Updates

I have made some nice progress on a cool project in the New Sector, along with some work on Silven's new line there, plus some good effort on Jacque Cousteau. I also found three sweet new blocks and am excited to climb them as soon as possible. I will be returning next Monday. Then yesterday, Kieffer, Drew, Nikki and I went to Mt Evans. I fell off the last move of Gorillas in the Mist a bunch. Kieffer topped his first boulder problem out at Evans, which obviously was The Ladder. We also worked on a cool tornado shaped block in the swamp just up canyon from the Ladder (anyone know the name?) and I was able to send at the very end of the day. I threw a quick video together, check the HD here. Today it is off to Seattle to see my family for a long weekend. I might get some climbing in but considering it was 103 yesterday there, I will probably just be chilling in Lake Washington. The big news of the week is that my senior capstone class for my geology major is going to Argentina for a month this spring. Very excited. Tim and I will be staying for two weeks long since Spring Break is right after the class and will doing some climbing. However, we do not know what yet.

New MVM video and other updates

Well my blogging has certainly slowed down this summer. Its been hot and it often rains in the afternoons making it hard to get out. Two weekends ago, Noah and I attempted to climb Road Warrior (5.10d, 5 pitches) at Mt Evans' Black Wall. However, we only brought two pieces that were large enough to protect the two crux pitches and bailed to a more protectable route to the left instead of risking 100+ foot falls. However, I have (sadly) not climbed since then. I did get a video of me making the first ascent of an amazing compression problem on Momentum Video Magazine. Hopefully I will get out on some cool stuff soon and have some better updates. Until then, cheers.

Maroon Bells Hike

This weekend I went for a beautiful hike with my family from Aspen to Crested Butte and back.  On Saturday we hiked 17 miles over East Maroon Pass.  Then on Sunday I met up with Johny, who lives in Gunnison, and spent the day climbing at an amazing little crag situated in the San Juan Mountains at 10500 feet.  It rained a bit on us but it was cool and there was not one else there.  Then we hiked back to Aspen on Monday via West Maroon Pass.  Here are some photos from the hike.

Summer in Southern Colorado

It has been real hot down here in Southern Colorado recently but I have been trying to still get out.  Today Byron, his cousin Chris, and I went for two hikes in Elevenmile Canyon to look for new boulders.  The second hike was a dud, but on our first loop we descended through a ravine with a number of boulders with nice features on good rock.  Hopefully we will get back there soon and do a couple of them.  On our way home, the sky was going crazy as a storm hit Pikes just as the sun was setting.

Sing the Sorrow

Justin inquired about some photos I took a while back and after using them in the Spring into Access slideshow we did, I had totally forgotten about them.  Shown is JJ sending Emerson's Sing the Sorrow.  I FA'ed the stand from two chest height holds at around V7 but it was not a super obvious start and the same day Jamie added a more logical sit.  I forget what I called the stand, but I think it will probably just end up being remembered as Sing the Sorrow Stand.  Jamie suggested V10 for his problem.  It is interesting how the influx of climbers from the north last fall brought a handful of new double digit problems to the canyon, while many of the "moderates" put up by myself and other southerners were upgraded or remain unrepeated.  But I guess that is the nature of climbing areas developing in separation by a few people.  I know I still remain totally perplexed by grades and just try to call it how it feels to me.  Anyway, we could talk about numbers all day but none of us need to hear the same shit over and over so here are the photos.

Walk Softly Sit

Here is a short of me trying one of the many projects down I have been working on in Southern Colorado. Justin Jaeger got (more like stole from Rylan Marshal...) the FA of the stand start a couple seasons back but the sit always seemed to just get talked about as there were other projects that seemed much more doable. I have linked into the crux stand start move a number of times from the sit but I think I will have to wait for cooler fall temps to do this one. HD here.

Photo of Chris Schulte on Climbing.com

A photo I took last month of Chris on Big Worm is up on the news section of Climbing Magazine's website.  Check it here.

Spear Me the Details

Rich and I headed off for another big, adventure climb on Saturday.  This time to Rocky Mountain National Park.  While I have spent many days in RMNP, it has always been to go bouldering and this was a very, very different experience.  Our objective was Spear Me the Details (5.11d, 700 feet, 8 pitches).  We decided to make the 6 mile hike in Saturday night to the base so we could wake up early enough to avoid as much of whatever weather came our way the next day.  The hike in was very rainy for the first bit but the skies cleared and things started to dry off by the time we made it to our camp site.  We got up around 4:45 the next day and we were at the base, climbing a couple hours later.  The first couple pitches were very cold but soon the sun moved over Long's and started to warm the rock.  The rock was wildly featured, reminding me of Hueco Tanks meets Mt Evans (unfortunately the boulders never got very big in this glacier cirque).  I lead the two 5.11 pitches, cleanly leading one and taking once on the other.  It turned out we avoided all the weather and were back at the car by 8 pm.  We headed straight to Estes Park were we enjoyed a deliciously large meal.  Below are two photos stolen from Summit Post and Mountain Project respectively.  Spear Me the Details heads up just right of the prominent eye feature low on the formation directly towards the summit. 

