Bolting for Glory to Anthill Direct

Mark and I got out to Eldo today to start our outdoor training. Mark and I have been training for an ascent of the Diamond on Longs Peak this summer. Mark even put off doing Hard Rock Hundred, after getting into this exceedingly difficult race. He's been climbing at least two days a week in the gym and we were anxious to see how much of that would transfer to real rock. The answer: not much, but it doesn't hurt to be strong.

We going to be concentrating our outdoor training on crack climbing since almost all of the Casual Route is a crack climb, but I had a hankering to do Bolting for Glory, a really thin, greasy 10a bolted route. I don't know why. Perhaps I thought it would be an easy 5.10 to do since it was bolted. More likely I had just done Touch and Go with Derek and remembered this route.

We did the first pitch of Touch and Go to approach it. The crux move on Touch and Go is quite hard if you are expecting gym 5.8. It's really just one move but it involves pressing your right foot on a very small edge. I was fresh from a mentally humbling trip to Joshua Tree where I didn't even try anything hard, but now I was back on routes I had wired. My gym power made the crux of Touch and Go feel like...5.8! :-) Mark had a bit more trouble on it and didn't use my high right foot and instead used his reach. This pitch wasn't as easy for him, but it involves some crack climbing and he admittedly needs a bit more experience here. Nevertheless, he climbed it clean.

I then started up Bolting for Glory, expecting positive edges and 10a climbing. How naive of me... There really isn't a positive hold on this entire pitch. Okay, that's not true, but it feels that way. I climbed up and left just a bit to put in a small cam to protect the belay. I'm not sure how good it was, because I wasn't sure how solid the flake I put it behind was. I then took a long time to puzzle out the moves up to the first bolt. I didn't want to make a mistake and fall on the cam. I feared it would be difficult to downclimb from a mistake because of the insecure nature, though I did step and back down a couple of times before finally committing to the moves.

Once clipped into the first bolt, I faced what I thought was the crux. Thankfully the bolt was at my chest for the start of these moves. The second bolt is about fifteen feet higher, though, so it's committing to move on. I was wearing my son's TC Pro shoes and the rubber felt thick under my feet. I wasn't used to the shoes and had not feel for the holds. I clipped the second bolt and the climbing got less scary because a fall wouldn't put me anywhere near the ledge below. There is some dicey climbing to get to the third bolt and then I mantled up on good holds. Above the climbing eases. I put in a #2 Camalot between the third and fourth bolts and made the 2-bolt anchor at the top.

Mark followed with as much difficult as I had and I guess a bit more, since he pinched a couple of bolt hangers on the way to belay. Still, it was a good effort on extremely technical climbing. There is just no simulation for that in the gym.

Looking above, I noticed climbers on the Naked Edge and on Anthill Direct - two routes normally closed until August, but frequently opened early if no raptors have nested on the walls. On the spur of the moment, we decided to continue up Anthill Direct, four more pitches, to the top of the wall. I was in short sleeves with my long-sleeved shirt and jacket safely tucked in my pack at the base of the route. I opened if I'd be uncomfortably cold, as the wind had picked up and I was getting chilled at the belay. Mark was game, though, and we could use the mileage, so up we went.

High on the wall, Mark would give me his long-sleeve shirt. I was already wearing his helmet, having left mine in the car. He's a true partner and we share the exact same attitude about climbing, about adventures. We are a team. We are not two individuals. We will succeed or fail as a team. Once we leave the car, and until we return, nothing I have is mine and nothing he has is his. Everything we have is ours. Including "our shirt", which he happened to own, though that wasn't relevant, and he happen to be wearing, which also wasn't relevant. Same with helmet. We decided, as a team, that it was best if the leader wore the helmet. Yes, it was my mistake to leave our second helmet and we might have decided to go back for it. We might have upset at the sloppiness of one of us for getting it, but we weren't. We just made the right decisions for the team. I love the camaraderie and teamwork that climbing requires. This is why partners are everything to me - much more important than the climbing itself.

I led the rest of the way up the familiar route and Mark followed it, ascending this classic for the first time. He did very well on it, as expected, and he felt a lot better about being completely solid on 5.8, then desperate on 10a. I combine the two pitches out on the main face into a 180-foot monster, but the climbing here is so cool, so engaging, even though it is only 5.6 or 5.7. This because I'm almost constantly runout, moving quickly above gear and having to space it out considerably to make the full distance.

The last pitch is a 5.9- lieback that in the past has felt challenging. Today, it felt like 5.6. I marvelled at how weak I must of been to be desperate on that section, but a lot has to do with confidence. If you know it will be easy for you, you don't hesitate and just climb it. I placed a #2 cam before starting it and then just went all the way to the belay fifty feet up, as the climbing rapidly becomes trivial, but in the past, I've hung out seven or eight feet higher to place another piece. Doing this makes the pitch much harder. Ironically, you only do that when you are weaker.

We descended the familiar East Ledges in our painful climbing shoes. We didn't plan on doing this route, but getting it done felt good. It's just the first route of many to get us ready for the Diamond. We won't be running out of great routes in Eldo...

Joshua Tree w/Derek - Day 4

At the top of Bamib Meets Godzilla

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Our last day and it was going to be just Derek and I again, as Dave and his Chuckwalla Rope Caddy headed for the hills. I had hoped to get on a some 5.10 routes today, but I had also hoped to be more motivated, to be stronger, to be tougher, to be braver. None of that happened. Instead the heat and fatigue sapped the energy out of us. It didn't help that we forgot all our water, chilling nicely inside Opie's frig. We had a single 12-oz can of lemonade with us. Bummer. Initially we planned to just go retrieve the water at lunch time, but we lolly gagged enough to rule that out. We decided to go to the Echo Rock area and warm-up on some more routes from our Trad Guidebook. We started with Fun Stuff and it's 30-second approach. This route is rated 5.8 and starts with some very hard slab moves protected by a bolt. This move seemed 5.10 to Derek and I. The rest of the route was some more slab and then up a fun crack to brief slab finish.

Next up was Bambi Meets Godzilla - a 5.8 crack route that we also thought was a bit of a sandbag. The crux felt solid 5.9 to me, certainly harder than the 5.9 of the day before. This was a super good route, though. It starts with some low-angle chimney/offwidth climbing. Derek did well on this very unintuitive climbing. The crux was near the top of this long pitch where the climbing was hand jams, but at a steep angle and in a leaning crack that made it tough to use your feet for a few moves. Derek powered out this section to get the route clean. He's really taking to jamming and I think he learned a lot on this trip.

With the heat draining our enthusiasm, we downed our only liquid and hiked over to a shaded route called Funny Bone. We had fun climbing this very moderate 5.8 and then I TRed Humorous (10b), which felt hard and painful to me. I figured Figures on a Landscape would have similar painful holds like this route. Climbing at JTree takes tough skin. I'm not there yet. 

