Skyland!

Because of some reorganizations at work, we now have Columbus Day off (of course the school's don't) so I had a chance to climb relatively guilt-free while the fam was doing their "normal" thing.

When Codi decided to go to school in Gunnison, at Western State, we were psyched to have an excuse to finally check out Skyland.

After sending out my shotgun messages for people to drive out with I was lucky to have Wade interested - as expected, it wasn't a day off for anyone else.

I got my box o' bagels at Panera and we headed out to Crested Butte - a little frightened of a 4 hour drive with a malfunctioning iPod...


The drive went by fast and before we knew it, we were in a place with enough money to frame their road signs:

We found the trailhead without any problems and the weather was perfect. I'd lured Wade with pictures of brilliant Aspen leaves changing colors and bouldering on a soft blanket of yellow - but alas, we were about 2 weeks late. Almost all of the trees had already lost their leaves, but you can imagine what it would be like, right?

Regardless, the singletrack trail was awesome and once we saw the Hone Stone, we knew we would have a great day. We ran around for a while, and then warmed up - Wade did great for his first time climbing in a long time. Codi had classes in the morning so he'd meet us as soon as he could.

After the Warmup boulder, we went to The Wave and got on an amazing line called "Slabs Kick A$$" where after a slab move you huck for the lip in a two-handed dyno. I had to do it at least 6 times because it was sooo good.

After that, we moved over to The Wedge and did a few lines. Here, we saw our first climbers and after talking to them, learned that the locals call Crested Butte, CB. And then, although CB has a population of less then 2000, they designate a CB North and a CB South part of town. Cute.

Skin was starting to get a little thin so we wasted no time getting over to the Joint boulder. This is one PROUD boulder, clocking in at 23 feet, sitting out in the middle of the field. I HAD to get on Blunt Boy, a V1 going up the vertical face:

I was SUPER impressed that Wade busted it out too. Best send of the day!

What made this climb even better were the "karma pads" stashed underneath the overhang. Adding two more pads to ours made it much more chill to jump on this highball. Thanks KarmaPads!

We then played on a line called "Longshot" but without any sends. Then Codi showed up!

We moved over to the High Times Boulder to bask in its awesomeness. My goal was to send all the lines on the main face - so we started from left-to-right. After a fall on Left El Skyland, all the rest (Center, J-Crack, and Right) went down first try. This was thanks to an awesome local that showed up, on his bike (no pad) to do his circuit. He was the epitome of an older, seasoned, climber that had the whole place wired. Cool guy, who graciously foreran the problems on the face so I could benefit from his beta. (He was from CB North, by the way...)

Codi and Kegan had to leave and the weather was getting chilly. We'd foolishly left the Hone Stone for the last thing to get on before leaving, but I had to get on it before we left!

I gave Tick Fever a few good burns, but couldn't top it out on this trip. Just another excuse to make sure I visit again! Plenty more classics to get on and I know there have to be gems hidden up in those woods!

What a great area! We noticed how close the homes were to the trail and even the boulders as we hiked out and back. Wouldn't it be cool to have the trail and boulders so close? I started investigating fall/spring rentals for the fam when I got home and found this lot. I'm fairly certain this is where Wade and I turned around after seeing private property signs on the trail. This lot overlooks the hillside where all of these boulders live! Just a tad under $1 million... Maybe I can convince TGL Investments (http://investmentsmgt.com/) to buy it!

NorthWet, I mean NorthWest - Fall 2010

Jeff Russell is always telling me about how great the rock is out in Washington state. The huge drive to Seattle has always held me back, but when he agreed to include a visit to Squamish during the visit - I had to go.

Although the fall weather can be spotty in the NorthWest, I rolled the dice, found a sweet deal on a flight and committed. It's been a little while since my last fall roadtrip and Kim was super-supportive.

Once I got into town, we checked the weather and thought that Leavenworth was our best bet for Thursday.

Thursday
Leavenworth was sprinkling the entire day. Fortunately, there were periods where it would let up and we could also find enough to climb sheltered by the tall trees.

The layout for Leavenworth reminded me a lot of Joe's Valley, Utah, where many boulders were off a canyon road, most with a non-existent approach. We drove from area to area, hitting some high points, and climbing where it was dry.

First Jeff took me to a warm-up area and then to a sweet problem called Slingblade. I'd promised myself no more than 3 tries on a problem, so that I wouldn't burn out skin or energy too quickly on this trip - there was a lot to see. But I broke that promise right away. Slingblade took a few tries, but was awesome, and a great introduction to the quality of problems on the Leavenworth granite.

