The Beehive in Zion

The Beehive is the small white summit just right of center. Our route pretty much climbed the left skyline.

Photos

Strava

My trips to Zion have morphed away from pure rock climbing towards summit bagging, partly due to my own ambitions and partly due to my regular Zion partner, the Loobster, waning desire for hard climbs, which encompasses most Zion climbing. But compelling summits have a strong pull on us, so this change in focus hasn't diminished my enthusiasm for Zion. One of the most striking is something called the Beehive, which lies above the Streaked Wall. The only listed climbs I could find went directly up the Streaked Wall and were A4 aid climbs. We had no interest in that - too scary and too technical for us - but it seemed like a route should go up the south ridge and we decided to take a look.

The Beehive as viewed from the Zion History Museum

We started from the Zion History Museum and headed up steep, loose slopes toward a gully that split the Beehive massif from another blocky structure just to the east.

We passed through this cool slot in the first Red Band

We found a neat slot through the Red Band and then traversed over to the gully. The climbing up this gully was a mixture of scrambling, bushwhacking, and some low 5th class climbing, which we roped up for.

We hit the wall a bit to the right of the notch and traversed left to it.

Getting closer to the gully 

Looking up the gully - some 5th class climbing here

Soloing up the first steep section in the gully

Bushwhacking up the gully

Getting to the 5th class section in the gully

Steep scrambling in the gully

 When we got to the saddle, we took a little break to eat and consolidate our gear into one pack. We found a fixed line hanging down off the wall here and we'd find others higher up, to what purpose, I don't know. Possibly for an easier descent for climbers topping out on the Streaked Wall. We roped up here and did an easy fifth class pitch. Above we scrambled up to a very steep headwall. The climbing here was too technical for us, though we saw another fixed line down a smooth dihedral.

Looking up from the notch. There is a fixed line here, but hard to see. The climbing here is low 5th class.

Climbing up the initial pitch out of the notch.

We traversed to the left, to the edge of the wall, and around the south rib to the other side. We down climbed twenty feet there to a small ledge and found another partial fixed line and a more moderate angle with a reasonable crack. Getting to the start of the crack was probably the crux. Once at the crack, it accepted good gear and the climbing was no harder than 5.8.

The crux pitch - probably 5.8

At the crux of the 5.8 pitch

Looking down the crux pitch

 At the top of this pitch we found a fixed line leading hard to the left on a ledge system and then more fixed lines leading to the top of the steep climbing. We didn't use any of these old, super stiff lines, but followed their path.

Loobster near the top of the crux pitch

Fixed ropes on the south ridge

Fixed ropes on the south ridge

Fixed ropes on the south ridge

Topping out on the technical climbing of the south ridge

Scrambling up 3rd class slabs to the top of the south ridge

 Once atop this steep section we unroped and it was scrambling the rest of the way. First we climbed up 3rd class terrain to an intermediate bump on the ridge. This was equivalent to the top of the Streaked Wall. We still had to scamper up very cool, smooth, white slabs to the very summit. As always the case in Zion, the views were astounding. We hung out and ate lunch before starting down.

Atop the main south ridge and looking at the summit of the Beehive and the top of the Streaked Wall

Lots of smooth rock up here

Heading to the summit up steep slabs

On the final slabs

On the final slabs

On the summit of the Beehive

We reversed our route back to the top of the 5.8 pitch, but instead of rappelling down the wrong side of the rib, we traversed further around, following the fixed ropes, to where we found the bolted anchor that we had seen from below. We rappelled from this anchor, but couldn't pull our rope. I had to solo up 100 feet of 5.5, steep, semi-loose terrain to retrieve the rope. This was serious and scary and not recommended. I climbed up a big tree to the right (looking up) of the corner we rappelled down. There was a sling around this tree and now I know why. You need to rappel to this tree and then down, as it's the only why to get your rope to pull down.

Rappelling the upper section

Fixed anchor at the top of a steep section (not on our ascent route) 

Rappelling from the fixed anchor. The rope would get stuck here and I'd have to solo back up to the big tree right of Loobster

 The rest of the descent went smoothly. We spent 11 hours on the roundtrip, but never hurried and took our time finding the route. Our total ascent gained about 3000 feet, from 4000 feet to 7000 feet.