On the way back to the car we climbed Eff Eight a very short 5.8 crack that leans at an awkward angle. It was harder than it looked and I'm glad I didn't try soloing it. Derek  did better than I did, climbing it in his approach shoes as his feet were really killing him and he didn't want to crush them back into his climbing shoes. We packed up and headed out, but stopped at Intersection Rock so that we could do Upper Right Ski Track, which is rated 5.2, but looks much harder at a distance. We enjoyed it, but thought it was more like 5.4. I looked at Lower Right Ski Track (10c) and wussed out. I was too tired, hot, and dehydrated. Next time, I told myself. Next time I'll be bolder… We'll see about that.

Fun Stuff  5.8++ 

Bambi Meets Godzilla Echo Rock  5.8/9+ 

Funny Bone Snickers  5.8 

Humorous  5.10b 

Eff Eight Mounds  5.8 

Upper Right Ski Track Intersection Rock 5.4 

Day 4 Totals: 6 routes, 6 pitches

We headed back to Opie's pad, cleaned up and packed up. We drove until 11:30 p.m. and threw down the bags at a rest stop for 5.5 hours of sleep. As we snuggled into our bags, Derek says, "This is so fun!" What a partner. When he can be so enthusiastic about sleeping on the grass at highway rest stop, with the growl of the semi's and the wash of the lights. I could do a lot worse in the partner department. I couldn't do any better.

Joshua Tree w/Derek - Day 3

On the crux pitch of Bird on a Wire (10a R)

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Monday Derek and I went climbing with Opediah while Dave and Callie went birding. We left the house around 9.m. headed for the Lost Horse area. Our first route had an approach that was less than one minute and had the intimidating name of Granny Goose. This 5.7 route ascended a short crack up to an undercling traverse over to a wide crack. The wide crack wasn't too bad because of extraneous face holds. I scampered up to the top and Derek followed nicely. Opie climbed the route in his approach shoes sans helmet. He's too cool for helmets and too good for climbing shoes. We scrambled down and moved the car down a couple of turnouts to hike up a gully filled with a jumble of huge boulders. The hike/scramble to the base of the Shorter Wall was strenuous and took us 20-30 minutes. 

At the base of the wall was a couple from Washington D.C. The guy was quite vocal about his mate's shortcomings with leading, belays, etc. Another couple from Denver soon arrived. The D.C. team went at Double Dogleg (5.7) while I started up Smithereens (5.9). This route follows a crack up a steep wall, but the profusion of face holds keeps the difficulty reasonable. I found a two-bolt rappel anchor on a great ledge at the top and Derek and Opie joined me. We rapped and repeated the drill on Young Lust (5.9), which seemed a bit harder. Then we moved to the far right, past the D.C. couple that were toproping a run-out face route called Rock Candy that had four bolts in 100 feet, but allowed for a couple of natural gear placements as well. We climbed Beck's Bet, a 5.8 crack, up to another bolt anchor. We then did Double Dogleg (5.7) and on rappel I thought Rock Candy looked really fun. We pulled the rope and I led the face. It was engaging because of the runouts, but no harder than 5.9. We all agreed that it was an excellent route.

Opediah Chuckwalla, the wizened desert sage and legendary hoary Joshua Tree rope caddy, handled the flaking of our route at the base of each route. Being a full-service rope caddy (legendary no less), he also pulled and coiled the rope after each rappel. He continued performing this service as we packed up and moved down the canyon to a route called Mr. Michael Goes to Washington. This was a fun route that went up a tricky crack and then traversed across a thin face and Derek got to use his recently-measured +2.5-inch ape index to span the gap.

We headed down to the car for a late lunch and then moved the car down a bit further. We hiked up to the Lost Horse Wall - one of the bigger faces in Joshua Tree - and Mr. Chuckwalla guided us to the base. Here we had planned on doing a 5.8 from our trad book, but Opediah sung the praises of Bird on a Wire (10a) and I took the bait. Derek was game and we started up while the OC hiked down to the shade to shoot photos of our daring exploits. I scampered up the first, low-angle pitch and set up a gear belay below the business. Derek followed and soon I was starting up the crux pitch. The first section has positive holds along the edge of a crack and it went nicely and protected well. I arrived at the base of an incipient crack and found two bolts. There was a 3-inch rounded shelf here and I elected to belay, though I had used less than half the rope. Derek followed, pausing at one tricky section but working it out and joined me at the belay. 

This belay was basically a hanging belay, as we leaned out against the anchor. I had the rope flaked across my tie-in line and transferred it over to Derek. He'd never belayed in such a spot before, but it didn't faze him at all and he expertly fed me rope on the next pitch. The climbing above was tenuous, using marginal crack holds and friction footholds, marginally protected by flaring cam placements. I was acutely aware that if I came off, I'd land on Derek. I tried to get him to lean right, out of the fall line, but at a hanging belay there wasn't much he could do. I moved up cautiously and twenty feet above the belay I finally sunk a locker stopper. The rest of the pitch followed a solid crack with good protection and the difficulties eased to about 5.7. 

I found a good stance at the top of the crack and rigged a bomber belay. I wanted to stay in sight of Derek because I figured he'd have some trouble with this bizarre climbing and didn't want him to lose much altitude due to rope stretch in the event of a fall. Derek cleaned the belay and started up. And he kept coming, with nary a pause. It was like he was climbing a ladder instead of the insecure 10a crux. He literally walked it, all the way up to the belay. I said "Great job, Derek," and he responded, "I'm doing the work. I'm not a slacker. I'm baby stepping." Movie/TV lines are his forte.

The last pitch was fun and easy except for one short section near the top. Coiling the rope my sore hands missed our legendary, though less than faithful, rope caddy. We found the scramble descent back to the base and when we arrived Opediah's voiced boomed from across the canyon: "Let's blow this popsicle stand!" We packed up and headed for base camp. 

Granny Goose  5.7 

Smithereens Shorter Wall  5.9 

Young Lust  5.9 

Beck's Bet  5.8 

Double Dogleg  5.7 

Rock Candy  5.9 

Mr. Michael Goes to Washington  5.8 

Bird on a Wire Lost Horse Wall  5.10a

Day 3 Totals: 8 routes, 11 pitches 

Joshua Tree w/Derek - Day 2

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We just got back from another great day in Joshua Tree. Rick Accomazzo showed up just as Derek and I were heading out (10 a.m.). The others were supposedly right behind us and we expected to see them soon, but we didn't see them all day and they are not back yet. Strange. But we had a great time together.

Today we did two more chapters of our Trad Climbers in Joshua Tree book. We started on a 2-pitch 5.6 in the Real Hidden Valley area. This was cool as the crux was a slight overhang into a nearly vertical face. Derek went a "better" way and had to hang on the rope when he got himself into a bad situation. It is not a good route for the 5.6 leader. You should be solid on 5.8 for this route. I thought it was move like 5.7, but runout at the crux. The second pitch was fun and easy. 

The descents here can be long and tricky. One we did yesterday involved some 5th class downclimbing. In Eldo or the Flatirons these downclimbs would be routes. The one of this rock (the Sentinel) wasn't too bad, but it was exposed at one point and pretty involved.