Then Jeff took me to one of the highlights of the trip: Sleeping Lady. This climb, where he got the FA a few years ago, overhangs right above the Icicle Creek with big holds and big moves. We both ran a few laps on it - Excellent!

I'd watched a problem called "Was" the night before at Jeff's house and really wanted to try it. Sadly, I had horrible tree coverage and when I tried it, I slipped off the arete, slamming my left heel into the ground on my fall. Next!

The Sword Area. I did some more warm-ups and a problem called Off The Couch, with some great crimps. I had felt a little twinge in my arm on that problem, so I was worried that I did the usual, and climbed too much too fast and would be done for the rest of the day.

Jeff was psyched to try a line called Prism, which had caught my eye on the way in. Super-cool slopers going up an arete, whose top was just dry enough to work. After watching Jeff immediately break his barriers and climb to a high point, I saw that there was a micro-edge on each of the large slopers that could be used. Stealing Jeff's beta, I was able to start throwing at the lip for the final big move - excited about maybe getting this beautiful line. I hit my right heel pretty hard on a fall onto a rock, barely missing the pad - which I'm still feeling almost a week later. After consistent progress (which counts if I feel that I'm touching the lip hold better each time), I had enough strength to send it! One of the proudest sends of the trip for me.

The rain had started up again and we ran around, looking at a few more areas. We crossed the creek since the water was pretty low and did a little exploring on the other side for a while, but without any luck in finding new boulders. The aqueduct was sweet though.

As we were thinking of heading home, we thought it looked a little drier up on the hill, where the Pasture and other areas were. Hopeful, we drove above town and looked at few other sets of boulders. Just as we were getting ready to climb, the clouds opened up again and we had to wait them out. I snapped this great shot of Jeff in between showers - I loved the setting for these boulders:

All in all, it was a great day, making the very most of the weather we were given.

DISCLAIMER: I have been using performance enhancing drugs on this trip. Jeff hooked me up with a substance that isn't available in the US, but I think helped me survive the onslaught of granite on my hands. I applied Antihydral to my fingertips at night and washed it off after 30 minutes or so - I don't know if it's mental, but I felt like my skin held up a LOT longer than usual... It's supposed to be good for stopping sweat, but Jeff praised it for helping his calluses. I might need to look into making a purchase...

Friday

Squamish weather had finally settled on "crappy" (80-100% chance of rain) but I had a passport and we were going to go up there and check it out at the very least. If it had a chance of drying out, we'd camp and climb Saturday too.

On the way, Jeff got pulled over and received a nice $175 speeding ticket. It reminded me of a conversation Ryan Sayers and I had one time on a roadtrip. He wanted to establish rules about who pays for speeding tickets on a roadtrip - and argued that if we both wanted to get to an area fast, then the responsibility of the ticket is on both climbers, not just the one who happened to be driving at the time. We debated back and forth, but the onus still ended up on the driver (it didn't help Ryan's case that he had just gotten pulled over in Utah a few minutes earlier...).

For some reason, we were flagged at the border and had to park and go into the office. We only had to wait a few minutes before they let us go. On the way out to the car, I checked and my passport wasn't stamped for Canada. I was kind of bummed since this the first time I'd been out of the country (except for an uplifting visit to Juarez with Ryan on a Hueco trip) and wanted some proof! Jeff convinced me to go back in and ask for it, completely against my nature, but I agreed. I ran back in, to the same two guys who had taken our paperwork originally, and said "I don't want to be the goober, but do you guys still do stamps on passports?" Pretty sure there was an eye-roll and one said "Get the goober stamp!" He even had to update the date on the rubber stamp for me, who knows how long it's been since they've had someone ask... I should have pressed my luck and asked if they could say something and end it with "eh?" for me...

Here's my goober stamp:

If it was wet, to make the trip worthwhile (4+ hour drive), we were going to do a session at the new Vancouver Temple, just dedicated in May 2010. Jeff got 5 Canuck points for seeing it first. We pulled into a pretty empty parking lot and changed into our church clothes, psyched about seeing the new temple. As we approached the entrance, we noted a flooring truck and joked for a second about it being closed for maintenance... No way... Yes way... They were closed. 4 months open and they were closed for maintenance... C for effort. I snapped some shots and we headed towards Squamish.
As we traveled I looked for Canadian "things." We wouldn't get a chance to talk to too many people, so I couldn't get my "eh?" but we saw red fire hydrants and acres of greenhouses.
We saw lots of metric signs - flustering Jeff even more post-ticket to not speed across the border. We definitely needed Ryan there to do some mental conversions for us. He was the poster-boy for metric, usually annoying us with quoting the temperature in Celsius.