Moqui Peak and Tabernacle Dome

Moqui Peak Strava link

Tabernacle Dome Strava link

We decided to do a couple of quick peaks up along the Kolob Reservoir Road, in mid-Zion. I chose Moqui Peak since it was a 4-star route in Courtney Purcell's guidebook. This was a mistake. I've met Courtney in person and traded a bunch of emails with him. I like him. He's a nice guy and he has put together a very nice list of peaks to do in Zion. I also have his Las Vegas area peaks book. All that said, I find his guidebook frustrating. It doesn't really provide much information beyond: Hey, I've done this peak and it goes. Now, that's a lot more than I've done. I haven't put together a guidebook of any sort. I don't regret paying the money, but it does motivate me somewhat to put together better information. 

Courtney's favorite expression is "route find upwards." We did so on Moqui Peak. We went up the wrong summit first. Or rather, the lower, eastern summit. We retreated and then climbed up to the highest summit. Ironically, CP listed this as a 4-star route because of the route finding challenges. We didn't find the hiking/scrambling to be that classic, nor the summit that appealing, but it was some good exercise. In search of something more inspiring, we headed a bit further up the road to the very beautiful Tabernacle Dome. This 3-star route had much more interesting route finding, more technical climbing, and some fun slaboneering on the final rib up to the summit.

We reversed back to the car and then headed into Springdale and our RV campground, just outside of the main entrance to Zion National Park. We cooked up some dinner and prepared for the next day, where I'd do the Trans Zion Run, with Loobster supporting me.

Friday Gym Report

I finally got smart and switched from my Muiras (size 41) to my Mythos (size bigger) climbing shoes. Duh! Tom was telling me to do this for weeks, but I get forgetting to put them in my car. They were way more comfortable on my damaged toe (which is taking its sweet time to heal. No noticeable improvement in a couple of weeks).

I climbed with Bruno and warmed up on a 5.9, 10a, 10b. Then I tried a new route with votes from 10d to 11b, most for 11a. I fell once, near the top and then finished it. Next I tried a cool 11b route on a arete. It was my style, but I had to grab a draw to clip before continuing to the top. On my next try I sent it.

I went back to the new 10d/11a/11b route and tried again, failing on the same last move. I thought this route was harder than the 11b with a one other very hard move below that served to sap all my strength for the final hard move. I decided to give it one more go, even though I was tired, just to learn the bottom sequence better and set it up for sending on Monday. I was surprised to just barely scrape my way to the top clean.

Summary: 9, 10a, 10b, 11a, 11b, 11b, 11a, 11a - 8 routes

Another five 5.11 session, so I'm solidifying things in the 11- range. Next week I'll go back to the blue 11c and see if I can get that baby.

Old Mesa Loop PR

Old Mesa Loop at Garmin Connect
Strava Link

Went hard today. It had been awhile since my last tempo effort (9 days) and needed to suffer a bit. I really wanted to PR on this loop, and I did, but I still haven't worked out the pacing. I started too fast and lost over a minute on the Old Mesa climb and then a bit more in each of the last three miles. I'm less than 100 seconds away from my goal of breaking 90 minutes on this course. When it's warmer, there is no ice on the trail (held me up a bit, but not much), I'm five pounds lighter, my toe is headed, etc., then it will happen. I have high hopes of pulling this off by May.

Here is a comparison of my mile splits for today and my previous PR:

Mile #         2/14/2013        1/17/2013 
1                 8:47            9:20
2                 9:36            9:50
3                 9:23            9:27
4                10:00            9:47
5                 7:31            7:42
6                 6:49            6:57
7                15:40           14:29
8                10:10           10:14
9                 7:22            7:53
10                6:50            6:35

Cleanup on Aisle 5.11!

This morning I finally had a solid session in the gym, but it cost me some pain. Frustrated that I couldn't complete that 11a on Monday, I resolved to endure the pain and put a climbing shoe on my right foot. I warmed up with my approach shoe and did a 5.9, 5.9, and 10a (hard one). Then I switched to my climbing shoe. I'd endure the pain to the top of the route and immediately pull off the shoe while being lowered to the ground.

Next I got on the 10d where I grabbed the draw on Monday and fired it clean. I then went to the green 11a where I had fallen on the last more three times in a row. Clean. Then I the orange 11b with the brutal sequence at the lip of the roof. My first effort was up to the crux and then I fell. I worked out the most efficient sequence and finished the route. On my second go, I sent it.

Then I went back to a neat 11a arete route where I hung once on a couple of weeks ago. This time I moved through the crux section quickly and felt very comfortable sending it.

Getting froggy, I got on the 11c I tried a week ago. I got the first five clips clean, but had to grab the last draw to clip it. I hung and then just barely finished. I'll keep working it.

