Mt. Evans

The Dali

Mirror Mask

Big Worm

I finally made it to Mt. Evans. I've been wanting to check this place out for a few years. The high altitude bouldering in Colorado is some of the best in North America. I climbed on a compression roof called Big Worm. This is one of the hardest problems I've ever climbed on, and it is definitely my hardest project. The stand start to Big Worm is called Mirror Mask. I climbed this problem in a few tries. The problem went down much quicker than I thought it would. I've lost less power than I had previously thought. My visit to Mt. Evans and the Park has made me super motivated to get stronger and build more power for next season. Next summer I'm going to try to find work in Colorado so I can climb at the Park and Evans for several months.

Morrison

I visited the Greatness of Morrison last night. This area is comparable to the Greatness of Nolan River in Texas. The only difference is that Nolan River is more chossy. For the most part Morrison is a greasy pile on the side of the road, but I climbed one decent line called Helicopter. The lack of a topout definitely detracted from the rock climb.

RMNP

Eternia

Riddles in the Dark

Summer temps are here. I've been climbing at the alpine boulders of RMNP to escape the heat. Chaos Canyon is at an elevation of 10,000 feet. The Granite boulders are some of the best in the country with angles of all kinds from roof to slab. Most of the holds are skin friendly as they are flat and at a 90 degree angle with the wall. I hiked up to Eternia which involves a 3.5 mile hike uphill and through talus at elevation. Eternia is a granite roof that is similar to Hueco and the Draw. I'm psyched to do this climb, but it requires 4+ pads. I've been climbing on Riddles in the Dark. The landing is much better than 2 years ago when I was here, because there is snow to level it out. I made progress by finishing all the moves. I climbed on Whispers of Wisdom at Emerald lake. I figured out the bottom sequence, but I'm still trying to figure out the top section. The photo is of Riddles in the Dark on my first visit to the park 2 years ago.

Sailing Hawks

Red Cliff

Rifle

After an epic 4th of July spent in Lander partying with the locals we went to Rifle to check out some of the best sport climbing in the states. Rifle Mountain Park is a narrow canyon with limestone cliffs lining each side. If it were not for the crowds and near proximity to the Front Range, Rifle would be one of my favorite places to sport climb. By the time Eric and I got to Rifle, our psych for sport climbing was gone. We decided to end our 2 month sport climbing trip with a long, amazing route called Feeline. I barely flashed this route as it is over 100 feet tall with technical foot moves and sidepulls on a relatively vertical wall. The picture was taken from the road. The arrow points to Eric to give an idea of how tall the climb is.

Frankenstein

Yesterday was my first time bouldering in over 7 weeks. We climbed on this cave problem at Wild Iris called Frankenstein. The boulder stopped seeping enough to make the problem climbable. Frankenstein starts deep in a roof and climbs out on good pockets. A direct and a left finish are possible on small pockets. I sent Frankenstein right before it started pouring rain. I had to use a headlamp to do the start because the cave became too dark to see the footholds. A few recent finger injuries that I had are starting to heal. I'm psyched because after the 4th we're heading to Colorado.