I had to get some Canadian currency for the kids and was impressed by a grocery store in Vancouver, which took US dollars, converted it with an exchange rate (not sure how up-to-date it was) and gave change in Canadian dollars. Check it:

Of course, the weather actually got worse the closer we got to Squamish. This is what the Chief looked like as Jeff got 5 more Canuck points for seeing it first...

Wet, but willing to explore, we ran around the base of the Chief's main wall seeing AMAZING blocks - all soaking wet. The forest is unreal. So beautiful. Moss covered rocks, trees, green everywhere.I was psyched on this huge slug I found, but these NorthWesterners, like is Jeff now, see them all the time... He wasn't impressed by the big blackberry patch I found at Gold Bar either...

Note how many cars are in the parking lot at this WORLD CLASS CLIMBING AREA... One. That's right, we're special.

Dreamcatcher looked much more compressed than the movie, but still gorgeous and inspiring.

Aside from the weather, I did find one downside to Squamish... Noise. Infringing on this amazing setting are the sounds of the highway, which is right behind you - as well as a lumberyard on the bay. Bummer.

After checking out Shannon Falls and immediately dismissing the idea of hiking up to the top of the Chief, we had two options: Stay there, study probability (Jeff brought his Actuary study materials) and camp, hoping for a miracle tomorrow... or drive all the way back and find sun for the last day of climbing. Back to the US - Canada had spit us out, wet and disappointed, but psyched to come back someday.

Saturday

I woke up to the SUN shining through the windows at Jeff's place! YES! Although there was plenty still to show me at Leavenworth, Gold Bar was a new area and closer. So excited to climb today!
Gold Bar starts with a solid hike up switchbacks that used to be 4-wheeler trails. We did a bunch of exploring at the Five Star Boulder, a warmup area, Clearcut and Forest areas. It was actually too hot to climb out in the Clearcut area (I got smacked around on a V4 called Water) but the forest was PERFECT! It reminded me a lot of what we saw in Squamish - just less concentrated. Here's a shot of the forest from the Clearcut zone:

I was psyched to flash Doja, a climb whose first move felt like I was climbing "down" before some beautiful moves on slopers to a huge jug. We then went and worked Lighten Up for a while - amazing line. Jeff will bag it the next time he's there.

On our way out, we hit the Five Star Boulder and I got my dose of highball problems with Five Star Arete and the adrenaline-pounding Kombucha. Topping out those problems on little patches of clean rock among a green moss covered face was so much fun. I wish I had video of these last two sends to relive that feeling...

I realized how having a guide show me around was HUGE for making this trip a success. If I just had the guidebook, it could have been rough. Without Jeff's experience and generosity with beta, I know I wouldn't have been able to see such classic lines or climb them as quickly. Jeff rules.

I also noticed how much Jeff climbs like Ryan. Jeff's strong, thick strong and thuggy when he climbs. That's Ryan-style and it's sweet.

Great Trip. Thanks Jeff and Cherish. Thanks Kim, Brandon, Zoey, Ryan and Zac.

The footage:

NorthWest 2010 from Nathanael Hansen on Vimeo.

Ute Pass - Bobba Fett Arete

Always willing to share projects, Hayden, Nick, Byron & Chris introduced me to some new lines at Ute Pass. After some scary falls and broken holds, friction was good, and I was lucky enough to get the FA of Bobba Fett Arete. There's a HARD looking SDS that will be the next step for this beautiful line.

I've got to cherish these moments where somehow I squeeze out the first send...
(I try not to think about how everyone else was already burnt out or bleeding too much to try when I was still fresh...)

Thanks for the psych and to Hayden for snapping some pics!



http://iclimbrocks.blogspot.com/2010/01/bobba-fett-arete.html

4th Semiannual General Climbing Conference, October 2009

I'm trying to encourage a tradition of having a bouldering session at Mt. Herman between the last Saturday session and the Priesthood session of General Conference (a semiannual world conference for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, where we watch/listen to instruction from the church leaders). This doesn't just apply to the Mormon crowd - anyone can come to the session after climbing.

This conference, it was just Codi and I - and with Codi's back hurting, we just spent some time on a sweet line I'd climbed with Glenn and wanted to get some media. Here's the rough video of the problem. See you all next April!

