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Location: CO : Boulder : Boulder Canyon : Castle Rock : Circadian Rhythms (5.9+)
By: topher donahue When: Oct 5, 2012 | view comment >> |
Comments: For maximum value, clip the bolt (it was a rusty spinner but replaced in recent years) and climb into the thin crack without climbing the chimney to the left. 5.9 plus, hmm, about 10 letter grades....
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Location: CO : Alpine Rock : Mt. Evans : The Black Wall : Undertow (5.10a A4- R)
By: topher donahue When: Jul 11, 2012 | view comment >> |
Comments: Ah, that makes sense - the Ahab board. I thought maybe that's what you'd beat me with if I'd have decided to try it before your send....
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Location: CO : Alpine Rock : Mt. Evans : The Black Wall : Undertow (5.10a A4- R)
By: topher donahue When: Jul 6, 2012 | view comment >> |
Comments: Good work, guys! Was just up there a couple of weeks ago and rapped in to check out that line. After seeing your chalk and gear, I realized it was an active project, so didn't pursue it - but I am super curious: what was the old flimsy wooden board doing strapped like Ahab to that last bulge?
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Location: CO : Boulder : Boulder Canyon : Stepping Stones : El Gallito (5.11)
By: topher donahue When: May 23, 2012 | view comment >> |
Comments: The bolting on this used to feel just fine, but I pried off two huge flakes, one before the first bolt, and one before the roof. The climbing is more continuous and safer now, but it does feel kind of sketchy, especially climbing off the ground to the first bolt with a lousy landing. Would the FA crew consider re-bolting the lower half to suit the climb without the massive time-bomb jugs it used to have?
Seems like adding a low bolt and then lowering the bolt below the roof a few inches so ... more >>
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Location: CO : Estes Park Valley : Lumpy Ridge : Sundance Buttress
By: topher donahue When: May 11, 2012 | view comment >> |
Comments: I'd be keen to help find the bolt placements and help with the replacement of Bosch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. If you Estes crew decide to get together some monkeys with hand drills, let me know. Likely the best multi-pitch sport climb in the Front Range....
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Location: CO : Alpine Rock : RMNP - Rock : Mt. Meeker : Dragon's Egg Couloir Ski De... (Steep Snow R)
By: topher donahue When: May 4, 2012 | view comment >> |
Comments: It was skied in the '90s for sure (Mike Pennings and partner), probably in the '80s too - it's a super obvious ski objective. First ski descents in The Park are pretty hard to know - recording such things wasn't really part of the local culture until recently, and there was a really active and talented ski mountaineering community living and exploring on skis in the area in the '80s.
Approaching from Wild Basin without a car shuttle is the best way to go - it allows you to travel lighter, with... more >>
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Location: CO : CO Ice & Mixed : RMNP - Mixed/Ice : Long's Peak/Mt. Meeker Cirq... : Dark Star (probably not Rig... (WI3+ M5-)
By: topher donahue When: May 4, 2012 | view comment >> |
Comments: I'm not sure about the Right Chimney, but I do know the photos posted here are all from Dark Star. There are three thinner/harder and really good unnamed smears that form occasionally on the smooth wall to the right, but the main deep chimney cleft with the classic ice climb is Dark Star. The harder lefthand start is certainly better when it is in condition.
One of the funnest adventures I ever spent in the Park: approached Dark Star by climbing the Flying Buttress direct, climbed Dark Star ... more >>
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Location: CO : Boulder : Boulder Canyon : Castle Rock : Nobody's Home (5.12b/c)
By: topher donahue When: May 1, 2012 | view comment >> |
Comments: Only 30 feet of new terrain, Chris, but it's a wild 30! I talked to Eric Doub (the name Nobody's Home was suggested by Eric, in fact) a while ago about it, and he said Domestic Abuse traverses the roof all the way out to the arete before going up on easier terrain to the Country Club anchor. Nobody's Home goes about halfway out the roof before going straight up to the Country Club anchor.
I know the Nobody's Home headwall has been toproped for years by going out to the arete and then foot tra... more >>
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Location: CO : Boulder : Boulder Canyon : Castle Rock : Never a Dull Moment (5.12b PG13)
By: topher donahue When: Apr 28, 2012 | view comment >> |
Comments: I didn't place the new anchor, but I was in on the discussion deciding to add it. The reason for the new anchor was to avoid the rope running across, and leveraging when top-roping, the big detached block which sits on the slab between the lip and the bolted anchor on Athlete's Feat. It seemed like a matter of time and freeze/thaw cycles before someone pulled it down with lethal results.