We then went the nearby Thin Wall, which held four routes form our book from 5.6 to 5.9. We were going to start on the 5.6 route, but two old guys (by that I mean slightly older than me) were just in front of us. We decided to do the 5.7 just to the left while we waited for it to open up.

The 5.7 was really fun and not very hard. Good jams and good face holds. We scrambled back down around to the base and people were arriving in huge groups. The old guy were hanging on gear on the 5.6 route, so we did the 5.8 route a bit further left. This had one hardish move on it and then seemed easier than the 5.7. Super fun, though. Derek cruised up after me and we descended again.

The old guys were still busy on their 5.6, so I led the 5.9 route, which turned out to be super fun and didn't seem too hard. Fun finger crack but with tons of face holds. Steep, but juggy. Derek cruised it for his first JT 5.9. 

We descended again the finally the 5.6 was sort of open. The old guys had strung a toprope on it, but were scrambling down. I zipped up the route in just a couple of minutes and Derek followed. We got back to the ground about the same time the old guys did. :-)

It was now a zoo at this rock so, done with our four routes, we packed up and moved on to Hidden Tower to climb a classic 5.8 called Sail Away. I did the direct start to this route and it felt like a 5.10 move. Certainly harder than anything on the 5.9 route. The rest of the route is great crack climbing - remember this is a trad guide, so all are gear routes.

Derek decided to try the direct start as well. This wasn't required since I didn't place any gear on it, so that he'd have the option. He cruised it, though admitted it was a burly move. He did really well on the upper tricky-sized section as well. We had to rappel to get off this rock and Derek did this really solidly. I have him set up the rappel while I'm still up there. Then I tie a knot in the rope below where he's setup the rappel, clip that to the anchor, and then I rappel to the ground first. Then Derek unties that knot and he's ready to rappel. I give him a fireman's belay from the ground.

We headed back to the car for lunch and a rest. After that we drove over to the Hall of Horrors area and hiked into to do a really cool, steep 5.7 crack. At the top of this route was a bolted anchor off to the side. It wasn't mentioned in our guide,. but we traversed over to it and rappelled to the ground using our same technique. 

The rope was now over three different routes, all with the same runout slabby finish: a 5.9 traversing hand crack, a burly 5.11b crack/face route, and a super hard looking 5.12a route. I decided to check them out on TR. The 11b was way, way hard and I couldn't touch the crux move. I swung out into space and Derek lowered me to the ground. I then zipped up the 5.9 route, which wasn't too hard and Derek lowered me down to where the 11b and 12a merged. I climbed from there up to the 5.9 route after failing on a right option and then trying a left option, but this was above the crux of both routes. I messed around a bit more before coming down.

We then headed to the Planet X boulders and did the route called Planet X, which is 5.8+. I thought the crack part of this was pretty easy, but then the crack petered out and it went to some crimpy slab moves and my tips were a bit sensitive. Derek seemed to follow easier than I led. We rapped off over a 10a route that looked cool, so I led that. It was a burly move to get to an easy crack and then tiny crack climbing at the very top. Derek went up it as well and nearly got it first try. He came off and then finished nicely.

That was it for us today. We got in a bunch of good climbing and were quitting at the more reasonable time of 5:30 p.m. We came back home, showered, how chips and conversation with the gang, played some shuffleboard (I won!) and now we are headed out to pick up a pizza and come home and watch a movie. Fun times out here.

Fote Hog  5.6 

Almost Vertical  5.7 

Butterfingers Makes Me Horney  5.8 

Count on Your Fingers  5.9 

Ain't Nothing But a J-Tree Thing  5.6 

Sail Away Hidden Tower  5.8 

Lazy Day South Horrors R Sheep Pass Area 5.7 

Perhaps  5.9 

Cactus Flower  5.11b 

This is Just a Test  5.12 

Planet X  5.8+ 

Planet Y  5.8+

Day 2 Totals: 12 routes, 13 pitches

Joshua Tree w/Derek - Day 1

On top of Intersection Rock

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Derek and I got here at 11 a.m. yesterday. We dropped gear at Opie's house, grabbed the guidebooks Opie left out for us (they were already in the park climbing) and headed into the park, buying a Golden Eagle Access Pass.

We have this book of 69 trad climbs of JT from 5.5 to 5.9 and started to knock them off. We started on a 5.5 crack called The Bong, which went easily and quickly. I left a trad anchor on top, lowered Derek down and then rappelled and pulled the rope. I then tried the crack/slab to the left and it wasn't nicely up to the runout slab section and I didn't like it and didn't feel confident. In fact, I was a bit scared. I tried a couple of options and didn't feel solid. I eventually committed to one option and moved up but then had second thoughts. I was way above gear and the fall would be  awful. It was just our second route of the trip. This was a mistake. I tried to downclimb and couldn't see my feet. I was stuck. I don't know how long I stayed up there. I wasn't panic-ing, but I was very concerned, wondering if the piece below me was solid. If it pulled I could hit the ground and probably perish. While that would suck for me, it would be traumatic for Derek. Seriously, that was my biggest concern.

It took me a long time, but I finally got the guts to blindly step down and hope the friction would hold me.I reversed back to my gear and then headed left on easier ground, clipped a bolt on another route and headed up a much easier slab. Derek followed and observed, "So, I guess you can't use your hands at all..."

We then did a tricky crack through a roof. It was rated 5.7 but it involved full-on jamming. I got out the Spyder Mitts for Derek and reviewed his jamming technique. I walked him through everything I was doing as I climbed it. He got up to the tricky part and paused for awhile. I asked how he was doing and he said, "I just am bad at this..." But he didn't get frustrated and he eventually got a good jam. His face lit up and he was psyched! He got another solid jam and he cruised the rest.

We then headed over to a leaning 5.7 route that I thought was 5.8+. The guidebooks call it awkward, as it leans hard left across a smooth wall and it is very awkward to keep hands and feet in the crack. It was greasy too. I thought it was challenging and told Derek to just move fast on the hard part and don't worry about the rating. Meaning I didn't want him to get frustrated that a 5.7 could be so hard. He cruised it easier than I did! He said the jams left solid to him. I thought the crack was too thin to be solid.

Next we did ToeJam, a 5.7, and we both thought it was pretty easy crack climbing, but super fun. We then went and did Double Cross a steep, wide 5.8 crack. I loved it and cruised right up. Derek paused at one wide section where he couldn't get a jam, but he worked it out and loved it as well.

We took a short break to eat/drink and rest and then headed over to another 5.8 called Hard Up. This was a very cool, tricky climb up a steep crack of all different widths, but with some face holds and stemming to ease matters at the worst widths. I really enjoyed it. Derek worked out all the crux sections until the very top where you have to get a high thumbs-up left-hand jam and pull it clear down to your waist. This was a new technique for him and it fell off briefly before getting it, but once he got it, he executed it perfectly. His attitude continued to be very upbeat and positive. We were having a great time.

