When Is A Boulder, Art?

When you move a 21 foot high boulder 106 miles, it becomes art. I wonder if we moved it all the way to Minnesota. And put 15 different boulder problems on it. That would really be artistic. This same guy dug a trench in the Nevada desert a few years ago as another art project.

Red Rock Sisters–Natalie & Killer

Last Thursday in Red Rocks, Natalie and the Killer climbed on their own. This video is in honor of the sisters doing it for themselves.

Get Up Offa That Thing- A Video Review Of Red Rocks

If you don’t get up offa that thing, how are you ever going to get to the top?

Red Rocks, Grocery Carts & Our Hot Tub

The house we rented was called “The Oasis.” The name didn’t make any sense to us until we saw the neighbors’ yards.

Here’s the back yard of our rental house:

Here are what the neighbors’ back yards looked like:

One nice touch, which I haven’t seen elsewhere, was the ready availability of shopping carts. Many of the front yards in our neighborhood had grocery shopping carts parked right on their front gravel pads. That’s a nice feature when you want to spend the night under a bridge.

The biggest attraction of our house was the hot tub. Here we are celebrating its use with our good friend Jimmy.

The Boyz Primping For Climbing; What Happens In Vegas…

What happens in Vegas, doesn’t always stay in Vegas. This video demonstrates why women are always waiting for the men to get ready. It’s tough to be a girl!

Cat In The Hat With Rings

Pete, Eric and I climbed "Cat in the Hat" at Red Rocks on Thursday. And there was a cat in the rocks that ate all our food while we climbed. It was a ring-tailed cat and it took my entire bag of trail mix.

Here’s Eric high on the “Cat”

Here’s Pete placing gear on the first pitch:

 

Pete coming around the long traverse on the 4th pitch:

 

 

Eric, finishing off his lead of the 4th pitch:

 

I only led one pitch on this route and I had a nasty leader fall. It was kind of a wedgie.

 

 

Miriam “Killin’” It On Trad Lead

Miriam, Pete and I went to the Calico Basin today and Miriam did her first trad lead. She killed it.

Here she is belaying Pete up the route she just led. Look at that rope management!

Here are shots of her gear placements.

Way to go Killer!

Red Rocks Day Quatro

40-45 mph gusts all day. Warm temps – 76 – but windy enough to make it hard to climb. Here’s Killer leading a pitch on “Man’s Best Friend.” You can hear the wind and see her clothes flapping.

And here’s a shot of Pete, at the summit of that route, with his hair blown straight up.

To escape the wind, some of us went to the California Crag. And found a rock that looks exactly like a silhouette of the state of Minnesota. Here’s Dawson climbing it and holding onto the MN/Canadian border.

Black Corridor – Red Rocks Part Tres

We climbed in the Black Corridor for most of Monday. Overhanging, big heuco climbs and delicate, balancy face climbs. Dawson and Eric

were on fire. The Killer onsighted several routes as well as Natalie and Anika. While Pete and I wandered around looking at different walls, the others met Wolfgang, a local 72-year-old climber, who showed them some smooth moves racing up several 5.11s at “Sweet Pain Wall.”

 

Red Rocks Day Deux

 

Here is our group hiking to the first day of climbing at Red Rocks. It was horrible weather: 70 degrees, no wind and sunny.

Here are Killer,Pete, Eric and Natalie finishing off a short, fun trad lead near the “Panty Wall.”

 

 

This is “Chris Sharma” Eric leading a very hard 11.D near the “Panty Wall” called “Viagra Falls.” (I call him “Chris” because he flashed this climb so easily. And because he’s wearing Chris Sharma’s shirt. Of course, Eric has not been climbing in three weeks because of his shoulder. So he is “weak.”) Dawson led this climb first, which is hard, not only because of the moves, but because of the fall potential. Dawson, Eric and Pete got to the top.

Here are Anika and Siu-on leading on “Panty Wall.”

Red Rocks

We managed to get seats together on the plane – in the very last row, without a window. So we went a little crazy.

  

Then we went climbing.

And we found a perfect gnome home for Killer.

Vegas Here We Come

The weather they have in Vegas, stays in Vegas. Looks like the weather will be good.

 

Next 5 Days

• Tonight

  Mar 2

  Mainly clearLo 43°

• Tomorrow

  Mar 3

  Warmer with bright sunshine65°Lo 47°

  more

• Sunday

  Mar 4

  Bright sunshine70°Lo 49°

  more

• Monday

  Mar 5

  Mostly sunny, nice and warm74°Lo 50°

  more

Climbing Is Hard

“Climbing is hard” is the message I got from this video of Chris Sharma being interviewed by a “Mindful Living Ambassador.”(Man, I wish I were an ambassador of something. Maybe the “Ambassador of Snark?”)

Letting Go: Chris Sharma and Mark Coleman from Prana Living on Vimeo.

Tower Landing

Outside of Moab, Utah are the famous Fisher Towers. In this video, the parachute jumper flies from a cliff to land on Kingfisher Tower.

“..base jumper Mario Richards leaped off a cliff called Dragon’s Nest outside Moab, sailed to the top of the King Fisher, the biggest of the Fisher Towers, high-fived some waiting friends, and then jumped off the King to land in the valley below. He’s believed to be the first to pull it off, though certainly many have dreamed about it….

If you’re paying attention, you’ll catch a glimpse of Ancient Art, the route climbed by Katie Brown and Alex Honnold in the semi-infamous Citibank commercial.”

King of the mountain from No Fly Zone on Vimeo.

It’s Just Like Climbing A Ladder

“Ice” climbing competition at an Alaskan gym is literally like climbing a ladder. And a tree. It looks like there were a lot of ice tools flying around.