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| At the top of the Yellow Spur |
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| On the Long John Wall |
Mark and I have continued to tick off the classics in Eldo. We finally did the Long John Wall, doing the scramble up to Morning Thunder and then back down to the ground to avoid wading South Boulder Creek. We did the route as three pitches and downclimbed off the back side. It's just 5.8, but has a couple of roofs and some good crack climbing sections. Mark was really solid on it.
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| The super run-out second pitch of the Bulge |
A couple of days later, without much time, we did the Bulge. This runout 5.7 route is a time-tested classic. I've done it many times, but it was Mark's first trip up it. He climbed the tricky, traversing crux better than I did. I got a bit off balance there and was a bit concerned for a move or two. Mark cruised the soft 5.9 direct finish as well.
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| At the crux of the Green Spur |
One morning we were in Eldo by 5:15 a.m. and we were the first car! No worries, there are hundreds of routes, right? We headed for the Yellow Spur. Guess what route the first party was on? You got that right. No worries. We could have followed them up, as they were already on the second pitch, but we switched to the Green Spur (5.9+) instead. This is a cool route with a very tricky crux, but the climbing is not nearly as consistent good as the Yellow Spur. I was impressed that Mark got the crux onsight.
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| Finishing off the crux second pitch |
This past Saturday we went back for the Yellow Spur. We didn't get into the canyon until 6:15, but the route was open and we romped up this stellar route. My hand popped off a hold on the airy 5.9 finish and I barn-doored out a bit. I was surprised I didn't fall off. We finished via the exciting Robbin's Traverse instead of the bolt ladder finish. Once again, Mark cruised the opening roof and finishing 5.9 crux.
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| Heading up the second pitch of the Yellow Spur |
With a bit more time, we blazed up the first pitch of Werk Supp. We both did the pitch, ground to ground in under 30 minutes, so we're getting a bit faster. We were headed out of the park by 10 a.m.
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Making the reach on the fifth pitch
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