The Brotherhood Of the Traveling Stopper...

I'm happy to report that another climbing trip has been completed for Travelling Stopper number... 2, I think? Was this one ever named?

We had great weather for the duration of our stay, and were able to get on 41 routes in 6 days of climbing. HCR being what it is (primarily a sport destination), and our group being what it was (of the 6 of us, I'm the only one who'd ever led trad, and my buddy is the only other one interested in leading trad), we only got on a few trad lines, but the Sacred Stopper was along for the ride, and got placed a couple of times.

If any of you have ever been to HCR, you know that it's fantastic rock (bullet-hard sandstone riddled with chicken-heads), with a short approach, and a high density of good lines. Our group consisted of myself, my wife, and our twin 9-year-old sons, along with 2 of our other regular climbing friends. Since we all lead (including the twins), we brought 3 ropes so we could have 3 climbers on the wall. Despite decidedly non-alpine starts (we slept in every day, and usually didn't get to the crag until around 11), we were able to get in plenty of climbing to tire us out and satisfy our cravings.

We got in a good mix of grades, up into the 10's. (The twins and our other friends managed to bag a few 11's, but my wife and I capped it at projecting 10c.) Since I'm still fairly new to trad on the sharp end (still in the low double-digits for trad sends), I kept it pretty mellow for my trad leads.

The first was Poetry in Goshen, one I led last year. I led it, and my buddy Adam followed it to clean. Everyone else toproped it. Fortune was smiling on me, as I was able to find a placement for the Sacred Stopper. (Not the greatest nut placement in the world, but I backed it up with another placement 2 feet away.)

Adam is the strongest climber in our party, but had not yet led a trad climb yet. He'd placed gear for TR anchors at Devil's Lake, and followed a number of my leads, but had never placed gear on lead. This was the trip on which he intended to take his first shot on the sharp end. I suggested Wanted Man, since I'd led it last year, and knew that it afforded multiple placement options for cams, nuts, and natural pro. (Gotta love those chicken-heads!)

Adam handled it with aplomb. He's also an engineer, and his keen eye and attention to detail yielded 11 bomber placements, and one bonus placement of the Travelling Stopper.

We also both led Walker Arkansas Ranger, but that route yielded no placements for the Travelling Stopper.

All in all, we had a fantastic trip, and were thrilled to take one of the Stoppers along for the ride.

Who's next?

Send it here. I'll slap her in Eldo.

Andrew Krajnik wrote: I'm happy to report that another climbing trip has been completed for Travelling Stopper number... 2, I think? Was this one ever named?

We had great weather for the duration of our stay, and were able to get on 41 routes in 6 days of climbing. HCR being what it is (primarily a sport destination), and our group being what it was (of the 6 of us, I'm the only one who'd ever led trad, and my buddy is the only other one interested in leading trad), we only got on a few trad lines, but the Sacred Stopper was along for the ride, and got placed a couple of times.

If any of you have ever been to HCR, you know that it's fantastic rock (bullet-hard sandstone riddled with chicken-heads), with a short approach, and a high density of good lines. Our group consisted of myself, my wife, and our twin 9-year-old sons, along with 2 of our other regular climbing friends. Since we all lead (including the twins), we brought 3 ropes so we could have 3 climbers on the wall. Despite decidedly non-alpine starts (we slept in every day, and usually didn't get to the crag until around 11), we were able to get in plenty of climbing to tire us out and satisfy our cravings.

We got in a good mix of grades, up into the 10's. (The twins and our other friends managed to bag a few 11's, but my wife and I capped it at projecting 10c.) Since I'm still fairly new to trad on the sharp end (still in the low double-digits for trad sends), I kept it pretty mellow for my trad leads.

The first was Poetry in Goshen, one I led last year. I led it, and my buddy Adam followed it to clean. Everyone else toproped it. Fortune was smiling on me, as I was able to find a placement for the Sacred Stopper. (Not the greatest nut placement in the world, but I backed it up with another placement 2 feet away.)

Adam is the strongest climber in our party, but had not yet led a trad climb yet. He'd placed gear for TR anchors at Devil's Lake, and followed a number of my leads, but had never placed gear on lead. This was the trip on which he intended to take his first shot on the sharp end. I suggested Wanted Man, since I'd led it last year, and knew that it afforded multiple placement options for cams, nuts, and natural pro. (Gotta love those chicken-heads!)

Adam handled it with aplomb. He's also an engineer, and his keen eye and attention to detail yielded 11 bomber placements, and one bonus placement of the Travelling Stopper.

We also both led Walker Arkansas Ranger, but that route yielded no placements for the Travelling Stopper.

All in all, we had a fantastic trip, and were thrilled to take one of the Stoppers along for the ride.

Who's next?

Well done, good and faithful steward.

Tan B wrote: Send it here. I'll slap her in Eldo.

Excellent! I'll send you a PM.

Has anyone whipped on this baby yet? I'm willing to make that sacrifice.

Vince Buffalini wrote: Has anyone whipped on this baby yet? I'm willing to make that sacrifice.

Since they've been ordained as "Travelling Stoppers"? Not according to any of the trip reports. Of course, they were already old Stoppers before being enlisted by the Brotherhood, so who knows what tales they could tell?

Vince Buffalini wrote: Has anyone whipped on this baby yet? I'm willing to make that sacrifice.

What if I take a picture of me being whipped by the nut?

Send it up north to me in Canada! 

Vince Buffalini wrote: Has anyone whipped on this baby yet? I'm willing to make that sacrifice.

Will Bland wrote:
Send it up north to me in Canada!

Tan B has already claimed Stopper #2. It'll be on its way to him tomorrow. You guys will have to wait for his trip report to claim it. (Alternately, if you can get a hold of Tyler Newcomb, he has Stopper #1. Unfortunately, he's gone dormant on MP, likely out of shame for not having fulfilled his duty.)

