July 19, 2025
Flew last night to Denver
This morning met up with Wes at 5 AM, we drove to the Lumpy Ridge trailhead and hiked in to The Book area.
J-Crack (5.9+) - I led the first pitch. I definitely felt a bit nervous even on this easy climbing as it was my first time back on real rock since breaking my face three weeks before while trail running. P2 moved up only a short distance before an exciting traverse left to the base of the eponymous crack. Wes led this pitch, and with style. The crack is sustained and insecure. It is slightly less than vertical, so my arms didn't get too pumped, but the flaring nature of the jams meant that the entire thing felt rather insecure. My feet and ankles got tired quickly from the endless jams. Wes also led the headwall third pitch, which we both ascended in aid style by pulling on a few cams and nuts. I did The Cave Exit (5.7+) for pitch four and it nearly broke me, as my pack got stuck below a draw clipped to the piton there, preventing me from standing up to clear the roof. I managed to get a high enough foot that I could pull myself around and finally stand up.
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| On top of J-Crack |
July 20, 2025
Got up at 2:15 AM, met Wes at 3:00 AM and we drove to Rocky Mountain National Park. We were in the parking lot and hiking out by 4:30 AM and at the base of Better Than Love (5.8) by 5:45 AM. Long story short, we climbed from here to the top of Hallett Peak, but I don't think either of us is quite sure the route we took. After climbing what we thought were the first two pitches, Wes reached a wide sloping ledge, built a belay, and we discussed our options. Somehow we had ended up on the first buttress at this point instead of the second. We decided to traverse right across easy terrain back onto the second buttress to try to get ourselves back on route. From here I led up through what was probably the highlight of the day, an enjoyable left-facing dihedral for a ways followed by a right-facing dihedral. These two corners used up most of the rope. Wes joined me and led up through the rest of the right-facing corner, then traversed left and moved up on much easier ground. From here I led the final pitches of Love Route (5.9) to the top. This was a bunch of chossy rock protected by an assortment of old pitons and poor cam placements leading to a juggy roof. After pulling the roof, the climbing gets much easier, and I only placed a few pieces on the way from here to the summit.
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| Sunrise from the base of Hallett Peak |
The descent was slow. After doing the two rappels, I again was nervous about all the scree in the path/gully back to the base. I am definitely feeling gunshy about slipping on pebble-covered rocks after my bad experience slipping on wet rocks three weeks ago, and this means that I'm slowing down, keeping my center of gravity low, and reaching for handholds in places where I might not have done so before.
July 21, 2025
We had a leisurely morning before doing some sport climbing at Upper Dream Canyon. We started at the Oceanic Wall.
The Deep (5.11c) - I led this. It has a tricky start. I got my hands high and then needed to smear and high step. In the middle, I hung on a quickdraw at the crux, then did the move by pulling on two very small, very sharp crimps with no chalk on them (there were also slopey crimpers with chalk nearby, but I chose not to use these). The feet were very insecure tiny pebbles and smears. Above the crux the character of the climb changes significantly, becoming far easier but also more run out.
Sargasso Sea (5.12a) - Toprope. I had to pull on the first piece to clear the first crux. Then the climbing was straightforward until another crux halfway up. Here I had to pull on gear again to reach a side-pull which allowed me to do the move. The final crux was doable but very height-dependent; it required reaching way above my head while standing on a small pebble to reach a semi jug and smear up from there to the top.
In Your Dreams (5.11a) - On lead. Steady 5.10 moves most of the way. I'm not really sure where the crux was for me, but there was a place where I did have to think a good bit: near the middle of the climb there is a move off a big rail that then traverses right to small holds from which you reach high to a jug. This was delicate and balancey.
We then moved uphill to the next crag, the Dream Dome.
Tales of Power (first pitch) (5.11b) - We climbed the first pitch of this route but rappelled from here, forgoing the hard slab of the second pitch. Wes led this, while I merely followed on toprope. It consists of solid climbing up a slab, through a roof, and into a wide stemming sequence. At the top of the stem box nightmare (Wes's description) I was able to stem just a few inches higher and get my right foot on the face in front of me, not directly on the flat slab, but rather where there was a small indentation/foothold. From here it was possible, just barely, to throw up over the left wall for some semi-jugs to pull the final move.
July 22, 2025
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