San Antonio September

I was able to head down to San Antonio for work last week, getting in a few limestone sessions with some good friends. Joe is the "special child" on the right...




Joe is always hard at work finding new areas and developing relationships with landowners and climbers. Now Joe is one of those landowners with a sweet bluff on his property! I spent the week straining to get out of work early enough to spend time on his established and projected lines.

I've been really obedient so far on not posting anything from the area, at Joe's wise request - but I will say that it is AMAZING and has tons of potential. I can't wait to go back

Hoagies In Heaven

After our great friend, Ryan Sayers, died in 2003 we (Jeff Russell, Dan Russell, Brian Shelton and I) put together a list of the top three climbs that Ryan was working at the time and super-close to sending. Of course, all were unclimbed, hard and beautiful - and local. Ryan definitely poured his passion to the areas we had climbed for years and still found new challenges. The list was dubbed "The Hoagie Trifecta" and it was our job to send these routes/problems in Ryan's name.

The Hoagie Trifecta - in order of FA:
- An extension to Electric Kite in Castlewood Canyon. It climbs through amazing pods in a Ceuse-esque, perfectly overhanging wall, to a tall topout. Jeff sent this pretty quickly and named it Hoagies in Heaven (2003-2004?).
- The sit start to Commando in Ute Pass. After doing Commando with Dan, a single move, awesome dyno, Ryan and I went back and moved some serious rock to expose the gorgeous lower moves. The crux was getting between some slopey crimps up to the excellent incut seam and Ryan was almost latching it. Unfortunately, this problem succumbed to David Marquess, a super-strong local, who renamed it Green Lantern (2005?).
- Free climbing The Inferno, an old aid route at the Garden of the Gods. I wasn't as psyched on this one when the rest of the guys were working it because it involved a huge, low-percentage throw and some committing moves on lead. It wasn't until some local talent started showing interest in the line that I knew I had to give it a shot before it fell to another outside of our crew. So with motivation and rope-gunning from Brian and Jerad Friedrichs, I shockingly, made it to the top for the FFA, Ryan's Inferno (2008).

Now that they've all been climbed, it is simply a matter of repeats.

Last Monday (9/7/09) was a good day for the Hoagie Trifecta. A most triumphant day. Two carloads of family and friends (Kim, Brandon, Zoey, Ryan, Codi, Papa, Shailee, Simree, Trevor, Summer & I) rolled into Castlewood to do some toproping and playing in the creek. As the day neared an end, they all followed me up the steep and overgrown trail to the Electric Kite boulder. There were cactus encounters, big falls and a few tears, but everyone made it. At the boulder, mosquitoes were wailing on anyone that didn't have the smallest diameter dipped in DEET, but I had three pads and some chick power. I had planned ahead, since the last time I worked the problem it was overgrown and dirty, and brought some gear to rap down to clean up the line. (For some reason, whenever I think about this line, I see blue streaks through the pods, but they’re white every time…) I had failed on earlier sessions to use a toe-cam when matching in the main pod - but Jeff had reminded me that they'd dispatched that old beta a long time ago, and I needed to use some of the tiny feet under the pod. Those feet suck, and I quickly realized that if it was going to happen I'd have to campus through that section. After a few shots from the start, I worked the moves after the pod and was stoked to find out that I could stick the crimp without feet - now if I could only link it...

Here's the play-by-play:
Start right hand in a perfect 2-finger pocket about chest-high and left hand in a sloped pod at head-height. Low left foot and flagged right. Pull on and go to a funky crimp/pocket pinch with the left. Now spot the large pod and throw right to it, it's big. I ended up tacking a right toe far out right on a pocket in order to match in the pod, crossed with my left hand. Tighten up and cross the feet to the left and try to get something on before going right to the crimper - campus, otherwise. Adjust that left hand to a sidepull. Feet have a better shot of staying on as you continue bumping right - first to the sloper, and then again to the lip of the monster pod. I barely had the distance, but got solid as I matched and Kim’s Dad and Codi moved the pads back. I remember thinking about how tired I was already and how much I wanted to chalk up (could I wait here long enough for someone to pass me the chalk bag?) but I pushed the doubts aside and looked at how far away the next ledge looked... Dang that's far. I started moving up the huge pod and barely remembered to get my right foot up high to keep me on - and stabbed for a spot on the next ledge nowhere near my tick marks. Fortunately, at that angle, the whole ledge felt good and I could bring my right hand up to the better spot - then get my left in the sweet spot. The rest went really fast - I'd hoped this would happen after I looked at the final holds beforehand. Right hand cross to a nice pocket, left cross above to an even better pocket, right hand out to a fragile-looking edge, bring that right foot up to the ledge and lock off. Lots of good options in the upper seam, but stretch for the best.... GOT IT! I let out a yelp and pulled up with another of the sweet sweet jugs. I knew I was good for the last few moves out right and I was on top - where Zoey was waiting with Simree across the ridge to show me her sap-sticky hands. Ryan sent some gentle sprinkles of rain in approval after I got down and I reflected on how thuggy and Ryan-like my ascent was - must have had a little help from an old friend....

