The Ten Essentials

Ventured back up to RMNP last week with Aaron Miller to climb a lesser known route on Spearhead 12,575. called, The Ten Essentials III 8+ . The route starts with the first three pitches of the more popular Sykes sickle 9+ and then veers right into some broken flakes and cracks for the remaining 2 pitches to the ridge crest. The route pretty much runs parallel to the barb flake formation, at one point climbing behind the huge hanging flake of "the barb". Exciting old school 5.8 climbing at about 12,000 ft, with the crux coming at the end of the route. We then finished with the last 2 pitches of the North Ridge. A nice long day car to car..




About 6am almost to Spearhead which is the large spiked buttress in the background....





The 800 ft. east face of Spearhead.....




Aaron Miller following the 1st pitch....



Aaron starting the 2nd pitch. The route moves right toward the end of this quite run-out slab pitch, over to the hanging flakes and corners seen above Aaron to the right....


Good view of the upper pitches. The crux pitch climbs beneath the HUGE hanging flakes of The barb. Sweet stemming and lay-backing throughout the climb...










West side of Longs Peak and the Keyboard of the winds looking over your shoulder the whole climb...




Aaron following the crux pitch.....



Pull'in the crux...The look of excitement, or concern on Aarons face??



Looking down the last 2 pitches of the North ridge and the top of the barb flake.....I combined these last 2 easy pitches due threatening weather....

Aaron eating candy soon after finishing the climb....Spearhead's summit seen in the background... The weather still holding... Sweet views of McHenrys peak and stoneman pass from the Spearhead summit...Awesome climb!!!

Peace, Jason

Zowie

Its alpine season once again, too hot to climb even on Lumpy Ridge one must gain some elevation to keep things on the cool side. I climbed Zowie by way of the standard South Face route, Grade III 8+ with my old roomate Beth Andrews at the end of last season, one of the most enjoyable routes of all year, and now I decided to start the alpine season off right and climb Zowie first with my good buddy Mike. With this being Mikes first alpine climb I was totally excited to share in that experience with him.. So the typical alpine climb start, at least for Zowie due to the shorter approach. Wake up call 2am, pick up mike leave Boulder 3am, drive at a high rate of speed to Estes Park and then through the park to Glacier Gorge trailhead 4am, start hiking 4:05 am, roped up and climbing by 6am, 6 pitches and approx 700 feet later on the summit 10:45 am, back at base of climb 11:45 am. Lunch, meditation, reflection back at truck for a cold beer 2pm....So with the details out of the way here are a few pics from the climb..

Sun coming up over the Loch....

Morning Alpen glo on the tip of Zowie, the large buttress in the foreground that narrows to a spire.

Mike climbing up one of the early morning pitches of the climb. I think the smile on Mikes face is from finally being able to escape the hoards of mosquitoes that were at the base of the route. They were pretty bad. I think Mike said some thing along the lines of" I think you need to lead this pitch as fast as possible dude!" as he was dawning his rain coat for defence.





Mike following pitch 3


Great Views of The Gash and Sharkstooth from mid route, looking south west towards Andrews Glacier....

Mike enjoying himself, no more mosquitoes!

Looking up at the final crux pitch. The left of the 2 cracks splitting the overhung headwall above. The right one goes too..Just a little bit harder, #4 Camalot crucial if you want to sew it up.

Mike climbing up the last difficult bit to the summit....

Looking down part way through the descent of Zowie...

Mike descending the boulder field in front of Zowie ....Good perspective on the size of the climb..

A great climb and the perfect start to this years alpine season...

Peace, Jason

Bitty Buttress Baby!!

Climbed Bitty Buttress route ( 8+) with J2 on Saturday. Easily my favorite multi pitch route in Boulder Canyon for the grade. Steep, exposed, and super funky moves make this a definitely must do route. Very different from most Boulder Canyon trad climbs....Actually climbs more like an Eldo route in my opinion..

Looking up the first pitch..Pretty much follow the dihedral that flanks the arete for a long pitch (150Ft) Belay on a large ledge on the east side of the buttress......

Pitch two....More funkiness and some sweet exposure on this pitch...

Looking down Pitch two....

Crux Pitch Baby!! Climb the thin crack into a shallow left facing dihedral, when it ends as well as your gear stem across and do a long reach for a hidden rail high left...sustained 8+ with good gear below your feet.....

View down the crux 3rd pitch.....Next gear placement after the crux is at my waist at this point....

J2 after the climb.....Sweet clouds and some cool rainbow virga going on in the cirrus clouds in the background.....

Peace, Jason

Flagstaff Bouldering

My buddy Mike Zadd is visiting from out of town and with this recent stormy weather we decided to take it easy and do a little bouldering up at the world class flagstaff bouldering areas....

Started at Upper y traverse for a good warm up and then we headed down to the 3 of a Kind traverse...

Your's truly getting horizontal with it on the 3 of a kind traverse, V4

Mike hanging in there...

Mike pulling down on the muppet traverse V3....

That's what I call "Extreme" concentration..Notice the sweet left hand jam utilized to reach over the bulge.. A heel hook takes some stress off the arms...

Front view of muppet traverse....

Flagstaff is quite a awesome place to come climb or just boulder, which it is quite famous for....Finger shreeding conglomerate sandstone on mostly overhanging terrain make for some sweet problems.....Just look for the chalk...crash pad optional....

Peace,

Jason