Back track the timeline a
bit. I rolled in to Casa de Wankster in Denver, Colorado and stayed for a
spell. We climbed one day in Clear Creek Canyon which is a place I haven't
climbed before. I did a couple cool routes and got to sample the infamous New
River wall. I kept telling myself, "Whatever you do, don't forget to
unclip the purple draw! Or was it the green draw?...dammit!!!" I survived with
ZERO rope drag and the climbing was a lot of fun. I even got to throw down an
orange box flizash on a 5.12 dizog which was surprising and a little confidence
booster. I thought I was gonna be mega weak but instead I was just marginally
weak.
I wanted to stay at Casa
de Wankster for a while longer but his girlfriend is this super high-strung Latin
chica. She's always like "Buenas dias, ju wanna taco, taco." Taco
flavored kisses are great and all but Hennifer lays on the Mexican thing really
thick. It's ALWAYS margarita time and my liver was killing me so I blasted to
Rifle to meet up with Eddie 'Jumbo Hoss' Avallone and his brand new fiance, Rachel
'Twin Cannons' Melville.
I also happened to run
into some old Fayetteville buddies, John and Laura, for an impromptu WV
reunion. With the WV crew around around we got some good climbing days in. I
got to do some classics in Rifle I hadn't done before like Anti-Phil and Squeel to Stihl.
Really good.
From left: John and Lilah, Laura and Evy, Rachel, Eddie and Apollo.
After they left, I was on my own and had some solo time on my
hands. Dave Pegg showed me his top-secret new crag that he is telling everyone
about and desperately trying to get them to come to. Hogwarts is pretty rad. I
bolted and sent a nice new rig at the top of the hill called Death Eaters (5.13b). I don't know
anything about Harry Potter, which is the theme of the crag, so Dave had to
help me with the name. It's a pretty damn cool route. It starts with a little
5.12b section down low and some moderate face climbing to gain a chossy scoop
where it breaks right off of Dave's route, Order
of the Phoenix (5.12+). After the scoop it stays on you for about 6 or 7
bolts of dynamic, powerful movement on perfect rock. I was pretty stoked to get
to add a new route to this cliff. In the future, the area might have 100 routes
and may even be slightly popular? It'll never be Rifle but in my opinion the
climbing is better...maybe not better but different, which is nice if you're
burned out on blocky thuggery.
Master P finishing up the equipping of Order of the Phoenix 5.12+ (left line). The right line is Death Eaters 5.13b. Both routes are about 35 meters and about 1/3rd of the length is below the bottom of the photo.
Dave hooked me up with a
bunch of bolts and hangers and I was all set to keep bolting at Hogwizzles but
it started getting hot. Heat is my arch enemy. It is stronger and more powerful
than I will ever be. I will always run rather than fight it.
Blammo, here I am in Ten
Sleep. It's still cool enough here to climb in the cave and I'm getting the
workout I was hoping to get from Rifle.
I am wrecked up! It's possible that the cave is even more physical and tiring
than Rifle which would make it the most body-wrecking crag I've ever been to. One
pitch feels like going three rounds in the UFC...without the head trauma. Soon
enough though it will be heating up here as well and we'll head further up into
the mountains to climb at Ten Sleezy proper.
Coal train will be here
in about 10 days! I'm psyched to see the wife-piece! So is bebe chien who made
her first kill the other day. She chased down a big marmot and grabbed it in
her jaws and shook it to death in like 3 seconds. It was an amazing display of
dog prowess. So proud of my little hunter.
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