So now, I've got a singular objective, Commando Sit. With Fall and Winter coming, it might be soon!?
And now Jeff's got some motivation to come back to the Springs to tie up the score...

Mt. Evans Unveiled

It's Saturday morning and my alarm goes off at 4:30AM for the second week in a row...

What am I doing? Groggily, I remember that to satisfy the crucial drive/climb time ratio, Nick Murray and I need to leave at 5AM in order to get in enough climbing time to make it worth the trip, since I need to be home by 6PM.

We made excellent time to Idaho Springs and the hike went down faster than expected and we found ourselves rock hopping at Area A by 8AM.

This was my first time to Mt. Evans and I was impressed by the beauty of my surroundings - a clear mountain stream, deep green plant life, mountain goats styling it on high slabs, and of course, gorgeous blocks as far as the eye can see.

The sun still hadn't made its way to us, so the temps were nicely brisk and we warmed up on the classic Ladder problem. Then we played a bit on the lines to the right (Zorro section?) and worked a little bit harder on the far right arete than we would've liked for a warmup. Nick styled a sweet mantle for the final move off quartz sloping crimps. I resorted to an all-out-throw-to-the-lip finish just as the sun was starting to bake the slopers. Only now did we start to have visitors show up...

Then it was on to Bierstadt. One of Nick's friends gave us his beta to this problem that looks like it could have many different methods. We set to work and it seems pretty solid. The rock is much more coarse than what we were on a week ago in RMNP. It made for forgiveness on more desperate moves, but punished the skin for not being precise. I had a moment of clarity and fell going for the last hold below the lip - So close! All subsequent attempts only resulted in heartache, so we moved on. I'd love to come back and send this problem.

Nick and I headed up to the Dali Wall, passing by All Dogs Go To Evans, Silverback and other sweet lines that I'd only heard about before this trip. Above Dali, we also saw The Big Worm. Impressive.

We started to work on Dali, cursing the awkward and devious low starting moves, but eventually figuring them out and getting them smooth. I wasn't able to stick the left-handed gaston the entire time, but Nick was so close to sending. Instead of being bummed about the whole line, I did the dyno and topout, which was perfect. I "warmed down" (with way too much effort) on the lines above Dali: a cool face climb, an arete line, and a crimp-sidepulls to a ledge problem. I was beat and it was time to go.

We hiked out without issue and I even made it home on time. It's results like this that will tell my amazing wife that I can do this stuff again!

Alas, I have no media to remember the trip by... wait... I think I have a clip of Nick on Dali, but it'll have to wait to be compiled with more "close calls."

RMNP

Finally, with an open weekend and it being a fee-free weekend at Rocky Mountain National Park, it was time to head up to the Park. I hadn't been up since August of 2007, which was pretty much just a scouting mission with the fam.

Codi and I left the Springs a little after 5am, hoping to get to the Bear Lake parking lot before it filled up. Fortunately, the crowds I'd anticipated hadn't shown up. We could have easily slept in a few hours...

Byron and Nick arrived shortly after us and we headed out to Emerald Lake. Everything was new for me, so I got to play on the Kind Boulder and found another cool problem nearby.

Mullet Power for Mr. Murray on the Kind Boulder


Coordinating Tojo on the Kind Boulder.

Codi getting a taste of real rock again...

Byron and Nick looked super-strong on Whispers of Wisdom. I faltered and ended up tweaking my left bicep on the first move. Special, I know...

The next objective was to check out Chaos. I've seen boulders covered in snow, but I had no idea how much snow was up there! Unreal.

The glacier we were crossing in Lower Chaos.

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A picture I took of the warm-up boulder in 2007 vs. Saturday... That's like 15 feet of snow!!!

Nick pondering beta for Deep Puddle Dynamics

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Next up was Deep Puddle Dynamics. The boys had some great burns on this thing while I sulked about my arm. There was an amazing cone of snow remaining at the base, which was interesting to try to place the pads around. One guy from Bulgaria did an awesome straddle on it after trying some crazy beta on DPD. If I'd been doing my job, I would've gotten it on video...

