About a month ago, my sister Elizabeth and I went on a backpacking trip near Aspen, CO. We started at the Snowmass trailhead and spent the first night just above the log jam. The next day, we continued hiking until we went over buckskin pass. We camped on the other side. Then we headed over another pass into a nice alpine meadow. Then we toped another pass be for hiking down the trail back to the car. This was a great loop and it was absolutely beautiful.
Our journey began as we left Amarillo at about 4pm. We didn't decide exactly where we were going until we reached Vega. We stopped at Alsups where we ended up staying for a while as we accidentally locked the keys in the car. We called Jordan and he happily delivered our keys and we were on our way by about 5:30.
While waiting we decided to climb the North Couloir of Quandary peak. Since my Dad hadn't climbed a snow route before this seemed like a great option with an easy decent trail. We drove and drove until we reached the McCullough Gulch Trailhead at about 12:30 mountain time. We quickly shuffled our stuff around and went to sleep in the back.
The alarm sounded at 4:40 and by 5:50 we were on the trail. It was already bright enough that we were able to navigate the trail without our headlamps. Once we reached the lake we saw a guy skillfully jumping on rocks to get across the raging river. Neither of us felt as agile and we looked for an alternate route. Downstream the river ran under a huge snow bridge that looked pretty stable. We loosened our packs and carefully crossed over the torrent of water. We easily made our way to the base of the Coulior where we took a minute to throw on our crampons.
We spent the next three hours climbing up the snowy couloir. We were pleased to find that the route was in excellent condition and we only sank into the slush a couple times. We kept climbing and climbing at a leisurely pace until we topped out the above the steep 50* section.
We took off our crampons and within 15 minutes we were among ye crowd of people on the summit at about 11:15. After a few pictures and a couple bites of food we began defending the East Ridge. We decided not to glissade the North Couloir because of the 50* section near the top. We were however able to glissade 500ft or so on the East Ridge.
Once we reached the road we began the 2.4 mile hike up to our car. Fortunatly, after about half a mile we were able to hitch a ride from a girl and her dog Stella. We reached our car and drove to Breckenridge for a late lunch.
We decided that instead of climbing the Kelso Ridge of Torreys Peak the next day, we'd go rafting for our first time in the Royal Gorge. We scheduled our raft tour and drove to Cañon looking for a room. Unfortunately the entire town was sold out. So we drove the scenic drive to Salida. We found a room and went to sleep.
The next morning we awoke and made our way to Royal Gorge Rafting. Unfortunately the Gorge was closed due to high water, but we were still able to raft a section upriver. Our raft was filled with strong guys and we were able to go down all the fun, hard rapids that some of the other rafts went around. The hardest that we did was just a 4+ making it a great trip for our first day of rafting. Once we finished we got into the good old Jeep and drove home after a great trip to Colorado.
After a sleepless night looking forward to the first climbing trip of the summer, I awoke to pick Casey up at five. Our plan, which we executed flawlessly, was to drive to Rocky Mountain National Park and hike the snowy 5 miles to Sky Pond beneath the Petit Grepon. Or goal for the trip was to climb the South Face route which is perhaps the most classic climb in Colorado.
We hiked briskly using snow shoes the entire way and made it to the lake in about 4 hours. This was Casey's first time in snowshoes and he picked it up quickly. The weather began to worsen and a south wind ripped through the valley. After about half an hour of looking for a good bivy spot, we began digging out a snow drift. Half an hour later we had a cozy cave that was sheltered from the fierce wind. We set our alarm for five and went to sleep.
We woke up and quickly made oatmeal and tea. After readying our small summit sacks we left our bivy and made our way across the snow fields to the South Face. We traveled fast and light taking only the rack, ropes, emergency gear, and a small bit of food. We left the comfort of our bulky boots and trudged in just approach/tennis shoes complimented by our snowshoes.
We quickly reached the steep, 45* slope at the base and started climbing. This was done with some difficulty as Casey had never used an ice axe or ascended steep snow. Near the top the slope grew much steeper. This thwarted our plan to leave our snow shows and ice axes at the base of the rappel. The first 40m pitch looked very snowy and due to the steepness of the slope, we were pretty much forced to climb it in snow shoes.
This was my first 5.4 to climb in snowshoes and although the MSR Denali Ascents that we used performed better than expected, it was very difficult. While placing a cam at the crux, I slipped and nearly fell out of the delicate snow filled chimney. Luckily the only thing that fell was the cam which Casey retrieved later. I continued up easier climbing to a huge snow covered ledge with a bomber crack system. Casey followed without falling and we assessed our situation. This was Casey's first mixed pitch.
