8-6-05: Boulder to boulder
"Independence Rock"
Lyn, Cameron and myself are taking a two week trip to Boulder. We are going to Boulder... to boulder. It may seem redundant, but some people don't come to Boulder to boulder. (crazy, huh?) On the way out we stopped by to see Lyn's parents (Ron & Louise), who live in Grand Junction, and they were nice enough to show us around Colorado National Monument. One of the main attractions of the monument is "Independence Rock." People travel from miles around to view this hunk of choss. Incredible.
-Raza
8-7-05: First day at RMNP
Lyn Warming up at RMNP
Our first day at Rocky Mountain National Park was great. Theo and Robin were nice enough to let us crash at there house and they were nice enough to give us a bouldering tour. We had heard about the epic hike so we were mentally prepared. I was hurting mostly because I was not feeling well. Even the warm-ups were kind of challenging!
Robyn Puro on Tommy's Arete, v7
Most would say that Tommy's Arete, v7 is the most classic problem in the park. It's hard to argue: and over-hanging prow with a variety of cool holds and even cooler moves. The landing sucks, but with a few crash pads and an attentive spotter, it is pretty safe. I managed to flash the problem, but by the time I topped out, I was seriously out of breath. The elevation of Lower Chaos is about 10,500 feet. You feel fine while bouldering but once you top out, it's time for a nap.
Theo Merrin on European Human Being, v12
After showing us around for a while, Theo decided to hop on a project of his that he had been trying for a while. It's one of those project that your so close to doing for so long, you kind of dread getting back on it. But since he hadn't tried it for a while, he got on it. To his surprise he did really well on it. On the first day of the season (for theo) he did all the moves, figured out some better beta and got some great linkage. Not bad for day 1.
-Raza
8-10-05: Forgot the camera
After being sick with the stomach flu I finally felt good enough to go bouldering again. Obviously I wasn't feeling 100% because I forgot to bring the camera! After we warmed up, Lyn fired a quick ascent of Revenge, v6 (second go) and ironically got revenge on another problem, Auto Bot, that she tried our first day up.
The notorious afternoon weather snuck in and started to rain on us. We scurried over to one of the more over-hanging boulders so we could climb while it rained. I tried the bottom of Gang Bang and Handicapps while Lyn went back to Tommy's Arete to work out the moves.
Since we got rained out of the boulders, Lyn and I decided to go to 'The Spot' bouldering gym in Boulder to climb a little bit more for the day and to grab a quick shower. The bouldering was fun there but their flooring was a mess. (But that's the gym manager coming out in me!)
-Raza
8-11-05: Mt. Evans
Scary Arete @ Mt. Evans
We decided to go check out Mt. Evans since we heard so many good thing about the bouldering there. The hike is about twice as long as the hike to RMNP and the weather was looking pretty nasty. By the time that we arrived we thought it was going to rain at any second so climbing was a little rushed. We went up to try Seurat, v8 but it was seeping from some recent rainfall. We went back to where we warmed up and I tried Bierstadt, v10 for a while. I must say that I had a frustrating time on it. I managed to to all the moves very quickly but I fell off the last hard move about 20 times! I kept thinking that my beta was screwed up so I tried all sorts of strange sequences but none of them worked. In the end the beta that worked had nothing to do with the problem and everything with me taking a short walk to clear my head. I came back and fired it.
We then went up to the Dahli boulder and tried the arete on the left side of the boulder (v6?) and Lyn and I both got scared out of our wits. It looked like the last move was a dyno to the top, but with only one spotter and not knowing exactly where we were going to land, we both chickened out.
We were both tired but not willing to quit when, as if by divine intervention, it started to rain on us. We took the hint and got out of Dodge but we got drenched on the way out. We were soaked. The car heater never felt so good.
-Raza
8-13-05: Back to 'the Park'
8-15-05: Cam joins the team
Cameron Verinsky resting on the way up.
After spending a week with his grandparents in Grand Junction, CO Cam joined us for our final week. We rented a cabin in Estes Park, CO so we wouldn't have to deal with a camping or paying out the nose for a hotel. Lyn and I were little hesitant about Cam being able to do the difficult hike up to the boulders but he did great! We took it slow and took a break half way.
Lyn on Tommy's Arete, v7
While Lyn tried Tommy's Arete, I tried the Automator, v13 (just for fun) and Cameron played Game Boy. Every day Lyn is figuring out new beta and looking stronger and stronger on Tommy's. There is an evil move at the end where you have to be very precise dynoing into the narrow crack. It's a low percentage move. It's a good thing the opening moves are so fun!
Raza sending Deep Puddle Dynamics, v9 (photo by Cam!)