I found a problem up from DPD, short and on crimps that didn't aggravate my arm to help me remember that I did get on some sweet stuff today.

As we packed up to find any other quick hits... the clouds that had been looming all day decided to open up. What started as us hoping for a 15-minute sprinkle turned into an all-out-dash for cover in a downpour of rain, hail and lightning. Pretty intense.

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Wet sucks.

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All survived, and Nick and Byron were even able to dry off enough to climb again the next day. I'm stoked about heading back later-on in the season... more prepared and with the fam!

Note: I've got a few video clips, but no sends... Figured it wasn't worth putting together...

Ute Valley... still rocks

Some cool shots from the circuit this week - courtesy of Brian Jaramillo.

San Antonio Climbing

I just got back from another business trip to San Antonio, Texas - Verification Testing for JPATS TIMS v1.7.5. Despite the constant barrage of hyper-phobic messages about the Swine Flu (the school district around Randolph Air Force Base was closed the entire week because they had a reported case), and generally humid-wet weather, it was quite a fulfilling trip.

About 2 years ago, on my first assignment to go to San Antonio, I prepared by researching as much as I could for climbing opportunities. ALL of the land out there is private and most everything I looked at had caveats about climbing being closed. To my surprise, there isn't even an indoor climbing gym in the 7th largest city in the US.

In desperation, I sent out a blind, shotgun email to any person that was connected to a picture, topo or blog post about San Antonio climbing. Fortunately, Joe Sulak, a resident Human Performance Specialist and champ climber, wrote back and offered to show me around. The rest is history. Every time I've been down there we've been able to get in some climbing or Joe lets me borrow a pad or two if he can't make it out. Joe has definitely been the face of the climbing community in the area, working out deals with land owners and even looking into buying his own land to protect the local rock.

The week started wet and stormy on Monday and climbing was deemed un-possible. I planned on going to the temple Tuesday (of course the weather was clear...). I remembered from my last visit that they don't rent clothing there and so I made sure to bring my own, only to have failed to "reserve" a spot in the 8pm Endowment Session... Apparently the 4th Tuesday of the month is when all of the Spanish Wards go to the temple and they were booked. So again, I found myself doing Initiatories.

By Wednesday, I was going to climb or else... something... I met Joe, Sam (who I'd met on my last trip during some SWB (Shallow Water Bouldering) on the lower tier of Red Bluff), and Brett at the Dire Wall. The Dire Wall is a nice chunk of limestone above a fork in the river north of town. The 6+ foot roof makes up for the lack of topouts due to vegetation and chossiness. Of course the classic problem relied heavily on some pockets for the right hand - which I was worried about due to some tenderness over the last few weeks - but with tape, there weren't any issues. Joe even got some footage!

Nathaneal sending God V7 from Joe Sulak on Vimeo.

On Thursday, I met Sam, Brett and Jeb at the Cub Cave, which was honestly 10 minutes from my hotel. It's in a mini-park with constructed trails and even a big sign that says "Cub Cave" and gives some geologic data. Jeb had bolted the original routes here back in 1992 and now Joe's crew was retro-fitting the whole place. I couldn't get stoked about the routes since Sam had to take a rag to some of the holds to get the layer of slime off - but there was a cool boulder problem on the right of the cave. I was able to do all the moves, but not link it - only later finding that if I had, it could have been the FA.

Friday was my departure day. I only had the morning to climb and my friends all had work to do, so I was on my own. I decided to check out Red Bluff again and maybe do a bit of exploring... keeping in mind that "exploring" turns into "trespassing" and "I might shove my sawed off shotgun up your rear" really quick out in Texas. Hiking over to the Bluff, I realized that I had really pulled something in my back the previous session when I couldn't breathe after holding the pad out while crossing a bridge. Between that and the sprinkling rain, I had no expectations and resolved to just look around.

I crossed the river in a shallow spot and started hiking upstream. I had to keep remembering which way the water was flowing as I crossed since the wind made it look like the current was flowing the other way, and I wanted to not screw up my directions when I told Joe where I'd been. Following some ATV tracks I found a SWEET boulder resting right on top of the river bank and had to play. The sun had come out and the breeze felt perfect. Amazing pockets peppered the face, but in the end, it was a big move skipping them all that paved the way for the send. I even joked with myself that I might have stumbled upon an FA, but Joe will quickly shed the light on that.

