Well, springtime finally seems to be here! With the avalanche conditions still not quite within our comfort level (we cancelled our annual Mt. Sopris ski mountaineering trip because of not so ideal snow conditions), we continue to hit the rock climbing hard. Several fellow co-workers joined the dogs & I for an afternoon in the sun down at Milk Creek in Wolcott, my new favorite local climbing crag. It has lots of varied crack climbs to practice our desert traditional climbing as well as a few really hard sport routes. A few pics from Friday:
Mike leading a nice 5.7 trad route
Nicki on her 1st rock climb ever with me 40′ above her finishing off one of my favorite 5.9 trad leads
Me coming over to give Nicki a little rock climbing instruction
Me trying to give Nicki ideas on where to move her feet and hands – she did so well!
Eric Aden on his 1st 5.8 dihedral layback crack climb
Eric on the 5.8 dihedral (left) while Zac loads up for the 5.9 layback crack (right)
Zac laying back the really cool 5.9 crack
Kristine, the dogs, & myself then packed up the car Saturday afternoon and headed west for some warm desert sun, car camping, and rock climbing. We met our friends Sarah & Keith Webber as well as Lauren & Steve at the Rabbit Valley free car-camping area just two miles from the Colorado/Utah state line. It was a fun night of campfires, horseshoes, burritos, s’mores, and stories. Kristine & I got up around 6am, made breakfast, left the dogs with Sarah & Keith to sleep in for a few more hours, and drove to Colorado National Monument with the intent of climbing the historic Otto’s Route up Independence Monument. I had climbed this route last November with my good friend Jesse Hill and absolutely loved it! Check out my first climb & description of Otto’s Route up Independence Monument here. I knew Kristine would feel the same way and she wanted to climb it. In four fairly short pitches, except for the 140′ Pitch 1, you can stand on the summit of this awesome desert tower. There are two cruxes in most people’s opinion: the 5.8+ off-width chimney of Pitch 2 and the final few 5.9- mantle moves of the final Pitch 4. Kristine did awesome on these cruxes. She climbed the cruxes clean never needing to rest on the rope. Add to the fact that we were the only climbers on the tower all day long and it was a really good day. I really enjoy leading this route and we brought along a second 60m rope for the rappel down that I trailed behind me on lead. I think we began hiking the 2.5 miles to the base of the tower around 8am, summitted the tower around 11:30am, and were back at the car after a hot hike out around 2pm. The two double rope rappels down the tower are exhilerating for sure. I know we are both really looking forward to more climbing in Colorado National Monument in the future as towers such as the Kissing Couple and the numerous single pitch crack climbs are hard to resist. Pics from our climb up Independence Monument are as follows:
At the Monument Canyon trailhead
Kristine & Independence Monument on the hike to the base of the tower
Me leading the 5.8+ Pitch 2 of Otto’s Route up the obvious off-width chimney
Kristine in the Time Tunnel to the base of Pitch 3
Me leading the fun 5.7 Pitch 3
Me about to pull the crux 5.9- moves on the final Pitch 4
On top of Pitch 4
Kristine on top of Independence Monument after climbing the historical Otto’s Route
A gorgeous day to be on top of a desert tower
The Chalks on the summit of Independence Monument
Summit panorama #1
Summit panorama #2
A really fun climb with Kristine, which she thoroughly enjoyed
Me on the first double rope rappel off the summit down to the Time Tunnel
Kristine on the second double rope rappel to the ground
Me trying hard to pull the ropes through to the ground after the rappel – quite the arm workout!
Independence Monument
Parting shot before the hot hike out
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