Cam liked the Game Boy of course but was also enjoying being in the park. We even talked him into putting down his Game Boy long enough to shoot some pictures of Lyn and me on Deep Puddle Dynamics. He did a great job for his first time with our fancy digital camera.
Cameron playing in an outlet of Lake Haiyaha
I wanted to try European Human Being some more since I managed to get some linkage the last time I tried it. While I tried it, Cam (in a brave act of courage) put down his Game Boy and played in the nearby lake.
Raza "trying" European Human Being, v12
Unfortunately for me, I was not having as much success on my project as Cam was jumping from log to log. I'll blame it on the weather since it was about 15 degrees warmer than the last time I tried it.
Cameron hamming it up on the hike down
Cam was running towards me with a smile until I turned the camera on him. Our little thespian.
Nymph Lake and Bear Lake, RMNP
With climbing on the mind all the time it's sometimes easy to forgot how beautiful everything is. We walked past this view every time we walked down.
-Raza
8-16-05: A Rest Day
Miniature golf in Estes Park, Co
Believe it or not, there are days when we aren't climbing. We definitely stepped it up on our rest days in Estes Park because there is so much fun stuff to do. Like hit a little ball 6 times and still not get it into the hole!
Lyn & Cam on the carpet slide in Estes Park, CO
I love this picture. Lyn and Cam slid down together and I was 4 or 5 tracks to the right. It was not as easy as I thought it would be to shoot pictures as I hurtled down the slide.
-Raza
8-17-05: Wet Willy
Heidi Wertz hitting to the bottle while things dried out
Lyn and I had barely started to warm up when it started to hail. Our experience had been that it would hail maybe for a little bit, but then stop. It didn't stop. It only started to rain and rain hard. We scrambled to get our stuff together and ran over to Tommy's Arete so we could hang out under the boulder and get dry. I don't know how much it rained but it came down really hard for about 1/2 an hour. We were supposed to meet Robyn and friends up there but we figured that there was no way that they would come up after that storm. But as we were hanging out waiting for things to dry, Robyn, Abby, Matt and Heidi all showed up much to our surprise. It was still so wet that it drove some to drinking!
Abby on Deep Puddle Dynamics, v9
Lyn tried Tommy's Arete for a little bit but she had gotten pretty cold while waiting out the storm. We decided to head over to Deep Puddle Dynamics and give that a shot. Matt & Heidi had hiked up to the base of Long's Peak earlier in the day (only to be forced to turn back by the weather) and decided to they were too tired to climb, so they headed back to town. The rest of us tried Deep Puddle for a while but no one tried to send because the top-out was too wet.
Raza on Bush Pilot, v11
After a while we headed over to Bush Pilot so I could give it a try. I think it was one of the few things dry because there were about 12 climbers trying the problem. Kind of awkward to try it but there were plenty of pads. An old friend of mine from Las Vegas (and now Oakland) Kiyoshi was out with a large contingent of Japanese climbers. It was quite a surprise and nice to catch up with him while we climbed.
As per my pattern, I managed to do all the moves fairly quickly but fell off the last hard move about 3 times. I'm not sure why that happens to me but it seems to happen quite often. Maybe I'm not paying my gravity bill!
-Raza
8-19-05 to 8-21-05: The Last Days
Rocky Mountain National ParkThe last days are not well documented with the camera. We were running out of time and the weather was very wet. On the 19th I went back and tried Bush Pilot but could barely do anything on it. Lyn got on Tommy's Arete and was also not feeling so good. We both were probably pretty run down from so much climbing...
Ready to Roll
Or maybe our fun rest days were tiring us out. More golf, more carpets slides, ice cream, video games and lots of food. Enough to wear out even the fittest of individuals. Cam and I are getting ready to race on the 20th.
The 21st was our last day and it was time to finish off those projects. The weather was looking grim so we got an early start and headed up to the boulders. Lyn got on Tommy's Arete and sent with authority. Lyn and I were both so happy because we both knew how much blood, sweat and tears she put into that thing. I think Lyn was just trying to create a little excitement by sending her project on the last day. It was raining on and off all morning and we had jackets and towels on various finishing holds to try and keep them dry. Some holds took quite a bit of chalking and brushing to dry out.
Not too long after she sent Tommy's, it really started to come down. We ran over to the Gang Bang boulder to sit out the storm, but it never let up. We decide to get a head start on the drive out. On the way down we ran into Robyn & Theo and it was great to see them for one last time.
Overall, it was a great two weeks. Filled with fun, bouldering, family, rain and an occasional lightning strike. We can't wait to go back.
-Raza
