Night Climb

Just because the sun isn't up doesn't mean you still cant climb rock...especially when its 70 degrees out and its the month of November. I guess motivation to climb after work on Friday was fueling my need to pull down on some real rock ( rock gyms too expensive ) and although while I didn't get off work till 5:30 I was still determined to get a couple pitches in. So after meeting up in town Matt, Brett, and myself headed out to the Elephant Buttresses right outside of Boulder and dropped a rope on Classic finger crack 5.9 , and Tough situation 5.10. Easily top-roped from the same anchor, we were rapping in as the sun was setting in the canyon. Quite peaceful..

Brett stemming through the crux of tough situation.....stars in the sky above

Yours truly scumming my way up by headlamp...

Brett goofing around bringing out the big guns!!

Although this shot didn't turn out that well I still think it looks cool and gives a certain perspective on climbing at night..Relying on just your head lamp to read the terrain and moves above can sharpen your focus on just a move or two that you can see in front of you, while the shadows that your light casts illuminates the rocks micro  textures in a way not so much noticed while climbing during the day. This effect seems to give a more intimate feel to the rock and creates an exciting feel to the energy as well because your doing something that you really don't do that often which is climb rock at night....

Peace, Jason 

Winter Mojo 2010

East Ridge of the Owls..

Still recovering from my last outing on Lumpy Ridge ( Wolf's Tooth) Aaron Miller and myself headed back up to Lumpy for the Tenth Annual Lumpy Ridge trail days as well as the Lumpy Ridge climbers reunion...We had planned to climb the East Ridge of the Twin Owls via Crackle Crack,.a fun link up that would bring us up to the summit of the Owls in 3 varying pitches, mostly 5.8 climbing due to my still handicap condition. ..Unfortunately while following Aaron up Crackle Crack my injury from last week made an un-welcomed return. Stabbing pain down the left side of my abdomen made me nervous that possibly I had torn my ab-ductor muscle more severely than first expected...Not wanting to climb the remaining pitches due to the fact that I may aggravate the injury more, but also not wanting to be one to moan and complain and shut the day down short, I was having quite an internal dilemma. We talked it over and I decided to continue, me taking it easy and just moving slow through the next pitch...Which is what I did, climbing as cautiously as possible trying not to use my 'core' strength which irritated the injury every time I engaged my abs...Surprisingly I climbed much better, taking my time, finding the best foot placements to re-set my body weight, after one long time consuming pitch, I set the belay relived to be handing the rack back over to Aaron for the last pitch..

Crackle Crack 5.8....

Aaron attempting Pitch 3...This is right before he gets sucked into the off width roof slot....

At this point I think Aaron was questioning the grade of this pitch 5.7-5.8 ? Maybe if its climbed correctly....Stemming through the roof slot seemed to be the most reasonable approach...Lots of fun but quite deceiving....similar in ways to the Cave exit on the Book Formation...

After finishing the climb we made our way back to our packs at the base and contemplated climbing some more....with my abs still burning intermittently in pain I volunteered to belay Aaron on anything he wanted to lead but my climbing today was over, even though I REALLY wanted to keep climbing...Another internal dilemma....this time my nagging injury won and we ended the day short and headed back to the car for some beers....for the first time ever in my 6 years climbing on Lumpy Ridge I was glad to be heading back to the car...

So its been about 2 weeks or so and I feel that I'm slowly healing..Not going to be climbing until at least the end of October... Want to heal properly...I cant complain, its been a awesome summer...

Peace, Jason

Wolf's Tooth, Lumpy Ridge, Co

Jason Estes and myself climbed the ever classic Wolf's Tooth 5.8+ on the Twin Owls of Lumpy Ridge this past weekend.

Having climbed a majority of the other classic crack climbing routes on the ridge I'd definitely say that this is one of the best so far....Lots of off- width crack technique employed, including some full body squeeze chimney to boot...Physical...to say the least...Combine it with Conan's Gonads ( 150 feet of 5.9 hand and fist jamming ) for the first pitch up to the roosting ramp, makes this one sweet crack climbing link- up...Highly recommended!

Twin Owls formation. Wolfs tooth climbs up the opposite side of the semi-detached pillar on the left side of the photo...

A better Perspective...Closer and from the other side...





The sweetest link- up. Conan's Gonads to Wolf's Tooth....




Jason Estes doing battle with Conan....This 5.9 is as steep and physical as it looks!

Feeling a little nervous.....

The off-width start to Wolfs Tooth...

The awesome view back down the chimney of the Tooth....

J2 sporting a nice fist jam near the end of the pitch....

After one more funky 5.7 pitch we were standing on the summit....Totally awesome climb and one that I look forward to repeating.... after my body recovers.....

