My Buddy Anthony

Mt, Neva at Sunrise

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.

A great way to spend the day

                

Head in the clouds

2 worlds

23 years old

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.

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.

Uber Dude

 

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.

Adding a Caption

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