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Location: CO : Boulder : Boulder Canyon : Castle Rock : Mexican Picnic (5.12b/c)
By: topher donahue When: Apr 24, 2012 | view comment >> |
Comments: For the full 5.13 enchilada, start at the Water World dihedral right of Tourist Extravagance, go up 30'and traverse left across a burly undercling/jam, cross Tourist Extravagance above its bolt ladder, clip 2 bolts with some vertical yoga in the Skatepark scoop thing, and finish up the Mexican Picnic arete cracks.
For the mild-ish 5.11 tamale, climb the 5.11 section of Mexican Picnic from Country Club to the anchor at 30 meters, just before the upper 5.12 crux.
A 70 meter rope just makes t... more >>
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Location: CO : Boulder : Boulder Canyon : Bell Buttress Massif : Bell Buttress - Main Crag : Arms Bazaar (5.12a R)
By: topher donahue When: Nov 9, 2011 | view comment >> |
Comments: This thread would be a great study of climber psychology. One guy says the gear seems pretty good. Another says he pulled it all and decked. Another says the one who decked must have had a bad belayer because he pulled all the gear and didn't deck. Another credits the climbing gods. Another says it's easy for the grade. Classic!
P.S. - If you're tall enough, and don't fill your jams with cams, you can place a really good nut up high before doing the crux and have a bombproof TR through the ... more >>
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Location: CO : Gunnison : Black Canyon of the Gunniso... : South Rim Routes : Tague Yer Time (5.12)
By: topher donahue When: Jul 15, 2011 | view comment >> |
Comments: Thanks for the kudos, Scott. You're welcome! Since you brought up the "established" aspect of the climb and "cleaning", I thought I'd clarify that Jared and I established the climb on lead with almost no cleaning. A few dirty fingerlocks was about it. That's why it is such a great climb - it was clean in the first place!
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Location: CO : Lyons : St. Vrain Canyons : North Fork of the St. Vrain... : Buttonrock : ... : Le Diamant E'ternal (5.13b/c)
By: topher donahue When: May 20, 2011 | view comment >> |
Comments: A few of us Estes Park climbers have done this, too - around the same time as Hank's 2nd ascent. Chalk washes off in the rain, so it always feels like an FA. Mid 13 micro grips for sure. It goes without the escape at the top....
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Location: CO : Gunnison : Black Canyon of the Gunniso... : South Rim Routes : Astro Dog (5.11+)
By: topher donahue When: May 13, 2011 | view comment >> |
Comments: There is a mega quality variant start to Astrodog: A 300' splitter that goes from fingers to hands just to the left of the normal Astrodog start. You can reach it by either starting up the first ramps of the Flakes, or via rappel from the awkward rappel anchor in the middle of the big flake (rappel #11 on Jason's topo) a pitch below the first short 5.11. Angle upriver from that rappel and start climbing below the sickest hand crack in the canyon. 2 pitches of perfect splitter.
F... more >>
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Location: CO : Gunnison : Black Canyon of the Gunniso... : South Rim Routes : Tague Yer Time (5.12)
By: topher donahue When: Jul 5, 2009 | view comment >> |
Comments: Somebody took the piton that was part of the anchor below the last 5.12 pitch, right under the Astrodog raps. Right now it is a single bolt anchor with hard climbing above. It might be worth taking a medium-sized angle on the rappel to add to the anchor, then leave the hammer there to pickup on your way out.
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Location: CO : Alpine Rock : RMNP - Rock : Fern Canyon Rocks : Rock Of Ages : Rope Rider (5.12a)
By: topher donahue When: Mar 1, 2009 | view comment >> |
Comments: Drilled a bolt at the anchor, so it is now a piton and bolt anchor.
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Location: CO : Alpine Rock : RMNP - Rock : The Saber : The Pocketknife (5.11a R)
By: topher donahue When: Feb 6, 2009 | view comment >> |
Comments: Glad to hear somebody is adventuring around these parts! I think the lichen and loose rock is how many of the classics were before they became classics....
The Pocketknife can be made safer by belaying on a little stance 15 feet below the pin in Roy's description at the end of P3 and clipping the pin as one of the first pieces on P4 rather than belaying at the pin and risking a factor 2 fall onto it. Seemed to make sense, and it didn't feel too dangerous at the time.
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Location: CO : Boulder : Eldorado Canyon SP : The West Ridge : West Ridge - part E - top t... : Jericho (5.11c R)
By: topher donahue When: Nov 23, 2008 | view comment >> |
Comments: The crux feels way safer if you take extra long slings, be careful of how you run the rope on the first pitch, and link both pitches as one 55 meter lead. It goes super smooth as one pitch and makes a lot more sense - unless you are using a 150' rope like Chris and George probably were on the FA.
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