Back track the timeline a bit. I rolled in to Casa de Wankster in Denver, Colorado and stayed for a spell. We climbed one day in Clear Creek Canyon which is a place I haven't climbed before. I did a couple cool routes and got to sample the infamous New River wall. I kept telling myself, "Whatever you do, don't forget to unclip the purple draw! Or was it the green draw?...dammit!!!" I survived with ZERO rope drag and the climbing was a lot of fun. I even got to throw down an orange box flizash on a 5.12 dizog which was surprising and a little confidence booster. I thought I was gonna be mega weak but instead I was just marginally weak.
I wanted to stay at Casa de Wankster for a while longer but his girlfriend is this super high-strung Latin chica. She's always like "Buenas dias, ju wanna taco, taco." Taco flavored kisses are great and all but Hennifer lays on the Mexican thing really thick. It's ALWAYS margarita time and my liver was killing me so I blasted to Rifle to meet up with Eddie 'Jumbo Hoss' Avallone and his brand new fiance, Rachel 'Twin Cannons' Melville.
I also happened to run into some old Fayetteville buddies, John and Laura, for an impromptu WV reunion. With the WV crew around around we got some good climbing days in. I got to do some classics in Rifle I hadn't done before like Anti-Phil and Squeel to Stihl. Really good.
From left: John and Lilah, Laura and Evy, Rachel, Eddie and Apollo.
After they left, I was on my own and had some solo time on my hands. Dave Pegg showed me his top-secret new crag that he is telling everyone about and desperately trying to get them to come to. Hogwarts is pretty rad. I bolted and sent a nice new rig at the top of the hill called Death Eaters (5.13b). I don't know anything about Harry Potter, which is the theme of the crag, so Dave had to help me with the name. It's a pretty damn cool route. It starts with a little 5.12b section down low and some moderate face climbing to gain a chossy scoop where it breaks right off of Dave's route, Order of the Phoenix (5.12+). After the scoop it stays on you for about 6 or 7 bolts of dynamic, powerful movement on perfect rock. I was pretty stoked to get to add a new route to this cliff. In the future, the area might have 100 routes and may even be slightly popular? It'll never be Rifle but in my opinion the climbing is better...maybe not better but different, which is nice if you're burned out on blocky thuggery.
Master P finishing up the equipping of Order of the Phoenix 5.12+ (left line). The right line is Death Eaters 5.13b. Both routes are about 35 meters and about 1/3rd of the length is below the bottom of the photo.
Dave hooked me up with a bunch of bolts and hangers and I was all set to keep bolting at Hogwizzles but it started getting hot. Heat is my arch enemy. It is stronger and more powerful than I will ever be. I will always run rather than fight it.
Blammo, here I am in Ten Sleep. It's still cool enough here to climb in the cave and I'm getting the workout I was hoping to get from Rifle. I am wrecked up! It's possible that the cave is even more physical and tiring than Rifle which would make it the most body-wrecking crag I've ever been to. One pitch feels like going three rounds in the UFC...without the head trauma. Soon enough though it will be heating up here as well and we'll head further up into the mountains to climb at Ten Sleezy proper.
Coal train will be here in about 10 days! I'm psyched to see the wife-piece! So is bebe chien who made her first kill the other day. She chased down a big marmot and grabbed it in her jaws and shook it to death in like 3 seconds. It was an amazing display of dog prowess. So proud of my little hunter.
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