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Location: CO : Boulder : Eldorado Canyon SP : Redgarden Wall : Redgarden - Lumpe to the to... : The Great Zot (5.8+)
By: Brice W When: Jul 24, 2002 | view comment >> |
Comments: From the top of the Zot Face, the West Chimney raps seemed like a logical descent since they are, I dunno, 100 feet away from the top of the climb. I've done the East Slabs descent also, and that is definitely a good choice. I apologize to the hordes of other climbers who were starting up routes while we were rapping down (oh, that's right, there weren't any).
I think people can flame all they want, but as long as there are fixed rap anchors in the West Chimney, even "gumbies" like me, who ... more >>
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Location: CO : Boulder : Eldorado Canyon SP : Redgarden Wall : Redgarden - Lumpe to the to... : The Great Zot (5.8+)
By: Brice W When: Jul 21, 2002 | view comment >> |
Comments: This is a fun route. We climbed the Zot face at the top (I think), though I never found the 8+ section Rossiter mentions in his book. After doing the spectacularly exposed hand traverse at the start of pitch 4, I traversed right on small ledges and holds, up a flake, and belayed at a ledge with a small tree (this is the tree all by itself in the middle of the face). From here I traversed right about 15 feet, then climbed up a dihedral. From there I climbed thin flakes and face holds, trendin... more >>
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Location: CO : Estes Park Valley : Lumpy Ridge : The Bookmark : The 37th Cog in Melvin's Wh... (5.8)
By: Brice W When: Jul 9, 2002 | view comment >> |
Comments: This is a classic climb. The finger/hand crack on P2 is flared, but it is fun to climb and takes gear well so you can sew it up. The chimney on P3 is not bad at all. Smaller cracks allow you to protect it well (though it is nice to have a #4 Camalot or equiv. to sew up the bulge as stated above), and the awkward section is not sustained. The climbing after the chimney is easy, but interesting.
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Location: CO : Estes Park Valley : Lumpy Ridge : The Book : J-Crack Slab Area : Pear Buttress (5.8)
By: Brice W When: Jun 24, 2002 | view comment >> |
Comments: Great route! As described in the comment above, the route does combine well into three pitches, though you will have some rope drag. The runout start is all there, but you do have to make some moves on small holds. Rossiter's book says extra #2.5 or #3 Camalots may be useful. The only place you'd need two of those would be towards the top of the flake on P1. I only had one, so there was a bit of a runout (15 feet, maybe?), but the climbing was not too hard. The 8+ section seeme... more >>
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Location: CO : Estes Park Valley : Lumpy Ridge : The Book : The Pages Wall Area : The Cave Exit (5.7+)
By: Brice W When: Jun 24, 2002 | view comment >> |
Comments: As of 6.23.2002, there was a fairly new-looking pin in the roof of the cave. There is also a crack that takes a #1 Camalot well. The climbing looks way harder than 5.7, but you can get some good stems, and it all works out. Try not to partially wrap the rope around yourself like I did when moving out towards the edge of the roof.
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Location: CO : Estes Park Valley : Big Thompson Canyon : Cedar Park Slab : Dags in Beanland (5.8)
By: Brice W When: Jun 17, 2002 | view comment >> |
Comments: This is a fun route. The granite is smoother than at Lumpy. The angle of the slab and occasional runouts reminded me of the Flatirons, though the crux is well protected. You can leave any cams bigger than a #1 Camalot at home. Small Aliens were nice to have (blue, green yellow).
We belayed at a large juniper tree on the huge ledge at the end of the first pitch. I climbed straight up from the tree, but then I had to traverse over about 50 feet to reach the 2nd bolt on the 2nd pitch.... more >>
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Location: CO : CO Ice & Mixed : Ouray (Ice/Mixed) : US Highway 550 : Horsetail Falls (WI4-5)
By: Brice W When: Feb 19, 2002 | view comment >> |
Comments: We climbed Horsetail on Sunday, Feb 17. We soloed up the low angle ramp to a small ledge on the left of the flow. From there, it felt like WI3+ for about 40 feet, then the angle eased off. The ice was dinnerplating some. This start allows you to climb about 185 feet to a nice snow ledge for the first pitch, but your belayer is exposed to falling ice from the first part of the climb. From the snow ledge, we climbed another pitch up low angle ice steps and snow sections to the large snow benc... more >>
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Location: CO : CO Ice & Mixed : Silverplume & vicinity : Silverplume Falls (WI3)
By: Brice W When: Dec 17, 2001 | view comment >> |
Comments: We climbed on Saturday, 12.15.01. The ice was fine for climbing, though like the description says, it is white and relatively soft. I don't think I'd want to take a whipper on some of the screws I placed. There were some thin spots (2-6 inches), but it was easy to find placements for 17cm and even 22cm screws. There are some spots where the water is running under a thin layer of ice. The route started to get sun around 10:30am. This is an area where early starts are a good idea. An update... more >>
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Location: CO : CO Ice & Mixed : RMNP - Mixed/Ice : Odessa Gorge : Notchtop & vicinity
By: Brice W When: Dec 2, 2001 | view comment >> |
Comments: 12.2.01 - I didn't go to the base of any of these climbs, but here are some observations from the trail. Grace Falls looks like it is formed, though it looked quite thin. There were some short curtains on Odessa wall, but that was about it. Guide's wall looked fat. Jaws had one or two thin (1-2 feet?)ribbons coming down.