It was pretty late now and the sun was fast going down, but we had one more route in our trad guidebook for this area. I wondered if Derek would be up for another or want to pack it in. He was all for getting it done! He had maybe more appetite for the climbing than me!

We raced over the base of the route, Overhang Bypass (5.7 R) and headed up. It is a two-pitch route and we scrambled up to the start, racing the light. I zoomed up the first pitch, which has a very inobvious section at the crux. As I completed this dicey lieback, I asked Derek, "Did you see how I did this?" He did. I set up a belay and Derek came up. He paused at the tricky section and I wondered if he'd figure it out. Moments later he was at the belay. I said, "That's pretty hard there, huh?" He said, "Once I figured it out, it seem pretty easy." Kids.

The next pitch has a burly hand traverse below the roof. It is very intimidating, despite the grade, and quite powerful. I put in two pieces and then cranked the traverse. Above is a slab move protected by a bolt, but it was easy and safe compared to the slab I backed off earlier. Derek followed nicely on the burly section and hardly noticed the slab move.

I lowered him from the top, only to save time, as Derek had been rappelled off Toe Jam and Double Cross without any trouble. He's getting solid on rappelling. There were three other climbers queued for the rappel anchor, so I could get Derek on the ground without waiting for them. The lead guy of the other group was super nice and let me rap their line, so I coiled my rope, put it on my back and zipped down line back to Derek.

We got to the car just before dark and headed to Opie's house. There we met Opie, his local friend Susan, and Dave and Callie from Boulder. Dave and Callie are from Boulder and are out here until Thursday. We ate some dinner, chatted and then watched "The Armstrong Lie," where I fell asleep for part of it and, amazingly, so did Derek! We didn't go to bed until 11:30 p.m. It's now 8 a.m. as I finish this and I've rousted Derek, but he is still prone. Day two starts now!

The Bong 5.5 

Ballbury  5.7 

The Hoblett  5.7

Buissonier  5.7

Toe Jam  5.7

Double Cross  5.8

Hands Off   5.8

Overhang Bypass   5.7

Day 1 Totals: 8 routes, 9 pitches

Brainard Lake Ski Tour w/Derek

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Strava

Derek has decided he likes adventures and wants to have more of them and is committed to learning the necessary skills. Since it is winter we're working on backcountry skiing. Our first two outings were okay, but it was frustrating for him. At the end of our second trip, an aborted version of this trip, he really started to get the hang of it. Hence, we went back to complete this loop.

He was driving this and when I suggested a later starting time he asked, "Why so late?" So we drove away from the house at 6:20 a.m. and got to the Brainard Lake parking by 7:30. It was super windy in the parking lot, but we were undeterred, knowing we'd be sheltered in the trees. We geared up and took off.

On our last trip it would literally take me just a few seconds to be out of sight of Derek, without even trying. He wasn't motivated then. Today whenever I looked back, Derek was practically on top of me. He was matching my cadence and so in sync that it was as if we were competing at the Olympics...in super slow motion. In fact, watching the Nordic races in Sochi inspired Derek to give it another try and he was really smooth all day, easily keeping up with me. So much so, that I put him in front!

We made fresh tracks all the way up to and around Brainard Lake. We rotated the lead every half mile. Once headed back east we followed the tracks of snowshoers, XC skiers, and a fat-tire bike! It was really windy on the west side of the lake, but it wasn't long before we were back in the trees and descending. Derek is getting more comfortable heading downhill and we did a few kick-turns in the woods to flatten out one steep section.

We stopped a couple of times to eat and drink, but we never sat down. Derek led the mile-long climb back to the car and we finished up around 11 a.m. We did 8 miles and about 1000 vertical feet of climbing in 3.5 hours. We took if very casually, obviously, but it didn't seem like we were out that long. Derek wasn't fazed at all by the distance and time, so he clearly improving. It was a fun way to spend the morning.

The Eldo Season Has Officially Started!

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We finally had some warm temperatures here in Boulder, but the tremendous winds on the drive over to Eldorado Canyon had me thinking that Derek and I would just be doing an afternoon hike instead of our first outdoor climb of the year. Alas, the weather was very climbable, though we both wore our wind shells.

I asked Derek if he'd like to do Wind Ridge (5.6) or Touch and Go (5.8+/5.9-). He'd had more than a little trouble with the burly, technical start of the latter route and I figured he want to start out easy. I was wrong. He immediately chose Touch and Go. We hiked over there and found a couple on it. The guy had just finished the first pitch and I asked the girl if they were doing the second pitch or not. She wasn't sure, but then the guy asked to be lowered to the ground. When he got there he told us, "We're going to be here for awhile." I asked, "So, you're just going to do the first pitch over and over?" He said, "Yes, while we have the rope up there." Dang...

From my 100-pitch Eldo training, I knew the 5.9 variation to the first pitch on the right and I led up that. The climbing here is a bit tricky, a bit runout in spots, and pretty slick. I moved slowly and methodically, placing good gear and making sure I was solid. I was just getting used to Eldo climbing again. Derek followed remarkably well, cranking the crux 5.9 without much hesitation.

I led the second pitch along the ramp to the second pitch of Touch and Go and then up the steep, thin dihedral above. Once again, I placed solid gear at frequent intervals, nothing like the last time I did this route with Hans simul-climbing below me. Derek followed very nicely. I was impressed. Onsighting this route shows that his gym training has made him a stronger outside climber as well.

Derek then "led" us over to the rappel anchors. This was technically his first lead, though he didn't place any gear. We then did two rappels to the ground. The significant fact was that Derek rappelled by himself for the first time. I'd been overly protective in the past and just lowered him down. We never took the time to teach him how to rappel before, but early this year I taught him in the gym. It was easy for him to learn since he was belaying and lowering climbers and it's basically the same thing, but with yourself. He did great and was pretty smooth by the second rappel.

We pulled the rope, packed up and hiked back to the car. The round trip from the house was about three hours. It was great to finally get outside on real rock.

Climbing and Skiing w/Derek

Strava

Derek has recently decided that he wants to get into adventuring with me. What more could a father ask for from his 16-year-old son. Now we're concentrating on building up his skills a bit. We started first in the climbing gym at Movement in Boulder. He's now been climbing for a couple of months, two days a week. He's gone from TRing 5.7's to now leading 5.11c. He's led a number of 5.11a's, one 5.11b, and is now working a 5.11c. He's done it clean on TR and now has four lead attempts on it, three of which he only fell once. He seems to have no fear of falling and is fast improving. He's clips are polished and he's deciphering sequences better and faster.

Yesterday in the gym, I sent my 12a project on my 20th try. I'd love to say that I'm setting an example for tenacity for Derek, but in actuality I'm just showing off my weakness. This is the hardest grade I'll ever climb. I suspect Derek will be climbing harder before the end of his first gym season. With my project dispatched, I moved on to another 12a. I tied into a top-rope and proceeded to fail on the first hard move to tiny, small edge. I fell off 5 or 6 times before giving up and moving on to another route. As I untied from the rope Derek calmly walked up to the route and easily bouldered out the first few moves... Punk.