I switched back to my approach shoe and warmed down on a 10a.

Summary: 9, 9, 10a, 10d, 11a, 11b (one hang), 11b, 11a, 11c (one hang), 10a -- ten routes.

Monday Gym Report

Weighed in at 165.8 - my first weigh-in under 166. Not real, I realize, but a nice perk for the 10,000 vert. I did this weekend. I figure all I need to do it 10,000 vert/weekend and I should lose some weight... :-)

Gym went reasonably well. Warmed up on a 5.9, then a 10a, 10b, and then onsighted a 10d, barely. I tried another 10d and grabbed the 4th draw, clipped, but did not hang, and then finished the route. I need to go back and clean that baby up, but today I moved on to a tough 11a that has been bugging me. I made good progress on this. My first time I made all but the last clip, hung, and then finished. I tried three more times and each time made all the clips and got to the last move before falling. It's a tough last move as I have to stand on my right, non-climbing shod foot and grab a very high, rounded undercling with my right hand. I just need to pull up into this and get my left foot up and I can then grab the top. It should go on Wednesday and probably on my first try. I might even brave a climbing shoe on my right foot to give me that extra edge.

Summary: 9, 10a, 10b, 10d, 10d (one draw grab), 11a, 11a, 11a, 11a (all with one hang). 

Nine routes is a big morning for me, but I was just climbing with Corey the entire time, so only two of us.

Maroon Bells Attempt #2 - via Bell Cord Couloir

Garmin Connect - Details
Strava Link
Photos

With the good weather continuing in the Aspen area and little new snow accumulation, Homie and I had to head back for another try on the Bells. This time we were going to try the Bell Cord Couloir. Normally, at this time of year, this route would be out of the question due to avalanche danger. This couloir is steep and very narrow. If it slid, there'd be no where to hide. Because of this we brought two ropes and a full rack of gear so that we could protect the couloir and possibly survive an avalanche, but not being driven thousands of feet down the mountain and buried. 

Homie also recruited some other winter 14er enthusiasts. Homie needed to be home on Sunday, so we planned to head in Friday, camp at Crater Lake, and attempt the climb on Saturday. Dwight joined us and 13er Girl and her husband would come in on Saturday and attempt the climb on Sunday.

Homie picked me up at my house at 4:30 a.m. and we drove out to the Maroon Bells Road once again. Dwight had slept the night at the trailhead and started in, on foot, at 7 a.m. Homie and I started skiing up the road at 9 a.m. I was dragging a sled to take the weight off my back and give me extra capacity. We caught up to Dwight just before the end of the road and we stopped at the drink shack maintained by the snow mobile company that guides trips up to the lake. This place is decadent and I enjoyed a couple of cups of hot chocolate before continuing on. Dwight left first and Homie shortly after him. I left a bit later, taking the time to switch from my kicker skins to my full-length skins. Skiing down the small hill leading to Maroon Lake I got my sled caught behind a tree and the zip ties holding my homemade sled's PVC poles to the sled snapped. Bummer. I jury-rigged up something temporary and continued on.

I had some trouble pulling the sled up the steepest hills. I was worked over nicely by the time I caught up to Dwight. Homie and Dwight had been breaking trail since the shack. It wasn't very deep, but I was sure glad for the track. Dwight and I caught up to Homie at Crater Lake. He was scoping campsites, but we continued to the far side of the lake and camped just above it, in the last grove of trees, where there are official summer campsites, at just above 10,000 feet. After clearing a spot and setting up the tent, we headed up towards the Bell Cord to recon the approach. I led the way, switchbacking relentlessly up the ever steepening slope until I got to the bottom of some avalanche debris at around 10,900 feet. Homie had ditched his skis much lower and plunge-stepped directly up the slope. He dug and pit to assess the avalanche potential and found consistent snow down to five feet deep. 

We retreated back to camp. By then I was wet and cold and the temperature was rapidly falling. I got into my -40 degree sleeping bag about 3:30 p.m. and I'd stay there until 5:30 a.m. the next morning. Any body part not inside the sleeping bag was freezing and rapidly becoming numb. Homie worked the stove for hours, melting water and filling bottles. I did nothing. My full-time job was to not freeze to death and try to drink and eat enough to be strong on Saturday. I was becoming intimately familiar with why Homie prefers a long, long day vs. overnight, winter camping - there is just too much time to lay there and freeze. Everything you didn't want frozen had to be inside the sleeping. I had all my clothes and three liters of water inside my bag. I should have had my boots as well.

