fumbledeedum

i finally got to fumbledeedum, the adventure hike i mentioned a while ago. unfortunately, i forgot that i used up my camera's battery when i was out with dave last week. oops. camera phone came in handy though.

the route follows the middle ridgeline, not on the top of the ridge, but just below the slabs among the caves formed by the slabs and the chockstones below them.


first cave.


too much fresh poo. up and over.


second cave. what a goodie. climbed the left wall in the dark to emerge in a small slot - had to remove the backpack to get out.


also pulled the bag for this army crawl!


some of the random massive chocks lingering about.


my route, kinda. the geeps got a little confused after the caves, projected me all over the place like i was in a hovercraft.


after, i decided to climb the route that inspired the fumbledeedum excursion before joining erica in denver for some fun with friends. yay.

picnic, boulder style

it's erica's spring break, but we haven't gotten to do nearly enough fun things for her. boo. so tonight we went on a picnic to our most recent favorite spot among the red rocks at settlers' park.





erica is enjoying a really delicious new chocolate here. yum.


this of course made alfie rather curious. got some for meeeez?

seal rock

erica and i got a little climbing in this weekend at woods quarry in the flatirons. the sun was awesome, as were the many chairs formed from giant blocks. the holds, weren't quite as awesome. i got to use the rare crimp & smear combo to negotiate the routes. my butt really hurt from the awkward slab technique, but i had a good time.

the next day, dave and i slaboneered seal rock. that's it in the center & to the left is the goose. unfortunately, i got a little too excited on the approach and went towards the wrong cave on the other side of the valley. oh well - we got to check out some fun boulders and squeeze in a bit more cardio.



nice lengthy approach, even without the missed turn.


fun start, not unlike the second flatiron...a little less featured, though less steep.




looking back from the top of the first pitch. oh, btw, this is dave's first trad climb. my routefinding mistake allowed us to bump into connor, my old boss from the farm. it was his first climb ever, which was pretty cool considering the funky rappel off the top.


seems to be a happy first trad climb. i hope!





cresting the top of the third pitch at the neck of the seal. the wind had really picked up by this point, so i was glad to have made it to a little cleft for windbreaking. connor's party was not quite so lucky - had to stop 15 feet shy of the cleft...brr.


not sure when dave snagged this photo from the cleft - perhaps while i was struggling to take up rope... i'm looking forward to trying out the new petzl reverso to help with this.


took us two pitches to get up to the top, where we were greeted by plenty o clouds.





the rap was pretty lengthy with an awkward start between a giant sloping flake and the wall. it made my finger bleed. pretty impressive for dave and connor, i must say.



we got some fresh rain and winds on the return - smelled great. i was really craving a burger, but instead found myself making brussel sprouts and peanuts, a take on a dish erica and i had a riffs, our new favorite happy hour.

return to the second

chris and i climbed the second flatiron today. chris's first free solo, my third. same rock, slightly different route. seems there are unlimited variations. we both biked up after work/meetings and enjoyed the sun. chautauqua was swarming with undergrads today!
 

starting up.
 

squinting up.
 
 

i was obsessed with talking about the party ledges, where there's plenty o' space. this would not be one.
 
 
 
 

chris looks nervous about this next section, but he had a unique solution to the diving board. that's golden's table mountain back there. way back there.
 

final crack. per chris, "finally some real rock climbing." then picnic followed by the icy, slushy shuffle back down.