Today we went out for our second day of backcountry skiing. On our first day a couple of weeks ago, we did six miles in Wild Basin. Our goal today was an 8-mile loop around Brainard Lake. Derek was all for it when I woke him up at 5:45 a.m. At the parking lot, he was still keen, even though it was very windy and cold (5 degrees?) outside. We started up the trail, well dressed and warm, and it wasn't long before Derek was lagging far behind. He didn't seem to be putting any effort or enthusiasm into the skiing. I was moving along at a very slow pace (2 mph) and he was falling behind. I didn't know why and kept checking with him but he said he was fine. He was not.

After two miles I skied back along the trail to find Derek stopped and calling for me. He said he wasn't having any fun and wanted to go back. I asked why. He said he just wasn't getting it. He didn't have the hang of skiing. He was picking up his feet with every stride, like he was hiking. I tried to gently coach him to slide his skis forward instead. If he was trying, it wasn't showing. I told him that I'd been skiing for 40 years and he couldn't expect to master skiing in just two days. 

But he didn't have to like skiing. We didn't have to do it together. I love him so much and doing anything with him is a thrill for me. Heck, I love just watching football with him. If we get to adventure together, great, but if isn't backcountry skiing that's fine. We were only doing this because it was the season for it and backcountry skiing is the best way to approach winter peaks and have an adventure. I told him that most people don't like going uphill in winter. That's why downhill skiing is so much more popular than backcountry. Adventuring in winter is tough. It's cold, windy, and a lot of hard work. It's okay if he isn't interested in that. Most people aren't. 

I told him all this and we turned around. Derek immediately perked up. He kept right on my tail on the way out. He slid his skis along the snow instead of lifting up his feet with a hiking motion. When he fell on a couple of times on the downhills, he smiled, shook it off, stood back up, and was ready for more. By the time he got back to the car, he was really enjoying himself. He changed his mind on skiing and decided to at least try it one more time. I have no doubt he'd be a great skier and a great adventurer, if he truly wants to be. And if he doesn't want to be, that's fine too. At least he's on track to be my summer climbing guide...

Full Circle

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When I got a response for partners to climb Longs Peak, my wife asked, "Is that a good thing?" Indeed, it isn't so simple for me these days. Yes, it is a very good thing if you really want to climb Longs Peak in January. No, if you really don't want to climb it and just like the idea of being competent enough, tough enough, fit enough. With partners I was now committed to going up Longs. The weather report wasn't ideal (16 degrees with 25+ mph winds), but not extreme enough for me to wimp out, though not far from it.

Jason Antin agreed to be my partner and he recruited 20-something, ultra-running Brandon. I was now the odd man out in my own adventure. Or I would have been with lesser companions. These guys are super strong, impervious to weather, and apparently tireless. I'm none of the above and it is a testament ot their character that they shepherded me to the summit and back. 

We met at 5:15 at the usual north Boulder location: the gentleman's club of The Bus Stop. We were hiking at 6:20 in surprisingly warm temperatures. We walked pleasantly to tree line, where all pleasantries abruptly ended in very strong headwinds. Jason tool the lead to try and give me a draft, but I couldn't keep up and fell behind the other two. My position as the weakest link in an adventure has become quite common, though I'm still adjusting to it. I do feel lucky that partners much stronger than me will still accompany me, though.

I had to switch to my mittens, as my hands were freezing and I wore two hats and the hood of my shell to try and keep my head warm. On my feet were...La Sportiva running shoes! Covered in the discontinued neoprene Kahtoola Flight Boots, which did a good job of keeping my feet warm, along with the toe warmers I had in there. Jason and Brandon were in mountaineering boots and carried crampons. We all had ice axes and Jason carried a 60-meter 7.8mm rope and I had our rack of three cams and three slings.

My companions would occasionally wait up for me and that helped me arrive at the base of the crux pitch not long after them. Jason let me salvage some pride and I led the technical pitch on the North Face. There was some water ice here, which isn't really an option in my cleated boots. I stemmed around it and concentrated on the bare rock sections. A lot of this pitch is covered in easy snow and there are good stances to place the gear. Soon I was at the top and belayed both Jason and Brandon at the same time, as they were both tied into the end of the rope with Brandon just twenty feet above Jason.

Above the crux we moved slowly to summit. Slowly because they insisted I stay in front, probably so I either didn't lose my way to the top or so they wouldn't freeze on the summit, in the brutal wind, while waiting for me. On top, we didn't stay long, due to the miserable wind. My feet were starting to freeze and I needed to move. My feet always warm on descents as I can move my legs quite a bit faster, forcing blood down to my extremities. 

I was surprised to see that my 60-meter rope did not get us all the way down to the snow. There was a tricky downclimbing section with some nasty ice. My companions managed it unroped, but I balked and pulled the rope and set up another mini-rappel. 

As we descended to and crossed the boulder field, the wind progressively increased. By the time we hit the shoulder of Mt. Lady Washington, where the terrain heads steeply down after a long horizontal section, the wind became unreal. If you were standing up, you were in danger of being slammed into a rock. The wind was at our back and to prevent being blown straight into a rock, you had to lean back at an exaggerated angle. If the wind was in our face, we'd still be up there, as the only progress you could make into that wind would be crawling on your belly like Mawson's men of the AAE. I really can't estimate the speed accurately, but it was by far the strongest wind I've in. I wouldn't be surprised if it was 100mph. The crazy thing was, though, that it wasn't a gust. It was constant. Brandon would say later that he was just going to sit and wait it out, when he realized it wasn't stopping. We had to move off the shoulder and down the slope. This was dangerous and it took so much energy that I'd be wasted for the rest of the hike out. A hundred yards down, the wind returned to its usual 30-40 mph and we continued.

Finally down below tree line, I was struggling to keep up again. I felt like a little kid trying to keep up with his parents. I'd have to run every few minutes to close the gap, only to fall off the pace once again. Perhaps if I fell far enough behind Jason just just scoop me up, throw me over his shoulder and I'd be asleep by the time we got to the car...

Tour de Flatirons: Stage 3 - Alpine Climbing on the Slab

I met Dave Mackey at the Cragmoor Trailhead at 5 p.m. and we headed up the very muddy trail towards the Slab. The stage was officially cancelled but we hoped to scramble the Slab if conditions allowed. To this end I wore my sticky rubber scrambling shoes. Dave did not. We both wore long sleeves, a hat, and gloves. The temperature was probably in the 40's and the Slab above was shrouded in the clouds.

Dave was going at a "social conversational" pace and I was pegged trying to keep up with both the running and the conversation. When we got to the Slab I went to my usual start and Dave to his, which is fifty feet right of where I start. Our shoes were wet and muddy and we did a perfunctory scraping of the soles on the rock before starting up.