Fourteen hours later, we were up, melting a bit more water, and trying to warm up our boots. We didn't do a good job with the latter task and we started out with cold feet. It was -5 degrees when we left the tent and my feet would continually get colder. Homie and I both just wore our NNN backcountry ski boots, which aren't the warmest boots in town. These, and the frigid temperatures, would be our undoing.

I led the way again, following my switchbacked trail from the afternoon before. It didn't help Homie and Dwight much, as Dwight was on snowshoes and Homie would ditch his skis low again. He isn't as comfortable skiing down steep slopes, as am I, though he is probably as proficient, since I'm not particularly skilled. I rely mostly on the traverse and kick-turn - the same way I got up. Plus, Homie can posthole all day long, while that effort saps me quickly. Hence, I was strongly motivated to keep my skis on as long as possible. I was able to find a route and allowed me to do this to about 12,000 feet. At that point I was approaching the narrow part of the couloir and the snow was getting harder and the slope steeper. I ditched the skis and put Kahtoola steel crampons on my boots. By then Homie had caught up to me and I fell in behind him, using his steps to ease my progress.

My feet were getting worse with every step and when Homie started to pause to catch his breath, I volunteered to take my turn at the front. I did this partly out of shame for not doing my part, but also because I had to keep my feet moving. But this turned out to be a mistake. I was now plunging my feet deep into the snow and they were never not buried. After an embarrassingly short turn at the front I had to stomp out a stance so that I could swing my feet to try to save them from freezing. Homie took over the lead again, but paused a short distance above. His feet were freezing as well, but he was concerned about the snow conditions. It was getting looser and looser. We plunged deeper with each step. Though we carried our ropes and gear, we found no opportunities for placement in the walls of the couloir. If the couloir slid, it would be over. I wasn't that concerned about the snow conditions, but maybe I should have been. I didn't say as much, though, since I was so worried about my feet that I needed to turn around. We were at 13,400 feet, but probably still two hours from the summit. My feet couldn't last that long.

By then Dwight had joined us. His feet were fine. He's an expert winter camper/mountaineer and had pre-warmed his boots with hot water bottles before putting them on. He was ready to follow Homie up and was willing to try and set up a snow anchor to belay Homie. With Dwight ready to accompany Homie, I announced that I was going down, because of my feet. Homie hesitated just a moment or two and then decided he didn't like the conditions and was heading down as well. We all retreated. I went quickly, seeing the sunny slopes far below and wanting to be out in the sun as soon as possible.

When I stopped to switch back to my skis, Dwight and Homie caught up and went by. I caught them relatively quickly on the descent. We stayed somewhat together for another thousand feet, but once back below 11,000 feet, I continued down to camp and started preparing for the ski out. I fixed my sled with cord, what I should have used before, and packed up my gear. I sat in the sun, ate, drank, and tried to warm my feet, to no avail. My feet wouldn't completely defrost until we had driven to Glenwood Springs. And now, three weeks later, the tips of my toes are still numb and my right big toe still has a very painful, open blister. It was frustrating to turn back, again, especially after two days and getting so close, but it was the right call for my feet. It was the right decision and I don't regret it.

We skied out, passing Homie's friends on their way in. They'd camp in our spot that night. Use our tracks the next day. And summit. Good for them. I wish we could have as well, but there is much for me still to learn about winter 14er climbing.

Backside Loop via Bison Drive

Backside Loop via Bison Drive by billwright510 at Garmin Connect - Details
Strava Link

I've done this loop three times now and the last two Saturdays. This was my first time doing it solo. Last weekend I ran with Mark and expected to do a lot better than our previous effort. I felt this way because I'd been running the Old Mesa Loop and feeling strong at the end of that 10-mile loop. But I faded very badly after getting to Eldorado Canyon. Even running down the road - downhill, smooth surface - my connective tissue was seizing up. I could no longer take a regular stride. My groin, hips, and knees were just locking up. I was okay hiking up the Old Mesa Trail, but as we progressed along the difficult Mesa Trail back to the start at Chautauqua Park my gait bore a closer and closer resemblance to Frankenstein's walk. It was disappointing.

Mark tried to dismiss my poor performance by blaming it on my previous weekend attempting the Bells. I frost damaged my right big toe and it is still causing me quite a bit of pain on the downhills. Today was slightly better, but it is still very uncomfortable. I could have had a bad day or maybe I just need a bit more distance training. To be clear, I wasn't disappointed that 19 miles was hard, I was disappointed that I was falling apart after only 11.5 miles. I speculated that my pace rapidly slows once runs get longer then ten miles. Something like this:

So, I went back today to give it another try.

