euroford's Logbook (34 ascents)

4 nights on the wall, got stormed on once.

we got totally shut down by horrable conditions in the gash. we were completly unprepaired for dealing with the iced up steep snow slopes. we took a long roundabout way around the left side of the gash that eventually allowed us to rap down to the base of the NE route, but by the time we had made it that far we were getting close to noon so we called it off and made for the estes park brewery.

we'll be back again next year!!

a fun outing on a cruiser route. make sure you get the first lead so you get the best pitches 1 and 3.

roped solo aid ascent of 1st pitch only. can be kinda of awkward at times with all of yer aiders and stuff tangled up into the inside corner crack, but lots of fun. the crux is definitly getting to the second bolt. i placed two lobes of an orange alien into the finger pocket to the left. though if i had not been on a solo belay i probobly would just yarded on this pocket while standing on the first bolt to get the clip.

we did the first pitch of this on aid and i took two falls while trying to get past the 'pink tricam' move mentioned in all route descriptions. that pink tricam pocket is completly warn out and its like trying to stick a tricam in the bottom of a shotglass. i couldn't get it to work so i resorted to two attempts at aliens that both resulted in pretty decent falls. eventually i did use a tricam higher up in the crack system after screwing around for ages.

weather was closing in and i was having enough of that so we rapped off. an intresting outing on an amazing feature with absolutly the worst rock quality i've ever encountered. actually, we were talking to a geologist giving a tour, and he told us its actually -not- even classified as rock, but just compacted sand....

i won't be going back, but if you live in this neck of the woods and want to train for the fishers, go for it! (and seek mental help)

we left chicago at 2:30pm on friday, arrived at the boulder IHOP at 4:00am saturday, ate breakfast and were at the trailhead by 5:00am.

a fun but rediculously easy climb, we only placed 2-3 pieces of pro per pitch. awsome views of boulder and the surrounding mountains. i'm looking forward to running up the thing at night, we will probobly simul climb most of it next time.

C1+ (aid ascent)

bomber placements all the way up, but be prepaired for some reachy moves, a couple of topsteps and getting onto some tiny gear. about 15 feet of 5.0ish free climbing at the top can be a bit dicey when you are tangled in aiders, wearing boots and still carrying the 20 large cams that you didn't need.

i don't know what is more cheating, the fact that i just recorded an ascent of a route by aiding a free route, or the fact that almost certainly everybody else who recorded an ascent of this route did so on toprope.

if anybody actually free this route, and placed the gear on lead i'd like to shake yer hand, thats pretty stout.

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i lead the first pitch and we then bailed off due to weather approching, partner downclimbed second pitch from below the roof before we rapped from the 1st pitch tree. bummer that our trip was to short to go finish it, quality route.

finished the route this year. a fun moderate outing. the 1st and 2nd pitches are fun as hell.

lead this to setup a toprope for some n00b friends first ever rock climb. very good for that sort of thing and i had a fun climb. i belayed them from the top and enjoyed a nice view of everybody climbing accross the street.