August Rocky Mountain National Park and Clear Creek with Nick

 

Kenton wishing there was more oxygen halfway up Magic in the Middle on Zowie

August 13, 2022

Climbed Zowie in Rocky Mountain National Park with Nick. We were in the Park by 4:45 AM. Approach was just under 5 miles from the Bear Lake parking area. Weather was so hot that I was on fire in my long-sleeve shirt, t-shirt, and pants. 1.5 liters of water were definitely not enough even for just the morning, and I spent a good part of the day dehydrated. The altitude also seemed to make me lighter in the head and give me headache more than it has done on previous excursions to the Park, perhaps also because of the heat. This was such a huge contrast with my experience of feeling frozen on previous trips! I would have stripped to just my t-shirt but had not applied sunscreen to my arms and feared the sunburn that would result.

We climbed Magic in the Middle (5.9). This was a shorter climb than I had done in the past, and I was perfectly happy to finish only around 12,000 feet instead of even higher. Nick led the first pitch, and I led the rest, linking pitch four with pitch five and pitch six with pitch seven. There were several runout slabby sections, but the climbing was chill enough that I wasn't too concerned about it. The route-finding was also pretty straightforward. My favorite sections were the traverse from the corner onto the arete in pitch two, and much of pitch seven which felt more technical than much of the rest of the climb.

August 14, 2022

Climbed a few sport routes in Clear Creek Canyon. The day was cut short because of an impending thunderstorm.

Grizabella (5.7) - warmup

MacCavity (5.9+) - one hard move getting over mini roof, got through it with a high left foot

Crystal Cat (5.9+) - crux near the top felt very difficult, much harder than 5.9. I was really splayed out with a high foot and smearing with fingers on small edges

Jellicle Cats (5.10a/b) - Felt pretty hard for 10a/b, and had more hard moves than Crystal Cat. This slabby stuff was really pushing my abilities! But none of the moves felt as hard as the Crystal Cat crux.