I had an appointment at 11 a.m. and knew it would be a challenge to break 4 hours, so I started at 6:35 a.m. I was pleasantly surprised to not need any light at all. I trotted over to Gregory Canyon and ran/walked up it. There were only a couple of sets of tracks up Long Canyon and it was completely snow-covered. I got to top of the Flagstaff Road in 52 minutes and prompted went down the wrong road - a long driveway. Doh! I backtracked and got onto Bison Drive.

It was still really early, but this road is so nice and smooth and almost all downhill and I was able to roll a 7:15 mile. I got to the Walker Ranch trailhead and ran down to the Eldorado Trail. I mostly hiked up this steep trail. After ten miles I saw my first people. I passed four people before arriving at the Eldorado Ranger Station to refill my water. I was in and out quickly and ran down the road much better than last time, doing an 8:38 mile. Sure, that isn't fast, but it was a normal stride.

I hiked up the Old Mesa Trail and found that I could still run semi-normally. This is a tough trail to run when you are fresh and I was far from that. I wanted to break four hours and now I figured if I ran well, I could break 3:50. I ended up doing 3:44, for an average 11:38/mile. Nothing miraculous, of course, at my very best I'm mediocre, but a solid improvement over last time. I plotted my actual run speed on this graph, though it isn't much data:

Monday Gym Report

For some reason I started out toproping today and just never stopped. It's very unusual for me, but maybe it was because my right toe was hurting so badly. It was quite painful to put it into a climbing shoe and then I had to be very careful with it. But I don't mind toproping so much. Tom did a few as warm-up as well.

I started on 5.8 and worked my way up. The funny thing is that each one felt pretty hard for me. I'm starting to get a cold as well and was feeling pretty weak and rundown, but I kept up with grades. I climbed a 5.8, 5.9, 10a, 10b, 10c, 10d, and 11a all clean on my first go. The 10b seemed the hardest for me, as it had some tricky moves.

I ended with an attempt on a very cool 11b route. It has few holds on it and goes up a corner that is slightly less than vertical. You climb with a series of high steps and high hands that you shoulder roll into a mantle. It was pretty shoulder intensive and flexibility would have helped a lot. I fell off the lower crux move and after hanging, solved it in a bizarre, awkward manner, but I didn't have the flexibility (super wide stem) to solve it in the more elegant manner. After doing that move I was able to climb to the stop cleanly, though a number of the sections were quite tough. I'll give that another go on Wednesday.

Eight routes: 8, 9, 10a, 10b, 10c, 10d, 11a, 11b (one fall/hang). All TRs.

Backside Loop via Bison Drive

Backside Loop via Bison Drive by billwright510 at Garmin Connect - Details

I met Mark for this long run. We both wore our Nathan packs and carried about 40 ounces of liquid and some snacks. I ran with my iPhone and am loving the MotionX-GPS app on my phone. It talks to me every x minutes or x distance and tells me my total mileage, elevation, and average pace. I love stuff like that. You can also download tracks to display on the free topos you can download to the phone. Recommended.

Man, this run killed me. I'm fine getting to Eldo, but then I'm just done. My hips and knees just seem to seize up. I'm not bonking. I'm drinking and eating and my energy is good, but from the waist down, I feel 70 years old at that point. I'd been doing ten-mile runs and feeling quite good at the end, so I figured, at a slower pace, I should feel pretty good until maybe 15 miles. Not so. Hurting at around 11. Oh well. More training I guess.

We saw a number of friends out enjoying the trails as well. We stopped to chat each time. I was thankful for the rest, but didn't want to stop for too long, fearing I'd have trouble getting moving again. My feet were in bad shape at the start because of my frost damage I did last weekend in the Bells. It was quite painful to run downhill for the entire run, but what limited me the most was my groin and my knees. I just don't seem to have the connective tissue for long distance trail running. But it was great to get out with Mark and our conversation flowed nicely the entire time, as usual.

More Struggles on 5.10

My right big toe is still massively messed up from our second attempt on the Bells. My feet froze and didn't fully warm up until we had got clear back to the car (11 miles away) and drove an hour to Glenwood Springs. I hope to see some improvement soon. This pain had me pulling my shoes off after each 40-foot route.

