alfie had his third birthday last night. erica and i went on a walk with a very pregnant jen and chris followed by yummy happy hour at the kitchen next door (kale chips! dry dock pumpkin!), which then caused us to forget it was alf's bday! very sad. so today i'll celebrate by posting alf's most recent trip to stardom.
Wednesday, November 30
Monday, November 28
more flatirons fun
erica and i returned to the flatirons, hoping to work off some of our many thanksgiving plates. we decided to switch roles and she would carry the camera. as it turned out, i misjudged the route and we had to downclimb off the back rather than rap the top. erica was a good sport and scout as i cleaned the anchors and worked my way down. this led me to consider a flatirons adventure hike.
lots o potholes = easy, mellow climbing. didn't stop me from getting nervous when i removed all our gear from the tippety top!
big beard!
lots o potholes = easy, mellow climbing. didn't stop me from getting nervous when i removed all our gear from the tippety top!
big beard!
Saturday, November 19
lunch break in the flatirons
i was kind of stressed out at work this week and a little sad that i wouldn't get to do some climbing i'd been looking forward to, so i decided to take a quick lunch break in the flatirons and returned to freeway, which i actually followed instead of getting off route. it was nice to have solid rock the whole time.
flatirons! the second is dead center.
second again. the large outcropping at the top right is called the pullman car, which is the summit.
the route starts right off the trail.
a little closer...
the first pitch.
and the top of the first pitch. from here, i chatted with a couple of boulderers who were at the base. i had been kind of stuck in a thin-ish spot and had to traverse a bit. i was maybe a little embarrassed, but i guess they didn't notice when we met again as i biked to my office.
boulder.
bottom of the pullman on the left. there's a 5.6 route that sneaks into the gully left of the pullman, then you can hop up onto it. will get to that eventually.
pullman again. when i got off route last time i was here, i could have continued into the tunnel you see to the right of the base of the pullman. it looks kinda fun.
the jump / diving board. little tough to differentiate.
as you can see, it parallels the rock below it, but the huge flake extends from pretty far below/behind the tip, which makes it seem oh so far away. as i got up here, the wind suddenly picked up quite a bit. i hunkered down and made a call cancelling my lunch appointment
and took a moment to document the horn where i built a sling ladder for erica to lower herself "like a sobbing whale" as she later commented.
this angle is the reason for the sobbing...little tough to see what you're getting down on with the overhang.
and here's the tip of the diving board, with the landing spot dead ahead below those flakes that have pulled off. comforting!
really comforting.
i did the jump, scampered on up in an increasing breeze, ran off the top, biked back to my office, grabbed my bag, and went on to the office of my cancelled lunch appointment. unfortunately, i dropped my favorite sweater on the way and had to return to get it. en route to sweater retrieval, i snapped my brake and rode old school style, with skids and whatnot. it reminded me of why i don't do that so much these days...my poor knees!
flatirons! the second is dead center.
second again. the large outcropping at the top right is called the pullman car, which is the summit.
the route starts right off the trail.
a little closer...
the first pitch.
and the top of the first pitch. from here, i chatted with a couple of boulderers who were at the base. i had been kind of stuck in a thin-ish spot and had to traverse a bit. i was maybe a little embarrassed, but i guess they didn't notice when we met again as i biked to my office.
boulder.
bottom of the pullman on the left. there's a 5.6 route that sneaks into the gully left of the pullman, then you can hop up onto it. will get to that eventually.
pullman again. when i got off route last time i was here, i could have continued into the tunnel you see to the right of the base of the pullman. it looks kinda fun.
the jump / diving board. little tough to differentiate.
as you can see, it parallels the rock below it, but the huge flake extends from pretty far below/behind the tip, which makes it seem oh so far away. as i got up here, the wind suddenly picked up quite a bit. i hunkered down and made a call cancelling my lunch appointment
and took a moment to document the horn where i built a sling ladder for erica to lower herself "like a sobbing whale" as she later commented.
this angle is the reason for the sobbing...little tough to see what you're getting down on with the overhang.
and here's the tip of the diving board, with the landing spot dead ahead below those flakes that have pulled off. comforting!
really comforting.
i did the jump, scampered on up in an increasing breeze, ran off the top, biked back to my office, grabbed my bag, and went on to the office of my cancelled lunch appointment. unfortunately, i dropped my favorite sweater on the way and had to return to get it. en route to sweater retrieval, i snapped my brake and rode old school style, with skids and whatnot. it reminded me of why i don't do that so much these days...my poor knees!
Sunday, November 13
young and the rackless
erica and i went up the canyon early on friday afternoon to do some climbing. good thing it was early. we started up a four pitch sport route called "the young and the rackless". seemed like silly and simple fun... it's rated 5.9, but the party that developed the route rated it 5.10b. i think that might be accurate if you don't have as much span as i do - erica found it a little tough at the headwalls.
from the top of the first pitch.
erica so smiley before realizing that the start is a little funky :( she also started yelling a "huge spider" in front of her face. she later revealed that said "huge spider" was in fact a daddy longlegs before trying to convince me that they are 1.) poisonous (but their mouths aren't big enough to bite people) 2.) spiders, neither of which are true. fibber! gladly, she made it up the first pitch.
starting up the second pitch. crux for shorties.
we made it halfway up the climb before deciding it was going to get too dark (and i was already shivering quite a bit). it was erica's first rappel (and retreat), which was exciting all around.
from the top of the first pitch.
erica so smiley before realizing that the start is a little funky :( she also started yelling a "huge spider" in front of her face. she later revealed that said "huge spider" was in fact a daddy longlegs before trying to convince me that they are 1.) poisonous (but their mouths aren't big enough to bite people) 2.) spiders, neither of which are true. fibber! gladly, she made it up the first pitch.
starting up the second pitch. crux for shorties.
we made it halfway up the climb before deciding it was going to get too dark (and i was already shivering quite a bit). it was erica's first rappel (and retreat), which was exciting all around.
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