The guys kept telling me how humid and "out of season" it was, and that I needed to come back when the climbing was good... but when I stepped off the plane in Colorado Springs and found out that it had been totally impossible to climb here due to moisture, I won't lie, it felt fantastic.

Here's some really bad media, edited even worse, but...

Colorado Springs - Personal History - Access 09

There's something special about climbing in Colorado Springs that I find myself taking for granted.
Well, if you take into account the 300+ sunny days/year, amazing proximity to a myriad of "local" climbing areas, rock type and styles... I guess there's more than just a few things that I'm grateful for.
I've been climbing long enough that WHO I climb with has changed a lot...
---WARNING: HISTORICAL CLIMBING REFLECTION ---

It all started with Ryan. We'd head down to the 8th Street Gym after school where I was inspired and awed by guys like Arin (also proving that if you were a champ climber you got CUTE girlfriends) and Dana (The Caveman), and amused by guys like Lance (crazy enthusiastic (bushwhacking to find remote ice in Cheyenne Canyon) and hilarious) and "F-ing" Scotty (I'll still never know how Ryan survived that trip to Devil's Tower). Anyone who thinks that this wasn't the best climbing gym in Colorado Springs will have a hard time backing it up. Ryan got me onto the "US Sport Climbing Club Team" where in exchange for setting routes and other labors, we didn't have to pay to climb. We weren't meant to be gym rats - Ryan and I would get smug looks on our faces when we'd arrive for a gym session and have red Garden sand caked on our shoes from the day or two before. Although Ryan would get out climbing with anyone he could, I was pretty exclusive with him for a while.

The first expansion of our core partnership was to Dan and Jeff Russell. Their enthusiasm didn't falter even after witnessing the crud Ryan and I would get psyched on - Monument Rock!?!?! Dan and I totally wasted any learning potential in Physics class by only reading our Climbing magazines... (Ryan made up for everything with Mr. Gordon by being his superstar in Physics Bowl). Jeff's fearlessness still makes me shudder. Dan used his media skills to document and represent the Colorado Springs area climbing with his website (coloradospringsclimbing.com) which was pretty much our little crew's showcase. It's still cool to talk to people who remember the site and thought it was helpful and inspiring, even.

But all good things have to end... Now that I look back, as much as I hate to admit it, I was the first one to take a step away from the crew. I found a new muse in my future wife and climbing definitely took a back seat for a little while... Other great guys filled in my slot, notably Mike Sherwood and Brian Shelton. Then Ryan took off to school in Golden, where he expanded his friendship circle and found targets for his insatiable appetites for new rock. Dan's truck accident, Ryan's fall and Jeff's move left me feeling pretty lonely in the climbing scene.

I sought out the climbing spark in Todd and Jeremy, which lead me to Jerad, Chris, Codi and Glenn. There was even a Climbing Night or two where there were actually 6+ people in attendance in my humble basement! But that also couldn't last long...

So a few months ago, I found my climbing circle in need of resurrection. Again. This time, the lead came through the Ute Valley Bouldering Competition. A friend who took pictures didn't know how to get ahold of some climbers who were there, and asked me to find them. I obtained Dave Jones' (LordScience) email and we got together for a Ute Pass session. I guess I passed the "Tool Test" and started to be introduced to the Henchmen... Byron (Tojo), Hayden, Brian, Chris, Nick... Oddly enough, Byron's been in the Springs for years and we just didn't cross paths until one frigid, wet day at the Blowouts. They might all think I'm a loser, but I love climbing with these guys. They've introduced me to new areas, new motivation and new outlooks on climbing. Here's how I know that I'm getting a taste of the old days: I'm getting asked to go climbing and having to turn them down - a stark contrast to me hounding everyone I know without a peep in response!

This is just an attempt to put down what went through my head when I saw this poster:

If I had seen it a year ago, I would have immediately disregarded it because it involved the SCC gym (just old 8th Street stereotypes here...) and didn't have a clue about those involved. Because of the scene in Colorado Springs, because of the openness and genuine awesome spirit of guys like Dave and Byron, I'm "in the loop." I've seen the problem on the poster at Newlin Creek because Byron gave us the tour. I know Hayden's been finding and sending tons of new lines. I want to support them and celebrate their successes. I even know Keith from when he was a Web Developer for HP, just dreaming about if he could give up working for the man. I take special pride in the fact that I think I'm the only climber that Keith's been around that was banal enough that he didn't even bring his camera when we went climbing at Shelf Road together. Hopefully it's just because I'm that ugly... (there are actually a few Keith shots of me at the Garden and Ute Pass, carefully hidden away in the archives...)

