We Should go here July 4th!

But alas traditional holiday gatherings dominate the day. Who's up for Red Wing on sunday? But we can dream about this classic climb in Colorado.

http://climbing.about.com/od/climbcolorado/a/OttosRoute.htm

Le Rocher! ou et vous?

Donde esta A1, A-Primo? The craggy peaks of Minnesota are just not the same with out him. I thought I saw him once. This guy in the picture was following me through the woods at Willow River. He was making kissy noises and saying "get over here!" Now as you know, I usually respond to such attention but this guy kinda creeped me out. Now that I examine this photo more closely. I think it was Aaron! Do you think so?

Attention Colorado Crew!

Please use your creative writing skills to provide detailed descriptions of the fun climbs that we will do at Rocky Mountain National Park. The goal is to coax the WR Crew to come on out the week of August 10. Airfare is reasonable and we have a campsite booked for the week. I even have one of my fleet of fine automobiles with a chauffeur on site. Levi said the approach to Jurassic Park is murder...maybe there are dinosaurs!

Pleasant and Powerful Afternoon!

There might have been some relaxing on my part, after my big whipper the other day, but I was the only one. Everyone climbed BF Bugs to see what the BF deal was. They made light work of it as well as a Pleasant Summers Absence. Mel lead it for the first time. The Richard returned to his nemesis, Geriatric Sex Maniacs from Mars, WoW. What a great climb! THAT PROJECT IS FINISHED! Mike cleaned it up for him, out of respect I think. Then QD pratically ran up Jenna's Face. Jenna didn't even know what happened! Way to Go Quick Draw!
I also need to address someone's Arachnophobia. It's not so much that she is afraid of them, it's that she fears that their smooshed bodies affect her grip on the holds. Thereby impacting the safety of her belayer. Well, Mel and I left, but the boys were still climbing strong at the end of this pleasant summer day. There some buzz about climbing Friday Morning prior to Independance Day festivities. Who is interested? How about Saturday. Comment away!

Pleasant Summer Day

Cool breeze, no sun, pleasant temperature on Wednesday at Red Wing.

 

Here's Mike flashing "Pleasant Summer Absence." (He would've had an onsight except he overheard beta for this climb.)

 

 

 

 

 

Here's Lisa leading on Mel-lo's new rope. It's blue and it's nice.

Carpe Diem!

It's beautiful and it's Wednesday! Mel-lo has a new rope and quick draws. I bet they are purty! See you all at Red Wing at noon, eh?

I Think These Express My Thoughts Precisely

 I do like your smile but don't put your shoes on my face.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And next time you drop something outside, remember this:

Dung beetles should have the right of way. They are the sanitary engineers of the animal kingdom.

Muddy Buddy!

Well, I'm a little bit older and a lot more bolder than I used to be!

I signed up to do this race with my buddy from college in Boulder, Aug 17.
muddybuddy It just turned out I would be there, on race day, with my friend that said she would do it. Coincidence? I think not! It has to be done.
I'll be climbing in Estes Park Aug 10- 16. Meet me for some climbing with my local guides, the WR Colorado Crew. Then come to Boulder, run the race or cheer on Team BFF Amen!

Red Wing Sunday

Big WR turnout on Sunday. Great weather with low humidity and few bugs. Lisa started out leading "Cardiac Standstill" which is a tough climb - hard to clip and with a blank and slippery face. Aaron had 3 new onsights, Rackie and John had some new leads for them and I struggled part way up "Eggs and Darts" a new climb for me. Lisa tried running out her lead by skipping a bolt on "B.F. Bugs" and took an amazingly long fall. (It took so much time, I got out one of my books and reviewed the chapter on how to catch a big fall.)  And she dusted herself off and finished the lead. Way to be.

 

She's definitely not a gay baby . 

 

We saw Mike, who gave us the up-nod greeting and then never spoke to us again.

Beautiful day at RW

Finally I beat the A team to blogging about today.
Weather was perfect and the only crowd encountered was the WR-A team. Their a nice group. They saved my warm for me. Not sure what the A team did but Sunbeam got to start out on the sharp end to get her day rev'd up (unlike what I let her do)........
The weather was perfect and only crowd was the WR group and a number of families.
A great kick off to the 4th week.
Send on!

Report from WR Team Colorado! -Finally.

Well, friday mike, jake, ryan and I set off to the lower twin owls, a very popular climbing spot 5 minutes from me. We did our two mile aproach to get to the bottom of lower organ pipes. Mike trad led up to the top of the pitch while I collected gear on my way up. On the top of the "first pitch" We figured out that it was the top of the second pitch. Which makes sense because it was around a 200 foot pitch. The second pitch was around 20 feet where we saw jake and ryans heads peak over because they did the walk up around. At the top of that was a large platform which stood the ultra classic "wolfs tooth" Mike got up one clip and figured that the guide book was right when it said you need a rack up to a 4 friend cam. Which we did not have. We will climb it someday though! Mom and emily are coming out august 11-17th to estes park. Warped tour is tomorow at mile high and I am pumped. Seeyou guys!

Help This Guy Raise Funds for His Trips

Just like Lisa, Yvon Chouinard (founder of Patagonia) has a secret climbing spot. And he says in this video "..to me that's the answer to a lot of the world's problems, to get away from this high technology, complex world and get back to a simple lifestyle."

Let's help him raise funds to do that by buying more of his expensive Patagonia brand things. (Of course, it's possible we'd have more money to travel, if we didn't spend so much on the stuff he's selling.)

Maybe the Best Reason to Get Married

"After Tracy and I got married, we realized our combined racks gave us close to 80 cams."

OK, there might be other good reasons for marriage, but this is a real doozy of one.

"There's two kinds of climbing, first ascents and everything else."

That quote is in this article about one of the pioneer rock climbers in the US. As well as:

"Carter refuses to accept many modern climbing practices.  He climbs with a simple rope around his waist instead of a harness. He won't use chalk to improve his grip."

 

 

 

 

Seems to me it would be a lot easier for us to do first ascents if that guy hadn't hogged so many himself.

Climbing at Red Wing after Saturday morning crowd, anyone?

I'm hoping to go to Red Wing tomorrow afternoon after the morning crowd, if it doesn't rain. Meeting in St Paul at my house around 2.30 or 3.00 and heading down. Anyone want to come or meet there?