Peace, Jason

Pingora 11,884

After our well deserved rest day we set our focus on climbing Pingora by way of the East Face Left Side cracks 5.7 IV about 1500feet. With some beta from Cory and Liz , we were stoked to climb this route which is supposedly better than the other 50 classic that was just around the corner, but loaded with other climbing parties.....We, on the other hand, had this route all to ourselves....

We started about two or three cracks to the right of the shaded dihedral in the center of the photo..


Aaron leading pitch two...some more Cracks from hands to off -width body jams...this route had it all...

Aaron probably leading Pitch four right before we started simul-climbing for about 500 feet.

The view down looking at Lonesome lake and Mitchell peak from about 2/3 the way up Pingora

Aaron following the last pitch.... More sweet jamming....

Summit!! Visible from right to left Wolfs Head 12,163, Overhanging Tower 12,164, Sharks Nose 12,229, Block Tower 12,210 , Watchtower 12,288

Plenty of climbing still to be done and I will definitely be making return trips to the Winds...

I feel that I only got a small taste of the climbing to be done in the Wind Rivers which makes me want more.....

Id like to thank Aaron for making this trip happen for me( enduring those tooth aches until the pain meds kicked in) as well as Cory and Liz for being so awesome and showing us this incredible climbing area.

Peace, Jason

:The Winds post below is actually suppose to come before this post :

The Winds

Just returned from an awesome trip to the Cirque of the Towers in the Wind Rivers of Wyoming. Aaron Miller and I made plans to climb another one of the 50 classic climbs of North America, the North Ridge of Wolfs head IV 5.6 1,000 Ft "traversing". We also planned to climb Pingora by way of the East Face Left Side Cracks, IV 5.7 1500ft ? And for a bonus the day after our ten mile hike into the cirque we climbed the South Buttress 'K cracks' of Pingora for a good warm up to get accustomed to the style of climbing to be expected. Cory and Liz were along as well as our gracious hosts since this was there 5 th trip to the Winds.

First sight of the Cirque....


Ant Man !! Hiking just past Big Sandy Lake..The first easy six miles are behind us now...



Nice view of both of our objectives for the trip ...Wolf's head (left) and Pingora (right)









Resting up after the long hike in..

Aaron walking through a field of wildflowers on our morning approach to Wolf"s Head ridge..

After simul -climbing the first 300 feet of easy grassy ledges we ended up on a large bench with a short vertical pitch separating us from the start of the "sidewalk pitch"

Aaron going through the rack before the classic run out ( but easy) sidewalk pitch...2ft wide and about 40ft long no pro, just friction...Probably 5.2 climbing but in an incredible position...
"Sidewalk pitch"

Looking down the sidewalk....

Great shot of Aaron following the traverse around the first tower which is followed by a sketchy step around the exposed boulder...

One of the most striking towers that we climbed around, the " Darth Vader" tower, could easily be seen from camp below resembling the helmet of Darth Vader...

Aaron leading the downward hand traverse pitch, which finished with a tight squeeze through a gap in the ridge.... A truly unique and memorable pitch.

Looking through the gap......

Last pitch of the climb. A great route, truly classic, and one that I would definitely climb again....


View of the ridge catching the last bit of sun....

So after climbing Wolfs Head we were in agreement on taking a rest day before climbing Pingora.

Our one rest day was pretty relaxing, went on a short hike , did some sweet bouldering in the cirque, and tried not to eat all of our food for the rest of the trip.....

Pingora continued below.......

Petit Grepon

One of the 50 classic climbs of North America the Petit Grepon has been on my to do list since I first started climbing. Finally this past Thursday Aaron Miller and myself headed up and climbed this awesome alpine route by way of the classic south face, grade III 5.8 800ft. Solid rock and breathtaking exposure throughout the climb, I cant believe its taken me so long to get this route done.. Roping up and getting psyched...Although the recent monsoon flow throughout the front range has left "the Park" quite wet...Trails on the approach were running with water and when we reached the start of the route the lower pitches looked as if they were running with water as well..




The start was a little wet, but we kept our hopes up that the upper pitches past the chimneys would be dry..The chimney on pitch 2 was definitely running and wet when we climbed through.

Aaron toward the end of pitch 3 leaving most of the wet rock below us now. Sky pond visible below....




Mr. Marmot keeping me company at the belay....I think he was scoping our line!!




Aaron sending the crux pitch...

Looking down from the extremely exposed pizza pan belay ledge...Single serving, room enough for one, no room for seconds!

Aaron getting his slice of the pie....

Aaron leading the final summit pitch.....

Yours truly finally on the summit of the Petit Grepon.... Totally Sweet!!

One hour and 5 rappels later we were back at the base of the Petit...Me actually smiling while pulling ropes...I hate rappelling!

Chillin back at the base of the route...Feeling good!

Walking out, the Petit on the left and the Saber on the right....

Till next time...

Peace, Jason

P.S.

All this moisture in RMNP has sprouted up some interesting looking mushrooms.....