Black Canyon

Sorry I have been slow to post recently.  On Saturday, Rich and I drove out to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison to climbing Astrodog (5.11+, 14 pitches).  Having had two good friends get seriously injured in the Black I was pretty nervous rapping into the 2000 foot canyon with no way back out but to climb up.  However, everything went smoothly and Rich and I topped out just before it got dark.  The Black is one of the more stunning climbing areas I have been too in terms of the shear size and beauty of the area, not to mention how wild and untouched if feels.  I am very excited to have done this and am looking forward to future climbs in the Black.

Turkey Rocks

Nearly a year has passed since I became interested in traditional climbing and I have been harassed the entire time by my friends that I HAVE to go to Turkey Rocks.  I finally got out there this weekend with Rich, Jess, Noah, Hale, Tim and Ted.  It was a great day.  My first climb there turned into an epic when Noah forgot to mention the two fixed nuts 40 feet up were the anchors and I ended almost a whole rope length up, out of gear, with no anchors in sight.  I backed up a good #2 with a chockstone and lowered the rope to the ground to get some gear then Noah climbed up and we topped the Turkey Tail out.  I also did an awesome 5.12- second try and flashed In Search of Unicorns 5.11c.   Unicorns was the best trad climb I have done on granite and I am excited to spend some more time up at Turkey throughout the summer.  If Hale gets around to sending me some photos, I will post them up.

Autre Salvo video on MVM

I just got another video up on MVM.  This time it is my friend Ben Schmitt doing the FA of Autre Salvo (5.14a) at Elevenmile Canyon.  Ben tried this route on an off for over a year and he finally convinced me to try it and I figured some good beta out for the dyno and Ben was able to send shortly after.  Enjoy.

Updates

In May, Noah Kaufman and Siemay Lee were visiting Jeff Sutton and looking to see what Southern Colorado offered. I had a day off from class and was able to give them a pretty thorough tour of a nice spot down south. Noah and Siemay both had a good day and I captured some nice footage of some of their sends. HD footage here.

Evans: Hume Problem

I went up to Evans on Sunday with Noah and Sam and we moved straight up to area B after warming up. I got some great burns in on Gorillas in the Mist but did not finish it. After trying a new line with Carlo and Ben for a while, we all moved over into the sun at the Hume Boulder. I sent Hume Problem (V9) in a couple of tries after figuring the moves out a week ago with Ander.

Ander going big the the lip the week before.

Evans: The Mirrormask and Big Worm

Before Ander headed west to Rifle for the summer, we met up for one last bouldering session. Ander, Chris, Jackie and I had the boulders to ourselves and we all converged at the Mirrormask/Big Worm. Chris was fresh off being snipped by DG for the first of this nice line and was looking to clean it up. Despite some very good burns (check out that try-hard in the photos), he had to wait two more days to send. Ander worked Mirrormask for a while, but could not put all the moves together after figuring them out.

Boulder Canyon

About a week ago, I spent an afternoon hanging out with friends and shooting some photos in Boulder Canyon. I had split my tip on the Hume Problem at Evans so I was trying my best not to climb. The first photo is Tim on a great looking 5.11 and the following four are him on a bouldery 5.12.

Photo Dump Part IV: No Troublems

I met Dave on an East Mountain tour that I squeezed onto in Febuary down in Hueco and then ran into him again in Squamish last weekend. His six month North American bouldering trip is coming to an end and next week he will be returning to New Zealand. For a self-proclaimed "old guy" he is very good at pebble wrestling. Show below is a nearly full sequence for No Troublems (V9/10) in the forest of Squamish.

Photo Dump Part III: Fun Factory Low

Simon narrowly sticking the crux move of Fun Factory Low (V9) in the Apron Boulders of Squamish. This is an inspiring line that would be very, very difficult for anyone with less than a six foot arm span.

Photo Dump Part II: Loose Change

This is one of the great V7 classics of Squamish, located in the Grand Wall forest. A bunch of big moves on positive holds lead to a difficult and scary mantle up high. Elise had to figure some unique beta out to make the moves go for her. Here are some shots of her working it out.

Photo Dump Part I: Chutzpah

Here are some photos of me sending Chutzpah (V11) at the Index River Boulders. All photos are credited to Bryan Boyko.

Conviction video up on MVM!

I am pleased to announce that my first MVM contribution is up for viewing. It is a video of my good friend Tim Gibson on the super classic John Sherman. Tim and I had tried this line on and off for a while and Tim was able to put it together in good style dispite a stomach sickness that had barely allowed him to get out of bed that morning. Enjoy!