With little shoe friction I had to crimp hard on a couple of tiny edges before gaining the much more featured lighter-colored rock. Dave painstakingly inched his way up tiny holds with no help from his shoes. He lamented not wearing his scrambling shoes....for the scramble. He had them in his car but thought...I don't know what. Maybe that the Slab was too easy to require speciality scrambling shoes? That is probably true for Dave under warm, dry conditions. In these conditions, with the rock a bit damp on the lower section, scramblers would have made things a lot easier for me.

I waited fifty feet up as Dave backed down from his start and then tried my start. He rejected that and moved back to his start and failed again. Finally, I downclimbed nearly to the ground to show him exactly where I go and then he followed me up.

We moved easily for a bit but could see ice above and even some ice tumbled down the face to us. We continued since it looked like we could climb by all the ice. We got to the first tree near a bulge and had to be extremely careful not to steep on any ice. On the ledge above, all the rocks were covered in verglas and from here on up about half the rock was verglased. It was slow, stressful going, but we made the ridge. Here we could walk, but this was even more dangerous since then you couldn't tell if the rock was verglased by looking at it. While scrambling we'd touch each hold with our hands first. After slipping a couple of times, I reverted to squatting so that I constantly had my hands on the rock.

I flashed back to the storm that trapped Tony on the First Flatiron. It was going to be dark soon and there was no way I could downclimb the face safely before it got dark. We had nothing with us besides our shoes and clothes. No rope, no phone.

We picked our way along the ridge very carefully and eventually got very near the backside downclimb. Unfortunately the ridge I usually hand traverse was encased in ice. I backed up, knowing I could not make the traverse. I contemplated downclimbing the tree and went down one branch. The last branch was probably fifteen feet off the ground and I was then hoping to bear hug the trunk and slide down to the ground. I didn't though.

Dave does the traverse to the downclimb ten feet below the ridge and we barely found a passage here, stepping onto the only footholds without ice and searching out any tiny holds that were ice free. Dave was in the lead now and paused long to consider the lower-off down to the flag. The top edge was nearly completely covered in ice and the spike below, where our feet would land, appeared to be verglased. After much deliberation, he found some ice-free holds and we both were safely on the ground.

The hike down the backside to the Fern Canyon trail was treacherous. Every single rock back there was completely coated in verglas. If you stepped on a rock and didn't have both hands braced on something, you were going down. We carefully stepped over every rock that we could and squatted and bear walked when we were forced to step on the rocks.

We hit the Fern Canyon Trail with very little light left but got back to our cars without the single headlamp that Dave carried. I was very glad to be back at the car safely. I felt very good about my decision to call off the stage... If we had raced tonight, I think the chances of a horrible accident were...unacceptably high. If had known the full extent of the conditions before I left the ground, there is no way I would have done that climb.

Canyonlands Adventure

Adventure

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Video

“Nasty disturbing uncomfortable things! Make you late for dinner!”

-- Bilbo Baggins in the Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkein

Adventures involve the unknown. There must be the element of uncertain. You must wonder, “Can I do this? Is this possible? Will I get lost? Will I suffer beyond what I expect?”

Many of the big adventures I’ve done have been motivated by my friends. Don’t get me wrong, I do my share of dreaming up crazy goals, but this one was conceived of by my good friend Mark Oveson. His vision was to hike through all three areas (Island in the Sky, the Needles, and the Maze) in one unsupported 75-mile jaunt. That’s a sizeable backpacking trip, maybe taking a week or so, right? Two days, for Mark. To cover this much ground in such a short time period, you need to go light and doing so in the desert requires some creativity and some suffering. Oh, and this involves crossing the Green and Colorado rivers sans bridges.

The schedule of the adventure centered around the river crossings. People have died trying to cross these rivers, cramping up or becoming numb and then drowning. This was the key factor in choosing to go in September. We wanted the river flow to be as low as possible and the river temperature to be as high as possible. We didn’t hit things ideally in either respect. We couldn’t go in the summer as it would be too hot. We couldn’t go too late in the year as we feared freezing at night.

Our plan was use bring very light sleeping pads and put them to double duty as a river-crossing raft. We tested this theory in a local pond and it worked great. We hoped that would carry over to the big, cold, fast moving rivers in Canyonlands...

After the river crossings, the next biggest factor to surviving was water. This is desert and water sources are few, far between, and even then just a trickle. Mark scouted out the tiny springs that would sustain us. Our one and only campsite was located at one of these springs. Speaking of camping, one might wonder why we just didn’t hike continuously until we were done. Two reasons. First, we had to be at the river crossings at the hottest point in each day so that we wouldn’t freeze. Second, hiking 72 miles in one go is hard. I need my beauty sleep.

In the end, we made it. Some navigation issues and overall fatigue had us cut the trip short by twenty miles. We did 32 miles the first day over 12 hours, crossing the Green River. I was whipped, my knees were complaining, loudly, and had to stop. The next day we did 20 miles, crossing the Colorado River. Both crossings went just as planned. The night passed comfortably with our Mylex emergency bivy bags and our down jackets. We found water in springs and even potholes. We had a great time pushing the limits of what we thought we could do and it was adventure because we didn’t know if we could...

California 14ers and Going to College

On the summit of Mt. Whitney

Whitney/Muir Strava

Mt. Russell Strava

Whitney/Muir Photos

Yosemite and Stanford Photos

Russell Photos

The last time Danny visited Yosemite National Park he was 5 months go. Now it is 18 years later and Sheri and I are driving through Yosemite with Danny once again. This time we are headed for Stanford University where Danny will start as a freshman later today.

The day before we hiked up Mt. Whitney (14,495 feet), the highest point in the lower 48 states. Along the way we tagged Mt. Muir (14,076? feet), which involved some exposed 4th class climbing. We camped the night before and Danny and I climbed up some rather large boulders in the campground, one of which we used a rope, since the boulder was thirty feet high.

We started the hike at 6 a.m. the next morning. The roundtrip for this hike involves 7000 feet of elevation gain and 22 miles. We neglected to bring any water filtration or treatment on the trip, so we’d have to carry all our water. I took 80 ounces, Danny took 84 and Sheri only 60. We had tiny ultrarunning packs and very limited capacity. This would prove sufficient, but just barely.

The Mt. Whitny Trail compares very nicely with the Barr Trail on Pikes Peak, though a bit shorter with a bit less vertical gain. Generally very smooth and not very steep, this is an ideal trail for running. Dressed as we were in shorts, short-sleeves, and running shoes, more than a few hikers asked if we were runners. We hiked along easily, flowing up to the many switchbacks on the steep east side of the Sierra Crest.

I was surprised by the steep west side. I expected it to be very gentle and mostly that is true along the Crest and much more so two miles north at Mt. Whitney, but not here, where we crossed to the west side for the long traverse to the summit. A short ways along the traverse, we climbed steeply up loose talus to the steep final walls guarding the summit of Mt. Muir. Muir is rated 3rd class, but, as is typical of California 14er routes, it is more like 4th class to Colorado climbers. In fact, there are a couple of short sections that are 5th class in difficulty. Danny balked at the hardest section, fearing that it might get worse above and he didn’t want to climb the section if he was only going to be thwarted above. The summit was only fifty feet higher, so I scrambled to the summit to ensure the route would go, before descending and spotting both Danny and Sheri to the summit. This summit is in stark contrast to Whitney, as it is a very exposed point that is only six feet by six feet.