I did only 5.10 routes today, but I had my troubles. I started fine with a 10a, 10b, 10b, and then a 10d. All clean, but I was pushed to my very limits on the last two. I then tried a harder 10d and hung four times at two different locations.

I then moved to another location and did a 10b and then hung on another 10b before finishing. Ugh. I'll keep working on it and hope for some gradual improvement.

Solidifying 5.10 in the Gym

I finally got to the gym early and even beat Tom, so that is solid improvement this week. Climbing? Oh, yeah, that is improving also, but as quickly as my arrival time...

I climbed with just Tom, as Kate showed up and paired with Kirk. I warmed up on a 5.9 and a 10a and then onsighted a 10b. That's depressing that I have to say "insight". :-) It is, what it is. I then went to my 10b project, which is really more like 10d. I failed on my first try, on the same crux move. I screwed up the approach a bit and wasted a bit of energy. I got it clean, just barely, on my second try.

I then did a new 10c and had a lot of trouble on the final clip, but I got it and finished clean. I moved on  to a new 10d and screwed it up a couple of times, hanging both times. I have no endurance to recover from reading the route incorrectly. I tried it again and got it down to one hang. On my third go, with a little better clipping strategy, I just barely got it clean.

I'm building my base of 5.10 routes. I think I've now done all the 5.10's that are not in "Gray Land", the  massively overhanging area. Today I did: 5.9, 10a, 10b, 10b, 10c, 10d, 10d, 10d, eight routes.

Monday Gym Report

I got there late again. I've been so lazy lately... Climbed with Tom and Kirk.

I started with a 5.9, then a 10a, then sent the 10b that I fell off of, last week. It still felt pretty hard at the crux. This route gently overhangs the entire way, so the pump was building, but the crux is off two pretty bad holds.

Next I went to the brown 10b that crushed me early last week. I think it is harder than the 10d's that I've done. I did better this time, getting the clip at the lip of the roof, but not able to pull the crux move.

Next I did a 10b/c onsight. It had two very big reaches in it, but I was able to make the reach, somewhat dynamically. Then I did a 10a with a very overhanging, shouldery start. This pushed my right shoulder quite a bit, but I turned the lip and then was fine to the top.

I finished with one more go on the brown 10b route. I took a fall reaching for the crux hold, but figured out better feet for next time. I'm going to keep my feet a bit lower, under the overhang, until I make the crux move. Kirk was telling me to do this before, but it is not always obvious when to keep the feet low and when to move them up. He was right though. At least I think so. I'll find out Wednesday when I try to send this sucker.

So, just seven routes, but that's what you get for coming late: 5.9, 10a, 10b, 10b (one fall), 10b/c, 10a, 10b (one fall).

Gym Workout - got my 10d project

Took Thursday off as recovery from the Wednesday outing and today I went to the gym. I got there late and did one toprope (5.9) with Kate and Craig before I teamed up with Kirk for the rest of the morning. I then led a 10a, 10c, 10d (my project route, sad though it is), 10d (made it just barely), 10b, and I finished with another 10b but fell off once. Either that route was pretty hard or I was pumped. I don't have much strength or endurance just yet, so I guess I was just done. I'll clean it up on Monday.

The goal is to be back on 5.11's by the end of January. I've done a couple on TR already, but I'm hoping to be back onsighting 5.11a by then. We'll see.

Maroon Bells Attempt

Maroon Bells Attempt by billwright510 at Garmin Connect - Details
Strava Link

A few photos

Homie's Photos

Short video here with no much in it, but shows Homie's summer route

Homie is really close to climbing all the 14ers in winter. I think he only needs the Bells, Snowmass, and the Chicago Basin four. He's a master of climbing these peaks, but even he can still make mistakes. Inviting me along could have been one of those mistakes, but I held up reasonably well, though probably that was only because we didn't get very far.

We drove out to Glenwood Springs on Tuesday night to attempt a one-day ascent of both Bells. This was a very audacious plan and Homie figured it would be around 20 hours. We packed accordingly and started at 3:40 the next morning. We both went in on skis, up the closed road for 6.2 miles and then another 2.5 miles to just past Crater Lake. Here we ditched the skis and switched to climbing boots, crampons, ice axe, harness, and helmets. With the 120+ ounces of liquid and tons of food, that made for a heavy load on our backs and I was glad to be leaving a lot of weight behind.