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Location: CO : Boulder : Eldorado Canyon SP : The West Ridge : West Ridge - part B - Long ... : Long John Wall (5.8)
By: Brice W When: Oct 15, 2001 | view comment >> |
Comments: Another alternative to the normal first pitch is to climb the dihedral 25 feet left of the normal start. This is the start of the first pitch of Ignominity. Go up the dihedral past the first tree, then climb up to the right of a second tree to reach a ledge. A descending traverse on the ledge gets you to the belay at the base of the nice 5.8 crack. This start protects much better than the normal one, and goes at about 5.6 or 5.7. You do have to remember to place some gear for your second on... more >>
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Location: CO : Estes Park Valley : Lumpy Ridge : Sundance Buttress : Kor's Flake (5.7)
By: Brice W When: Aug 7, 2001 | view comment >> |
Comments: I don't recall using big gear for the hand traverse, but I did use some on the squeeze chimney. For the chimney, trying to stay at least partly outside is the way to go, I think. I stayed too far inside and made it hard on myself. The 4th pitch is classic. That and the 2nd pitch (both 5.7+ in Rossiter's guide) felt about ten times easier than the chimney. Don't bother looking for nice ledges for the belay after the 2nd pitch, there aren't any.
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Location: CO : Alpine Rock : RMNP - Rock : Notchtop : Spiral Route (5.4)
By: Brice W When: Aug 2, 2001 | view comment >> |
Comments: I agree with the comments about that last pitch. If you go up the headwall with a small roof, it definitely feels like 5.7. Unfortunately I found this out by leading it in my mountaineering boots (we'd left our rock shoes at home). Had I not been trembling and cursing my luck for deciding to lead that pitch (there was some wet rock also), I think it would have been enjoyable. I do remember a fixed pin in one of the cracks. Once you get to the top, be prepared for an exposed, slightly hairy ... more >>
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Location: CO : Alpine Rock : RMNP - Rock : Long's Peak : Upper East Face : The Notch Couloir (Mod. Snow)
By: Brice W When: Aug 2, 2001 | view comment >> |
Comments: It is a good idea to check on conditions before heading out to do this route. My wife and I climbed the Notch this year in early July. Even then, much of the snow in the couloir had melted. We did get some alpine ice higher up, though it was mixed with kitty litter in a narrow chimney. Though we bivyed below Mill's Glacier and started early, the snow that was there was quite soft. We actually traversed out to the right (North) of the couloir before the top and climbed up some nice, 4th clas... more >>
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Location: CO : Estes Park Valley : Lumpy Ridge : The Book : The Pages Wall Area : Osiris (5.7)
By: Brice W When: Aug 1, 2001 | view comment >> |
Comments: Fun climb! It does seem fairly sustained, but the protection was excellent, which is always nice. The fact that I wasn't feeling too strong that day and that it was my first time climbing the route led me to fire in pieces every two or three feet in places. The downclimb is easy to find if you follow the description in the guidebook, but it seemed harder to us in spots than 4th class.
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Location: CO : Boulder : Eldorado Canyon SP : The Wind Tower : Wind Tower - SW Face : Wind Ridge (5.8)
By: Brice W When: Jul 31, 2001 | view comment >> |
Comments: I tried the alternate belay after the first pitch, and it does offer much better pro than the traditional large ledge with the piton-scarred crack. I think you could also run the first two pitches together with a 60M rope as long as your belayer wasn't too far from the bottom of the first pitch. The third pitch is a fun way to finish the climb, but the start always feels way more strenuous than 5.6 to me. Of course, that may have more to do with my lack of finesse or grace than actual difficul... more >>
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Location: CO : Boulder : Eldorado Canyon SP : The West Ridge : West Ridge - part A - Versc... : Verschneidung (5.7)
By: Brice W When: Jul 31, 2001 | view comment >> |
Comments: This is a fun climb. With a 60M rope, you can make it down to the belay tree. The rap from there does require about 10 feet of straightforward downclimbing, but it's nothing terrible. The hardest part of the climb for me always feels like the moves to get up to the bottom of the crack. The crack is perfect, and there are plenty of holds on the face for variety.
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Location: CO : Boulder : Eldorado Canyon SP : The West Ridge : West Ridge - part C - Pony ... : Mesca-Line (5.7)
By: Brice W When: Jul 31, 2001 | view comment >> |
Comments: A #3 Camalot is a good size to plug into the flake before making the move to get into the undercling.
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Location: CO : Boulder : Eldorado Canyon SP : The West Ridge : West Ridge - part B - Long ... : The Unsaid (5.9)
By: Brice W When: Jul 31, 2001 | view comment >> |
Comments: This is a fun route, but I agree about it being a one or two move wonder. It doesn't feel like a 5.9 if you are tall, either (I'm 6'4"). On the thin crack before traversing out on the face, I was only able to get in some quite small nuts, #3s and #4s BD.
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Location: CO : Boulder : Eldorado Canyon SP : Redgarden Wall : Redgarden - Lumpe to the to... : Rewritten (5.7)
By: Brice W When: Jul 31, 2001 | view comment >> |
Comments: This is a great route. The hand traverse on the 4th pitch looks harder than it really is. I agree that the first pitch isn't one you can really sew up. I'll have to try out that alternate belay after the 4th pitch. I've always stopped at the large ledge about 10 feet up and left from the loose block. From there, continuing up the Arete, you can run the last two pitches together without too much rope drag.
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