Tan B wrote: What if I take a picture of me being whipped by the nut?

Not only is this accepted, but encouraged.

Ok, I’ll contribute to the trip reports too, long overdue since I parted with the stopper in September, I think. My original trip didn’t pan out, mostly to unfavorable weather and my work schedule. I wanted to climb two routes on the Book at Lumpy but couldn’t make it happen.I did climb while I had the stopper and this is a compilation of sorts while it was with me. Let me take you on a tour of the Front Range ( greater Boulder area). Also, spring is here, temperatures are rising and the stone is on my mind more and more.
First stop - Combat Rock
I want to apologize in advance for the copious amount of butt shots, it’s unavoidable since we’re usually climbing alone.
Nestled on the north side of Big Thompson Canyon, halfway between Loveland and Estes Park, is this solitary dome. Even though it’s a quick 15 minutes approach from the parking lot this crag is usually quiet. On this particular day it was us an another party, splitter spring day. My partner Hugh got me psyched up on Diagonal crack, two pitch left leaning crack that splits the dome.

He mentioned it so many times that any subsequent one makes my eyes roll reflexively. But, the crack didn’t disappoint, very enjoyable route with fun second pitch exit through a roof.
Next was Hugh’s lead and he chose 8 clicks to Saigon, but after his fiasco of a lead we renamed it 8 clicks to incontinence.

We finished the day, more like a half day as we had to leave around 1pm due to the sun (this is a great late fall, early spring and sometimes even in winter crag as it’s facing south and is dry most of the year), with me leading No More War, a mixed climb that starts with a flaring crack and finishes with delicate climbing. Also, this is the only time I placed the stopper.


So, if you’re looking for solitude with a short approach, mix of climbs from 5.7-5.13, this is the place.

Second stop - Boulder Canyon
For those that think this is the busiest destination around Boulder I’d say I beg to differ. Ease of access, wide range of grades, trad, sport and mixed in one place, and if you’re smart you can usually find solitude here as well. I’ll just throw in some pictures as I spent significant time here last year.

My wife following on the last pitch of Fields of Gold on Tonnere Tower.

Fourth of July shenanigans at the Dream dome. This was probably the busiest I’ve seen in BoCo. Shirtless bros, people skinny dipping in the creek, hippies, dogs, kids. Still, everyone had a blast. Great place for kiddos as there’s shade and water to play in.

That’s me starting up the Amazing Race at the Happy Hour, hardest 5.9+ I’ve climbed so far.

Hugh on Dementia, such a great climb and highly recommended for anyone breaking in 10s. We’ll protected with interesting movement.

Third stop - Monkey skull at St. Vrain canyon

This is lesser known area by Boulder that has a lot of quality climbs on bomber granite. My first time here. We ended up at Monkey skull after retreating from Lumpy due to rain and it turned out to be a fantastic day. 

Hugh leading Fringe dweller. Next on is Hugh at the business of Sunshine dihedral.

Fourth stop - Mickey Mouse wall 

This was probably the highlight of last year. You can see the rodent ears as you’re driving to the Eldo. I’ve been going to Eldo for 7 years now and this was the first time I climbed at Eldorado mountain. A leisurely one hour hike will bring you to the base of  MM wall. And even though it’s so close to Boulder, we were the only ones there, the place had an alpine feel. For the most of the day I could hear ruckus on the mountain side opposite the wall, most likely a bear as we passed it’s droppings on few spots along the trail. At least that’s what I would have liked it to be. Anyway, stellar climbing only marred by the descent after the first climb.

Hugh at the crux of first pitch on Culp’s Fault. After we’re were done with it, instead of walking around and getting to the rap station we had to rope up for another pitch of low slab climbing to get to the rappels. Funny thing is I will do the mandatory 20-30ft runout with no problems at all, but put me on 5.0 and I’ll rope up immediately.

View of Perversion, climb that I led. It starts in the right facing corner below the pine in the middle of the picture , then it follows a broken left facing corner and finishes on a pitch that follows a right facing corner again.

Mandatory crossing (sort of) to get to the wall.

So that’s it. Even though I haven’t placed stopper but once, it was traveling with me extensively last year. Whoever tells you be weary of the crowds on the front slope I’d say take that with a grain of salt. Most of these outings were just Hugh and me even though we climbed only an hour away from Boulder.
I hope this collage will amp up the stoke, kick this long winter out and appease the rock gods for favorable weather so we can send.

Vince Buffalini wrote: Has anyone whipped on this baby yet? I'm willing to make that sacrifice.

For the people

Stopper #2 is in the care of the USPS, on its way to Tan B. ETA Monday.

I have received the stopper. I'll see what happens this weekend.

I will take it next!

Mike Esparza wrote: I will take it next!

PM me your address. I’ll get it sent off this week.

Finally got to use the stopper in Eldorado Canyon today. The route is Positively Fourth Street, 5.9+ up on West Ridge. My climbing buddy decided to get on it and he absolutely crushed it. His first 5.9 in the canyon and it was awesome to see him pushing his grade at this classically hard area.

I love this thread.

Tan B wrote: Finally got to use the stopper in Eldorado Canyon today. The route is Positively Fourth Street, 5.9+ up on West Ridge. My climbing buddy decided to get on it and he absolutely crushed it. His first 5.9 in the canyon and it was awesome to see him pushing his grade at this classically hard area.

Wow! not a long one but definitely a stiff one @ that grade...pumpy IIRC. 

big ups to your friend. 

Cortney L wrote:

...  not a long one but definitely a stiff one ...

climbing friend,

that is what she would be saying! ho ho, ha ha!

good tidings on to your special friend, ascending in most scary and unpleasant climbing area in your country