Anyway, I'm so grateful to still be climbing - with friends and family that make that possible.

Props to all of the organizers for Colorado Springs Access '09. It's benefiting the Access Fund. You can have all of my beers. Go.

Friday's Ute Pass Session

Check it. again...

Bloody Arete and Above the Clouds from Hayden Miller on Vimeo.

MadRock Con-Cept

When I first started climbing, there was only one shoe I had my eyes on. The 5.10 Mocc. It was the cheapest shoe out there ($100) and many of the climbers around were sporting it. Somehow Ryan convinced me later that I needed some lace-ups, so I paid the EXTREME price of $150 for the Boreal Stingers. After that, I stuck to two simple rules: Cheap and Lazy. The rest of my shoe selections came from being on sale (check out MadRock's OUTLET!) or a hook-up, and slippers with velcro or zipper closures.

• 5.10 Moccasym (multiple)
• Boreal Stingers
• 5.10 Zlipper (multiple)
• MadRock Flash (multiple)
• MadRock Hooker Zip
• MadRock Hooker EZ

I definitely didn't think I'd go back to lace-ups... "I boulder. I need to be able to take off my shoes off and on without worrying about the hassle of laces." But I started seeing some of my friends with them, and noted their confidence. I ordered some new Demons from the gracious and generous folks at MadRock and they had them on backorder - so in the light that I've been having problems with velcro not lasting as long as the rubber - I decided to try out the Con-Cept lace-ups.

I tried them out today at Ute Valley and I swear I had a few double-take moments where my foot stuck when I totally didn't expect it to. I felt like I was 20 pounds lighter since I was able to put so much more of my weight on my feet instead of my hands. The laces allowed me to really crank down the tightness where I needed it and weren't a hassle at all to take on and off. No worrying about if my velcro is going to pop off in the middle of the crux? I'm sold. Thanks MadRock!

Lunch Break

One of the precious things about living in Colorado Springs is having so much excellent "local" climbing. Being able to ride or drive down to the Garden\UteValley\V-Naughts to do some lunchtime bouldering is something I hope I won't ever take for granted...

Thanks for the video of yesterday's session, Todd.

Big Bend Bouldering

My Grandma Hansen turned 90 this last weekend and all of the Colorado family went out to Richfield, Utah for her birthday party.

And what does any climbing-dependent person (read: addict) do when there's a trip planned out to Utah...?

We would leave super-early and hit Big Bend bouldering and then the more family-friendly Arches National Park on our way to Richfield. Genius, eh?

Despite thick fog, fear of hitting an open-range cow, sub-freezing temps and mutinous kids who had been told to turn off all electronic distractions and look out the windows, we pulled into the parking lot ahead of schedule. After checking the place out and eating some lunch we all got to work. Before you knew it, it had gained at least 15 degrees and conditions were absolutely perfect for the entire fam.

As much fun as Big Bend was, the small fraction of the Arches we saw was amazing and the kids KILLED the hike to Delicate Arch - making it back just as the sun disappeared.

We have an awesome family.

Socorro & Hueco 2006

Dan, Todd and I went out to Hueco in 2006 to spread some of Ryan's ashes and enjoy the fantastic climbing. We took the Bin-To-Win and made sure to seek out the new location of CiCi's Feces...

I was reading Stone Crusade on the way down and I couldn't get the picture of Bob Murray on "Left to Roof" out of my mind. We had to stop in Socorro, NM. It was only supposed to be V5 but it took some serious effort - and with the light quickly leaving the canyon, I was freaking out. Was it worth blowing out my strength for the rest of the trip for that problem? (I woke up in the middle of the night with pain in my arms from pushing it too hard too fast...)

I proceeded to flap like no-one's business in Hueco... A fingertip flapper from Jigsaw Puzzle (frustrated, I didn't touch Moonshine Roof at all on our tour) and then a pinky flapper from the Gymnasium. But you can't fault Hueco... She's pure.

The most important part of this video is this: It's Todd's proof that he DID send Nobody Gets Out of Here Alive!!!

V-Naught/Green Marker Guide

Sometimes choss becomes beautiful... when it's yours to explore and play on. Thus, the V-Naughts and Green Marker areas. Just two spots that don't really qualify for Ute Valley "proper" areas. But, I think they're excellent. I think it's evident of how excited about these boulders by making this little guide.
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