Rock Climbing --- 6/8/2007 - 6/22/2007 --- Boulder, Colorado

Travel to Boulder for Tom and Beth's Wedding. Climbing with Alana, Tom, Tina, Margo, Amy and Charles.

6/8 - 6/10  Drive from Ithaca to Alana and Becky's house in Boulder.  Listen to Bait and Switch, by Barbara Ehrenreich and God is not Great, by Christopher Hitchens.  I get 35mpg on the highway!  The result of all the work I did on my car prior to the trip and driving a bit slower than usual.  I don't know anyone else with a Subaru Legacy Wagon who gets that kind of mileage.

Interesting tidbit... a Missouri rest stop has completely automated sinks.  You put your hands in the opening and it sprays soap, then water, then warm air.  Next they need to come up with urinal that pees for you.

6/11  Alana and I go to Eldorado Canyon to climb Ruper (5.8+).  We simulclimb the approach (250' of 50 degree 5.0 slab).  Then Alana leads the Art's Spar variation of P1.  I get to lead P2 (Ruper Crack -- offwidth to squeeze chimney) and P3 (Ruper Traverse).

Minor epic getting down. Our two 60m ropes didn't quite reach the ground (WTF? We were supposed to have 2x70m?) I could barely touch a toe, but it was on the 50 degree slab that we had roped up for on the ascent. My plan was to swing up the slab and get off the rope that way, but the rope was stuck in a huge crack and I couldn't swing. Ok... Plan B. I prussiked to a ledge, then waited for Alana to come down. We tandem rappelled to the ground. The extra weight plus the length of the rappel extension got us to the slab where we built an anchor with a bomber #3 camalot.

Then it started raining.

We pulled the ropes and slung a rock column to rappel down the slab and back to our packs. A nice climb! I want to get back and do Upper Ruper some day.

6/12 Rain all day.  I help Alana pack her car and clean her apartment.

6/13  Chris and I were going to climb Werk Supp in Eldo, but he smashed his finger last night playing soccer and had to make a midnight run to the hospital.  Alana leaves for Minnesota, London and Kentucky (where she is starting med school just 40 minutes from Red River Gorge).

6/14  Tom, Brielle and I hike Mt. Sanitas.  There is some decent bouldering and I get a chance to try my new madrock shoes.  Hard to convince me to give up my aces after a decade.

Then I meet up with Tina.  We eat some ice cream and head to Boulder Canyon where we climb East Slab (5.6) on The Dome.  After that we head to Beth's house for the first of many wedding events... a pool party.

6/15  Tina and I head to Cob Rock.  We enjoy the tyrolean across Boulder Creek.  Another party is on North Face Center, so we climb Empor (5.7+). We started on the wrong side of the boulder and I had to make some unprotected 5.9+ moves to get to the start of the climb. Pretty ugly.  After that we meet Tom, Beth and friends for a yoga session and another pool party.  Then Tina and I head to an improv show at the Dairy Factory.  It is good, but not great.

6/16  Tom's out of town guests join him for a 16.5 mile bike ride around Boulder.  Then we all go to Betasso Preserve in Boulder Canyon for a picnic.

6/17  Tom and Beth get married at Chautauqua.  We eat lots of food, then go for a short hike around the park.

6/18  Tom, Tina and I take Margo climbing in Eldorado Canyon.  We consider climbing Recon, but some guidebooks have that joining the last pitch of Calypso, which I climbed back in 2006.  We end up on what at least one book calls The Bomb (5.4).  This is Margo's first time following a climb.  She and I climb two pitches and Tom and Tina follow us.  Then we join ropes and do one long rappel from the top of Wind Tower.  After climbing, I head to Amy and Charles' house for a shower and dinner.

6/19  Take Luna for a nice long walk.  When Amy and Charles finish work, we head to Boulder Canyon and meet a bunch of their friends at The Bihedrals for some sport climbing.  I lead Hold the Line (5.9), Rhodian Shores (5.10b), and Flags of our Fathers (5.10-) all onsight.  It was dark when we finished, so rather than take the 4th class scramble to the road, we rappelled down.  To save time, Charles and I simulrappelled.  First time I've ever done that.  So this trip I managed a simulclimb, tandem rappel, simulrappel, and tyrolean traverse.  I'll call this trip "Rope Tricks Over Boulder" in my memories.

6/20  One final pool party at Beth's house.  We look at pictures from the wedding and eat all the leftovers from the reception.

6/21 - 6/23  Driving back to Ithaca.  I listen to The Bean Trees, by Barbara Kingsolver and a bunch of David Sedaris short stories.  Also, I stop in the library in Ogallala, NB.  That means I've only got Idaho, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and North Dakota left in my quest to do something in all 50 states.  Maybe next summer...

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