We carefully climbed back down to the trail and continued to Whitney’s summit, where we found twenty or thirty other people. The weather for the entire day was perfect. We had clear skies and relatively little wind. While climbing Mt. Whitney is, rightfully, very popular, it seemed that no one else was interested in Mt. Muir or even knew of its existence. People walking below us on the trail while we climbed Muir would stop and stay up at us as if they were wondering, “What the heck are they doing?!”

We spent thirty minutes on top, eating our lunch. It had taken us just under six hours to get there, arriving just before noon. Danny was starting to develop an altitude headache and this would plague him for hours to come. Climbing Whitney via the Whitney Trail involves being above 13,000 feet for a very long time. You do six miles above this altitude and we were above it for hours.

The gradual nature of the trail, which allowed us to easily gain elevation, seemed to make the descent endlessly long on the descent. Our light running shoes felt insufficient to protect our quickly tiring feet from the rocks. My knees started to hurt and our legs ached. We took a lot of short breaks on the way down. I’d get out ahead of Sheri and Danny lower down and would stop regularly to regroup. Finally, I just wanted the hike over and marched the last two miles out to the trailhead.

We hit McDonalds for some much needed sustenance (careful not to say “nutrition” so that I don’t enrage the Boulder crowd) and then drop to Big Pine where we splurged on a motel room to shower, power our electronics, and sleep in a bed.

The next morning we drove to Stanford, arriving just as the welcoming upperclassmen were packing up. Danny went up to them and then next thing I heard was an RA (Resident Advisor) throw up her hands and yell, “Danny Wright from Superior, Colorado! Woohoo!” I walked up and introduced myself and soon four of five of them were at our car asking to carry loads to Danny’s room. Our welcome could not have been more friendly or more enthusiastic.

Danny’s room is in the Florence Moore dorms. Flo Mo, as it is known, consists of four houses and Danny is in Alondra, on the first floor, which is quite a bit shorter than the second and third floors. On his floor are seven guys, divided into four rooms and five girls, divided into three rooms. The single-room girl is an RA. The dorm is a typical college dorm, meaning it is not very fancy, but one entire wall of his room is windows. Danny’s roommate wasn’t there and we wouldn’t meet him until much later. The bathrooms and eating area were recently re-done this summer and they were very nice. The lounge area in the dorm is also nice with whiteboards that you can print out and project computer screens onto. I can see Danny talking over wave equations on that board already. The dining areas are broken up into their houses and have big, round, wooden tables. There is also a patio with tables and chairs for eating outside. There is a very large kitchen serving area where they will select their food for each meal. Some things of note here were the always available ice cream dispenser and the waffle irons. Just down the hall from Danny’s room is the “free” laundry, with four new washers and four new dryers.

Ryan and Danny in their dorm room

We toured a few buildings on the way over to the quad for the convocation, stopping by the Dave Packard Electrical Engineering building, the Bil Hewlett Teaching Center, and the William Gates Computer Science building. The convocation was an hour-long welcome to the university with great talks by the Dean of Admissions (38,000+ applied to Stanford and 1,600 were accepted!), the Vice Provost of Undergraduates (really good speaker), a student representative and an address by the Stanford President. We then all learned and sang the Stanford school song, which Sheri loved and has been singing nonstop since. Not! Sheri thought Stanford was the best at everything and while their singers might be the best, she was disappointed with their songwriting. I’ve kept the lyrics and will be quizzing Danny when he returns for Christmas break. I suspect most of this first week is spent practicing this song.

We stopped by the bookstore to pick up some things we forgot before heading back to the dorm, where there was a welcome planned. It started and ended with performances from two different acapella groups and each urged the students to audition. I’d love to see Danny do that, but there is no way.

We went back to his room to say goodbye and there we finally met his roommate - Ryan Lee, from Irvine, California, near Los Angeles. He seems to be a great guy and I feel very good about him as a roommate for Danny. I suspect they will get along well. Ryan is a tennis player as well and they both will try out for the club team. Ryan’s parents seem great as well. We said goodbye and with Ryan there, we held it together. Danny looked maybe a touch apphrensive. I certainly was when I went to college and I was only 45 minutes from home. Danny is a thousand miles away. I’m really glad he got to meet his roomate before we left, as he now has a friend to go to dinner with and that reduces his stress, if only for a few minutes. I know he will make lots of friends this week and get very comfortable in his new home at Stanford.

Relaxing on the summit of Mt. Russell, looking at Mt. Whitney

Sheri and I ate some dinner at the Treehouse, a campus restaurant only a couple minutes walk from Danny’s dorm. I’m sure he will be frequenting this place when he needs some supplemental pizza. Or visiting the Starbucks next door for a venti latte. We drove past the tennis courts and track on the way out of town. It was dark now but both were lit up and people will playing tennis and running on the track. The main tennis court has stadium seating for probably a thousand people. I think all these courts are open to Danny, he just needs to reserve them. Ryan has already reserved a court and I suspect they will be playing often. I’m anxious to find out how Ryan plays and if he is a good match for Danny.

The last thing we passed on the way out of Stanford was the 50,000-seat stadium. This was redone in 2006 to the tune of $100 million and is supposedly one of the best in the country. Danny plans to be at each home football game as admittance is free for students. It doesn’t hurt that Stanford is currently ranked #5 in that nation. Not bad for a school of eggheads...

The next day Sheri and I retraced out steps back through Yosemite and then down to Lone Pine, for Thursday we had a permit to go climb Mt. Russell our penultimate California 14er. The easiest route up this mountain is the “3rd class” East Ridge, which I’ve heard is more like 5.2 from none other than Alex Honnold. One of the descriptions I read said the climbers "should get ready to embrace the exposure." While I read this to Sheri, what she heard was "get ready to be scared." This turned out to be accurate, but Sheri handled things well.

We once again camped at Whitney Portal and once again set our alarm for 5 a.m. with a plan to be hiking at 6 a.m. I was snoozing away enjoying one of the most comfortable nights I've ever had in the tent when I noticed it was really light out! I bolted upright, worried that we might have slept too late to even attempt the climb. It is still mostly dark at 6 a.m. and certainly not this bright by 7 a.m. It could be 8 a.m. or later. How could I have possibly slept so long!? I thought. I cried to Sheri to wake up, as I reached for my watch in the gear hammock above. I looked at the watch and called out the time to Sheri, "3:45." I was very confused at this point. 3:45? PM? That was impossible, I almost immediately realized, but it seemed more possible than 3:45 a.m. because it was so bright. Alas, it was the moon shining directly onto our tent. I got up to pee and the moon shadows were so prominent, the ground so brightly lit. I could have probably read a book at table.