The weather was stellar, which was the main reason for this attempt. That and the Aspen area hadn't received snow in over a week. We hoped for nicely consolidated snow conditions. We didn't get them. We had to break trail for the last 1.5 miles and the snow we went through, while not deep, was so light and it could have fallen last night. The temperatures up here had just been too cold and the snow hadn't melted and consolidated at all. It was just pure sugary, all the way down to the group. Now when the snow isn't deep, that's okay, though it does make for tricky footing, but when it is deep, it is impassable.

Homie had a route planned for us, one he had done in the summer when he linked Pyramid to the Bells. I worried about the long traverse in the sugary snow and convinced him to try a more direct route up what I thought looked like reasonable terrain because of the snow it held. It was not. After we climbed up a few hundred feet and could see that my proposed route was a bust, Homie spied an enticing break in the first cliff band that was completely dry, in the sun, and looked eminently climbable with lots of blocky holds. It was. The problem was that we could only see 100 feet of our proposed new route to the summit 3000 feet above us. With all the vertical cliff bands on the Bells, this didn't work so well.

Once above the first band, which we belayed. We saw a much more daunting band above us. I thought we were blocked, but Homie swum upwards through the sugary snow and found a climbable break. Later he would say that he thought about just continuing up it, scrambling it while simul-climbing. Instead, he brought me up. Upon closer examination, it was a lot tougher than he originally thought. Still, it had some cracks offering up protection possibilities and I decided to give it a go. What else did we have to do? We figured it was too late to retreat and try another route.

The difficulties started immediately and it took me a big stretch to place a small cam in a crack atop a block. Getting over the block was the problem. I tried to tackle it directly and took a short fall. Thankfully the piece was solid. I went left and after much deliberation, mostly about the opportunities for protection higher up, I committed to the moves. I didn't want to get injured ten miles from the car in January.

Slowly, methodically, timidly I advanced up the cliff band, emptying my rack into the increasingly rare cracks. I ran out the rope and arrived on a ledge that cut across the face below yet another, much less climbable cliff band. Homie had the decency to take a fall of his own, though I didn't even notice it so great was my effort to keep the slack out of the rope, and the good manners to take nearly as long to follow it.

We spent about an hour climbing a hundred vertical feet. And where did it get us? Trapped again. We traversed for a bit, but didn't find a break. We would have eventually got around it, but then just into steep sugar snow. Reluctantly, we turned around, giving up while still with perfect weather and still under 11,000 feet. Homie would say later that he was surprised not to be more disappointed, but felt that was due to us not even getting remotely close to the summit.

Getting down from that cliff was a bit of trick by itself, considering we only had the 100-foot rope with us. Homie did a single rope rappel down and found it was 80 feet to the base of the cliff. I then tied our three long slings together, downclimbed while clipping into each sling and then did a rappel from a loop in the last sling. We retreated back to the skis.

Before heading out we skied further up the valley to check out Homie's proposed route. It looked way more reasonable now, though I still dreaded any sustained movement in that sugary snow. Doing a one-day winter ascent of mountains this difficult requires not only perfect weather, but perfect snow conditions. At least for me. Stronger, better men can pull it off in worse conditions, but I'd be at my limit under ideal conditions.

We skied back out to the road, had a couple of hot chocolates at the shack maintained by the snowmobiles that come up the road and then glided back to the car. We were out 11.5 hours and did 19 miles and about 3500 vertical feet. It turned into a pretty nice ski tour, but would have been a lot nicer without all that weight.

Gym Workout

My shoulder work in the gym continues slowly. I got to the gym late, 6:30 a.m., as I was up until past 1 a.m. working on a project. Tom almost left before I got there. I did a 5.8 (hard! overhanging, tough warm-up), 5.6, 10a, 10c (TR, clean, barely), 10c, 10d (TR, clean, barely), and a 10a.

Old Mesa Loop

Old Mesa Loop

This is rapidly becoming one of my favorite loops. Runnable for almost the entire way. I do have to walk for 5-10 minutes going up the Old Mesa Trail, though. Went without any traction and was fine, but it was a bit dicey going downhill in spots. Went pretty hard, as I had a goal of averaging under 10 minutes/mile. That sounds funny that such a pace was a challenge, but that's all I got these days. Really nice weather.

