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 Looks in to us. A climber ascends the ice near the Upper Bridge. “The park is 100% open!” reads the sign at the Upper Bridge of the Ouray Ice Park. It was an interesting announcement because by January I figured it’s always completely open, but just a couple of weeks earlier things weren’t so certain. read more>>>  Some of Joshua Tree's park residents. The road trip continues, and after our jaunt at the Grand Canyon, we put the running stuff away and headed towards Joshua Tree. In keeping with our plan to prolong summer as long as possible, we made a trip to the desert climbing mecca in Southern California– something we had long had on our list. Its legendary status as a “bucket list” climbing destination had something to do with it, but because Christy’s Uncle Curt lived there, we figured as Superintendent of Joshua Tree National Park he might be a good guy to show us around. Plus, with his retirement just a few weeks ago, he had some free time. J Tree’s a pretty interesting place. There’s a whopping 6,000+ climbing routes on the cracked granite outcroppings in the park, and the trademark Dr. Seuss-like Joshua trees sprout up everywhere amongst them. We were grateful for the abundance of routes too, because as a general rule, the climbing’s hard in J Tree. It’s known for run-out sport lines or wide cracks, and has a reputation for “soft” ratings (routes that feel harder than the published rating), so we appreciated being able to shop around for routes that were fun, in a not-so-scary way. read more>>>  On approach, the route climbs the crack in the middle of the face. Click to enlarge. Indian Summer has made an impressive run this year, and despite the calendar declaring it’s time to start snowing, it continues to feel like summer. Nearly everyday this past month has been marked by blue skies, cool temps and dry trails, welcome conditions for anyone looking to get outside. Of course it will all change soon, and aware of the likely arrival of snow and cold temps in the coming days or weeks, Dirk, Christy and I decided to squeeze in one more warm weekend climbing trip. So we headed over Independence Pass, to Buena Vista and the Davis Face. The granite face, located just a few miles northeast of Buena Vista, has quite a few climbing options with the main attraction being a five pitch trad route right up the middle. The published difficulty ratings all seem to agree the crux pitch goes at 5.9 and the majority of the route rates at 5.7-5.8. But with the crux moves confronted low on the second pitch and feeling harder than the published 5.9 (isn’t that how it always is?), you should be comfortable leading the higher end of these ratings or you might find your day ending soon after starting. read more>>>  The group trudges up to Camp Muir, at about 10,000 feet,with the Nisqually Glacier, Cleaver and Ice Cliff in the background. Because it was such a great climb and since we came home with so many pics, I thought I’d share some more.  Lindsay, Angie, Craig and Nick descend the Emmons Glacier. Last April, when warm weather and dusty snow seemed to call an end to the Colorado spring ski season, we booked tickets to the Pacific Northwest and set our sights on some peaks in the Cascades. But when winter made a surprise comeback here at home, we were faced with a decision. We could head up to Rainier and Hood as planned, or we could stick around and try to get Christy’s remaining 14ers skied. Wisely, we opted for the latter, but we were then faced with the challenge of trying to make use of our canceled plane tickets and car rental vouchers, and wondered if we would ever salvage any part of our planned Northwest getaway. So when Lindsay Reither, a former Aspen Highlands ski patroller and IMG mountain guide, offered us an invite to join her and some ski patrol friends on a late August Rainier climb, all it took was a quick glance at the calendar and a call to Frontier– we were in. Christy and I climbed Rainier in 2002, along with Chris Carmichael and Jann Stoeckl, and it was a thorough ass-kicking. We almost didn’t pull it off. Early May conditions and rookie mistakes (which I like to call “learning moments”) made for a real challenging climb up the Fuhrer Finger and descent of the the Kautz Glacier. Five years later, I returned with Chris Davenport and found things to be much easier– we casually left camp around noon, climbing the Fuhrer Thumb in T-shirts and visors, and skied the Wilson Headwall near sunset. read more>>>  Spearhead. The North Ridge follows near the sun/shadow line in the photo. Click all pics to enlarge. Feeling as though we had done a good job taking advantage of what the Aspen area has to offer lately, and with plans forming for a climbing trip to Joshua Tree and Red Rocks this fall, we thought we’d change gears and hit the road for a little alpine climbing. So on Dirk’s recommendation, Christy, he and I made the trip to Rocky Mountain National Park, with the goal of climbing Spearhead, a 12,575 foot peak, high in a glacial cirque surrounded by RMNP namesakes like Chief’s Head, Pagoda and Longs Peak, RMNP’s sentinel 14er. Of the ten or so established routes on Spearhead, we were aiming for the North Ridge, which at 5.6-5.7 and around 6 pitches falls in the alpine “fun” category — that is, fairly easy and very enjoyable, but serious enough to warrant ropes and protection. We haven’t done any multi-pitch trad climbing this summer, so for that reason, and for the purposes of getting us back into gear for our fall trip, it was perfect. read more>>> |
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