Weaving our way up slabs and cliffs en route to Mt. Russell

When the alarm did go off at 5 a.m. I was still so comfortable that I didn't want to get up, despite being in this tent since about 8 p.m. the night before. I've probably gone at least a decade since I've last been in a bed for nine hours straight, yet I rolled over and procrastinated for 15 more minutes. Not surprisingly, this had us hiking up the trail around 6:15 a.m. It was exactly a mile to the junction with the North Fork of Lone Pine Creek, where we left the Whitney Trail for the climber's trail up towards the Boy Scout Lakes. This is not only the route to Mt. Russell, but the approach taken for all the east facing climbing routes on Mt. Muir, Keeler Needle, and Mt. Whitney. The only other time I'd been up this trail was 25 years ago when I did a one-day ascent of the East Face of Mt. Whitney, a "Fifty Classic Climb." Back then it was a challenge to find the route and a serious bushwhack. Today, it is a maintained, constructed trail, though with no sign at the junction. A hundred yards up the trail there is a sign saying, "This is NOT the Whitney Trail and that the Mountaineer's Route is only for experienced climbers."

We followed the trail up to the point where a cairned route led us up ledges on a steep wall of rock. We headed east and then switchbacked to the west before we were deposited back into the gully. This route was the same as 25 years ago and avoids nearly impassable alders that choke the narrow cwm. The trail continued nicely to Lower Boy Scout Lake, where we saw our first persons of the morning. One was a solo camper and the other was hiking up the talus above the lake. We followed the route up the talus, but made a mistake here. Even though a trail with occasional cairns go up the talus to the left (east) of a massive boulder, the best route heads right and passes just under this massive rock (really too big to be called a boulder, as it bigger than an apartment building). I know this because it is the way we came down. Going the other way gets you too high and the descent from there and through the willows is a bushwhack. It it was just that, it wouldn't have been so bad, but it was also along a same creek that had all the nearby rocks coated in ice. It was too treacherous and we had to descend a 5th class friction slab instead. Thankfully we both wore our Exum Ridge scrambling shoes, but it still involved some butt scooting down glassy rock.

We soon arrived at Upper Boy Scout Lake. At this point almost all of the foot traffic heads left and continues up to Iceberg Lake at the base of the east face of Mt. Whitney. We saw two other hikers heading that way. At the lake we saw just one tent. We'd see the residents later in the day, high on Russell, making for a total of six people spotted (only four within talking range) in the 5.5 miles and 6000 vertical feet to gain the summit. There is a good reason for this.

The next 2000 vertical feet, from Upper Boy Scout Lake to the Russell-Carillion col, ranks among the least enjoyable stretches I've ever covered in the mountains and most likely the all-time worst. This slope most closely resembles a road-cut, with dirt and boulders interspersed, except that it is much uglier. A couple of backhoes on the slope would improve the view, for at least then it would be a useful ugliness. The "dirt" is more like sand, but is finely crushed granite gravel. And it continues for 2000 vertical feet. I know of nothing like this in the Colorado Rockies. While the East Ridge that I'm about to describe was indeed fun scrambling, it wasn't that great and not nearly good enough to justify this approach. There are just too many other routes, ridges, mountains. to experience than to suffer your way up this crap for an average scramble. For us the overriding reason was the 14,000-foot summit.

I must once again put in a rant against “Climbing California’s Fourteeners” by Porcella and Burns. This book is a complete waste of money and is astoundingly awful. I know the effort it takes to write a book and why someone would go to such effort to produce such unbelievable crap is beyond me. Comparing this book to Gerry Roach’s Colorado 14ers guidebook is like comparing a child’s fingerpainting with the Mona Lisa. Perhaps if this book was titled “Some History on California 14ers” it wouldn’t be so awful, maybe it would even be good, but to be labeled a climbing guide is almost fraud.

We took a short break at the col and I was surprised to notice that we were not at the lowpoint of the Russell-Carillion saddle, but bit up Russell’s East Ridge already. I cached two bottles of Gatorade, our long pants, and my rain shell here. The weather was once again stellar and would remain so all day long.

The East Ridge started off gentle and we weaved among boulders on a steepening slope. Then we scrambled up boulders as the ridge narrowed. Soon it was just a fin of rock directly on the ridge, but easier passage was found on the north side. The face to the south dropped away almost vertically. To the north, it was a very steep slab and then rolled over to steeper terrain. The exposure grew as we ascended.

With us we had 100 feet of 7.8mm rope, two harnesses, climbing shoes and a helmet for Sheri, and a handful of gear. I had heard from more than just Alex that the difficulties were 5th class and we expected to gear up at some point, but my careful route finding we were able to get up and down without using any of our climbing gear. A couple of short sections were probably at least 4th class, but they were short and I spent a lot of time just below Sheri, offering her a spot, giving her confidence, and shielding her from the exposure. I’d frequently just grab her wrist or her leg, more for my benefit than for hers. Despite not being a rock climber, she does quite well with the exposure and difficulties. This wasn’t her first rodeo and she’s climbed a lot tougher peaks.

We moved along nicely to the first summit of Russell. My watch read our elevation as 14,080 feet, just eight feet short of the real summit, so I was pretty sure this was the actual summit and that a lower gendarme we had passed was the eastern summit. I was disavowed of that notion immediately upon stepping onto the lower summit. Yet the traverse to the real summit wasn’t that long and didn’t look any more difficult than what we’d already done. Fifteen minutes later, we climbed onto the very summit, our 14th California 14er.

Sheri solos up a steep section on the East Ridge of Mt. Russell

We relaxed on top for just 15-20 minutes, as it was a long way back to the car and Sheri couldn’t completely relax until she had reversed all the technical difficulties back to the col. It had taken us a little more than an hour to climb the ridge from the col and the way back down was probably a little under an hour. We took another short break at the col and then headed down the horrible slope.

Descending this slope was even easier than I thought it would be. It was mostly just dirt/gravel surfing all the way down to the bouldery dry creekbed that then led to Upper Boy Scout Lake. From there we found and followed the cairns that led us directly and easily down to Lower Boy Scout Lake. We took our last break here and then hiked the rest of the way down to the car. We finished in just under 12 hours for the roundtrip. The total ascent was 6300 vertical feet, nearly our Muir/Whitney day, but our total mileage was just 11.4 miles - about half of the Muir/Whitney day. That difference in mileage made all the difference for me and I felt completely fine at the trailhead. Sheri was quite a bit more tired and was probably because all the boulder hopping and scrambling requires a lot more effort for her than it does for me, as I do that stuff all the time.

We decided that an even longer day on Polemonium wasn’t in the cards for Friday. We could have done it over two days, but we’d need a permit to camp. We decided to put the final 14er off for another year and headed back home the next day. We got home at noon on Saturday. We learned that Derek had won the high school tennis tournament he played the day before, winning three matches while only dropping a single game. As the only child at home now I hope he can handle all the attention...  

Update: Danny made the Stanford Club Tennis Team and traveled to Berkeley for his first match today. Cool that he has something to balance out the academics, give him some exercise and make some new friends.