Bierstadt Ascent w/Homie by billwright510 at Garmin Connect - Details

Bierstadt Ascent w/Homie by billwright510 at Garmin Connect - Details

Fun morning with Homie. Clear, blue skies the entire time and hardly any wind, which was a good thing because it was quite cold (below zero at the summit, I'm sure). Trail packed out pretty much the entire way. We were the first guys up, but we passed a guy with dog. We didn't pass close by him on the way up, but did on our way down. In weather that cold, this was a short-haired dog with no booties or anything to protect its paws...its three paws! That dog only had one back leg and you had to look closely to notice this, the dog was doing so well. I felt like quite the wimp, dressed head-to-toe in multiple layers of hi-tech gear with chemical heaters in my boots and mittens, next to this bad-ass dog.

We made it up in 2:29 (Homie a minute or two faster) and the roundtrip in 4:31, with nearly 20 minutes on the summit. We used no floatation of any kind, but skis might have been nice, as you have to go 1.8 miles up the road before you get to the summer trailhead.

Gym Report

Today and yesterday I was at Movement Climbing gym with +Tom Karpeichik . The shoulder is still really weak and I think I'll be stuck working 5.10 routes for most of January. Thursday I did a 5.8, 5.9, 10a, 10b, then a really hard 10b where I had to hang twice. Then I did another 10b clean and then tried one over a big roof and had to hang once. I ended by trying a vertical 10d and hung on it a couple of times.

Friday I did a 5.8, 5.9, 10b and then cleaned up a 10c that I had fallen at the top on the week before. I then tried the 10d vertical route and made all the clips, but couldn't quite finish it. I gave it another go, but there is a committing section lower down, with a tricky clip. If you blow the click, it would be a longish fall (for the gym). I didn't have the confidence and downclimbed to hang on the third bolt. I finished from there, though. This will be my project next week. I finished the morning with a 10a. Only 7 routes, but they were a bit taxing.

Tom is climbing super strong and already has 20+ 5.12's clean and a 12c clean. He's working a couple of 12d's now. I'm two number grades (8 letter grades) behind. Normally, I'm about 3 letter grades behind him. I've got some work to do.

Mt. of the Holy Cross Recon

Mt. of the Holy Cross Recon by billwright510 at Garmin Connect - Details
Strava link

Homie and I talked about this one earlier. He wanted to go in and help his friends break a track, since he'd used their track before. Homie is very ethical when it comes to using tracks. Me? Not so much. I know my limitations. I'm not doing one of those monster winter 14ers without good weather and a nice track. This mountain is 16 miles longer in winter, since you have to ski 8 miles into the summer trailhead. The good news is that the road groomed for use by snowmobilers, but that doesn't make it any shorter. Once at the summer trailhead you climb for 1.5 miles to a pass and then you descend 1000 feet to just below 11,000 feet. After all that, you have a 3000+ foot climb to the summit, about what a short summer 14er would be from the car. Homie's did this peak with Dan Mottinger in 16 hours.

Homie ended  up bailing on the mountain to spend more time with his family. With two little girls Christmas time is pretty special. I had mentally geared up to give this at least a look so I went alone on Sunday morning, hoping to see the others, who had camped near the pass the night before. Yes, I carried enough food/water to climb it, but I wasn't mentally very committed.

I got up at 4 a.m. and drove to Minturn and then to the trailhead. I was skiing at 5:30 a.m. and made good time to the summer trailhead, taking 2.5 hours. I then had one hell of a time separating my full-length skins - they were suck together so tightly. I hadn't used them in a year or so and almost had to turn back here because of it. I had skinned up the road with just my kicker skins, but the single track trail to the pass required more traction. Eventually, I succeeded and continued up to the pass, finding the tents just below it.

The others had left skis at their camp, but I had no other floatation with me so I continued on skis, following their track. At the start of the traverse at the pass the route cut across a rocky slope. The weather was socked in and it started to snow lightly. I hadn't seen the sun yet and it didn't look like it was going to make an appearance. The wind picked up and it was cold. The route ahead looked very difficult for skis and I decided to turn around. Wimpy? Yes. I probably don't have what it takes to do a 14er this long in winter, solo. With Homie, we wouldn't have hesitated at the pass and I'd have followed him. Alone I have the option of being more of a wimp and I almost always choose that option.

I had a fun, challenging ski back down to the summer trailhead, barely staying upright. Once back on the road, I pulled off my skins, but had to face about a mile of gradual uphill. Since I wasn't as whipped as I planned to be I thought I could skate ski this section, which I did, sort of. I had to stop a number of times to rest. Skate skiing with a sizable pack on backcountry skis is quite a challenge when I can barely do it on skate skis.

I was sure glad to crest the top and then enjoyed a fast, easy ski for the next seven miles, back to the car. I'm still learning the long-distance winter game and taking it conservatively.