This week, a good friend was passing through the front range on his way to the east coast, and so we had to take him out for some mild spring climbing! For it's convenience to the city, we brought him to the scenic and easy-to-access Pike National Forest. The Colorado Trail meanders through this region, with mountain bikers and hikers hitting it's dirt regularly. Spending time out here it is easy to feel totally at peace and engaged with nature, especially when you only have a day trip to get away.
The fun part about climbing in an undeveloped area, is you get to explore around and find rock that inspires and excites you directly! The rock in this region is not for our tender-padded friends. A rose-quartz heavy granite with a pronounced crystal structure..... be careful not to slip!
The next route they eye-balled started by climbing out of this narrow, ~20" wide crevice, and topping out with a sweet view.
Dab not (V3) FA: Connor Boyd
Great job guys!
This little guy wasn't too difficult to top out, but with aesthetics like that, they couldn't resist climbing it.
Ashes to Ashes (V0) FA: Jakob Montoya
You never know what you're going to find in the forest sometimes.....
Next climb: a good old fashioned crack.
The day had been cloudy mostly because of some of the fires that have been going on in the Boulder area. We didn't mind the cloud cover, but when that sun did pop out, it was brilliant how it just grazed across the treetops and lit everything up!
Fist of Legend (V1+) FA: Jakob Montoya
After a good afternoon of bouldering, it was time to relieve the hands of their torture and enjoy the colorful sunset from our perch in the boulders. As unfortunate as it is to have forest fires burning nearby, that smoke sure did make for a colorful sky!
Gear used on this excursion:
Canon 5DMIII
Canon 85mm 1.2, Canon 16-35mm 2.8, Canon 180mm Macro
Dynalite Uni 400 and Jackrabbit battery pack
Pocketwizard Transmitters
40 degree honeycomb grid
Dynalite umbrella