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| Mt, Neva at Sunrise |
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| High on a mountain top |
Some time last summer I rode my bike up Boulder canyon to the Elephant
Buttres/Blob Rock area to mess around with some rope techniques and
try my hand some basic aid climbing.I did my thing, packed up and went
home. Turns out I had accidentally left one of my chocks in a crack
while cleaning up in the fading light. I went back with my backpack full
of gear the next day to work on some more rescue stuff when I noticed a
rope hanging down from the route I had been aiding the day before.
After locking up my bike, I turned around and was greeted by a tall
wirey fella, decked out in climbing gear, with a big grin on his face.
Turns out he was there to practice his rope technique too. When I told
him I was there to do the same he pulled out the blue chock that I had
left the day before. He graciously gave it back to me, a bit
disappointed perhaps that I had come to reclaim my gear( known as booty
in climber lingo). We talked for a bit and It turns out he had graduated
from NAU in my home town of Flagstaff, AZ and was now living in
Boulder, working as a middle school science teacher. Even more
coincidentaly, he had worked at aspen sports with many of my childhood
friends. Having so much in common, we decided to join forces and climbed
together frequently in the following months.
Realizing our potential as a team we moved into the mountains, making an early morning ascent of Mt. Neva in the Indian Peaks Wilderness. After cruzing up Arahpaho pass trail we deviated south and climbed the direct north face just above a small frozen alpine lake. Flawless weather and perfect snow conditions made the climb and descent a breeze.
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| A great way to spend the day |
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| Head in the clouds |
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| 2 worlds |
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23 years old
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The next month Anthony and I climbed James Peak from the Moffat tunnel.
The alpine forest was wet and humid during the approach, we hiked
through a thick fog for a couple hours .The weather that day was crazy
and the continental divide had split the clouds to the west and clear
skys to the east.We left the woods and emerged in a glacial bowl below
the cloud ceiling,. We had a good idea of the direction we needed to go,
but were unsure if we would find the summit in the dense coverage.
After ascending a large snow field we poked out of the clouds and had
our first view of the mountains around us. Our route merged with a well
beaten trail and a half hour later we stood
on top. Clouds swirled around us and sporadically opened, revealing the
spine of the Indian Peaks. Breathing in the summit, we passed in and
out of two worlds , it was my 23rd birthday. Our decent took a bit
longer than we had planned. A ton of bushwhacking and weird down
climbing later we were left searching for our next goal.
We had both heard rumors of a Grade 3 route on the north buttress of Mt Royal in summit county that was supposedly 20 pitches.. After talking about it for a few weeks we made our move.
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| Royal Flush |
Leaving Boulder in the morning darkness we sailed smoothly through the state to the town of Frisco. The base of our route was a mere 5 minutes from the car. We harnessed up, double checked and began the climb. I took the first lead and strung the first two pitches into one long wet slabby pitch. After anthony joined me at the ledge it became obvious that it was going to be an adventure. The temps were cold and both of us climbed in a down parka and a wind shell. Gloves were neccecary for the belay and the rocks were partialy wet. In some places the moss and slimy stuff made the climbing feel much more difficlut than it was. We moved up methodicaly pitch by pitch. Increasing our efficiancy with each belay change. We encounteed a plaqu in commemoratin the late Ros van Kanel,(who was a real bad ass) He passed away in a climbing accident.
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| Uber Dude |
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| Anthony, staying positive |
The final pitches snaked up the big rock block seen from the interstate.The Cars on I-70 looked like ants beneath my rock shoes, birds dive bombed all around us. It felt like they were reminding us that this is
their realm. We were both feeling solid that day and ended up climbing the more difficult variations on some of the pitches. I had the privlage to link up the 10a pitch more than a thousand feet off the ground, the exposure was epic.
Tim Toula bolted this route in 2009 .He is a legend in the climbing world and one of my personal heros. Turns out Tim, like Anthony and I, also lived in Flagstaff. He wrote the guide book for
Climbing in Northern Arizona. His book is still the only published info on the area. Back at home in boulder canyon Toula had established a ton of classic climbs, only a few of witch Iv had the privlage to climb
Just as we reached the last bit of roped climbing we spotted an amo box that housed a register for the climbers to sign their names to. It appeared that no other climbers had done the route in the past couple weeks,
This seemed unbeleivable to me considering the quality of the rock and the safety the bolts provided. But it was cold ,we agreed that climbing this route any later in the year would be unpleasant. one final gully of loose bits led us to the top. We basqued in our acomplishment for a moment before gathering the rope, changing into our tennies and husleing down the trail.
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| Adding a Caption |
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| On top |
Anthoy is a competitive trail runner and has placed well in many races including the legendary Immogene pass race. Our paced quickened on the decent into asteady jog.Our climbing gear weight belts clanked jangled loudly.The people we passed on the trail didnt know where we had come from, thinking they were on the only route. We made it back to the car in record time.
Id like to thank my buddy Anthony for being consistent, trustworthy and an all around good sport. Id also like to thank Res Von Kenel and Tim Toula for their vision and insperation