From the ground even the first pitch looked pretty snow free, however, it was not. This meant that the rest of the climb was likely snowy as well. Combined with the fact that if we left our snow shows, we probably wouldn't be able to retrieve them on rappel and we weren't about to carry them up the rest of the climb, we decided to bail.
We placed a bomber nut and rappelled to the base and as far down the steep slope as our ropes would stretch. We pulled the rope and built a t-slot snow anchor on which Casey rappelled to the end of the steep slope. I then made a quick glissade to join him and we both glissaded the rest of the way. This was Casey's first time for that too.
We retrieved our bivy gear and started hiking back to the car. Once we neared the trailhead we decided to stop by Coffee on the Rocks in Estes Park. We spent the rest of the day bouldering in the apply named Boulder Canyon. We went to the Cob Rock area and crossed the tyrolean traverse over the raging river. We went to the bouldering area and I saw the fun climb Cory and I climbed two years before.
We walked passed The Game which is the hardest boulder problem in Colorado and among the hardest ten established problems in the world. Casey pulled the start. We scrambled about the boulders and found a fun V3 that we climbed using our thin sleeping mats as bouldering pads.
We climbed some other easy routes, but the highlight of the day was Casey's ascent of a V4. He threw himself on it many times, but ended up sending it after deciding to try "just one more time."
We crossed back over the river and drove further up the canyon. We spotted a sweet looking boulder and pulled over. We crossed another tyrollean traverse that was much higher and scarier and made our way to the boulder. We climbed a fun V0 and a V1 and called it a day.
We continued up the canyon to Nedderland to fill our water bottles and were shocked to hear that the gas station there charged for tap water. The guy at the counter told us of a natural spring and pointed us in it's direction. We drove and drove but couldn't find it so we ended up going back and paying .50 per water bottle.
We drove further into the mountains to a small, secluded and free camp sight Cory and I found a couple years earlier. We went to sleep watching Flight of the Concords on Casey's iPod.
We woke up the next morning and drove to another bouldering area in Boulder Canyon. We saw a few classic problems but tested our skills on a sweet V5 called The Standard Bulge. We spent about an hour trying it but were unable to pull the last few moves. We would have been able to get it if we had had a confidence inspiring boulder pad draped across the jagged rocks at the bottom. As it was our thin blue sleeping mats were not confidence inspiring.
We walked back to the car and I was able to lead a super sweet 5.9 called Curving Crack. It is probably the best 5.9 pitch I have climbed. The rock was very cool and every move up the thin, balancy crack was interesting. I belayed Casey from the two bolt anchor at the top and we rappeled back to the base. We loaded up the truck and started the long journey home. We ate a late lunch at Half Fast Subs in Boulder and drove home after a great trip to Colorado. On the way home, we drove through a burly storm and were able to see two fires caused by lightening strikes.
School is over and summer has begun. This is always an exciting time and the air is filled with possibility as to what this summer could become. Trips will be taken to the hills as mountain adventure is the name of the game. Whether the emphasis will be on mountain peaks or rocky crags, snowy couloirs or long rocky ridges is hard to tell, but one thing is for sure. This summer will be filled with vertical adventure in the hills of the Rocky Mountains.
Though school has been out for a couple weeks already, I still haven't been able to make a trip to the mountains. I was able to take a five day trip to the English countryside. It was very interesting to see the rather different way of life enjoyed by people across the pond. During the trip I was able to spend a lot of time riding a rental bike and experience the rolling hills of the quiet countryside. We spent quit a bit of time looking at old manor houses, castles, cathedrals, as well as homes of the lower class. At night, we had a Scottish security guard teach us how to play Snooker, a game which is much like pool but far more enjoyable and fun. Overall the trip was a grand time and I am very thankful that I was able to go.
I've been home for about a week and have been in two weddings. My restlessness for mountains is strong and I can't wait to embark upon another adventure. For this reason, Casey and I are going to undertake one of our biggest and most courageous ascents yet--an early season ascent of the mighty Petit Grepon spire in Rocky Mountain National Park We'll leave early in the morning and I can't wait. My expectations of what this trip could be come are high and I'm excited to try such a classic test piece.
Just few more hours of working at the climbing gym and some late night packing is all that separates me from getting on the road to Alpine adventure.
