a V6 highball called "Nerve Damage" which is described best  by the name.  On my first go I fell with one foot off the pad.  Then we went to another wall with some fun V7's and a finger intensive V9.  I was working the 9 and tweeked my finger/arm pulling off of a 2 finger pocket.  I'll have to take at least a few days off to let it recover, and hopefully nothing more.  Last night we made a huge pot of chili (a little of everything we had).  Of course we let Juno be the dishwasher again without really thinking about the implications it may have on her stomach.  I was up 4 times in the night to clean up her vomit...Poor Juno.  She seems to be feeling better today.

Mike and I will stay in Joe's till the 31'st and then head back to Colorado for summer climbing, making a pit stop in Rifle for a few days.  Alex Vidal is coming to visit today and I am psyched to see him but bummed I wont be able to climb much while he is here.  Climbing in Joe's is the best...Cant wait to come back another time.

Oh ya, for those of you that didn't see the video I made of Joe's.  I pay $10 a month to use Vimeo Plus so you should watch it and let me know what you think.  Joe's Movie

Cheers,
Thomas