apAdventures

And the final destinations:
Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado
Durango, Colorado

And now on to Fall 2015. Hope we have just as many adventures to report!!

Posted by arr

Our next stop landed us in Rocky Mountain National Park, a place we’ve been a couple of times before. We love these boulders and every time we leave them question why we don’t live closer. This trip, like the few before had us barely scratching the surface of the numerous stellar lines. We scoped out some different areas this time: the Moraine Park Boulders, the Veritas Boulder and some undocumented blocks nearby, and another roadside boulder with the climb Donut Thief on it.

An unnamed climb at the Moraine Park Boulders

Look who joined us up in RMNP! Linda!

Paul giving Veritas v8 a try

Linda on an undocumented face climb sorta near the Veritas Boulder

Same boulder, different line

Paul getting a group spot for this excellent line on an adjacent block

Nature boy Silas with a wild rosehip…we think. He wasn’t allowed to eat it.

Ivan gives himself an applause for sending his own ‘kid’s boulder’

Paul sending what we think is a v6 variation of The Donut Thief v9

RMNP scenery

posted by arr

This October 2nd will mark TEN YEARS of marriage for Paul and I. Although ten years does kind of sound like a long time, to me it feels as though Paul and I have been together much longer. I reason that it’s probably because we’ve done a lot since we first met – a lot of climbing trips, moving out to Arizona together, a house, even more climbing trips, and now kids. We’ve really packed it in over the last decade. So ten years of marriage isn’t so mind-blowing to me right now. What IS mind-blowing to me though is the fact that Silas was born half-way through that ten year duration. That’s the fact I’m trying to come to grips with. My baby Silas whom I can clear as day picture as a newborn in my arms just yesterday is somehow turning five years old this October! Ten years with Paul I get. Five years with Silas I’m still shaking my head over in disbelief. I’m only just starting to understand the phrase “they grow up so fast.”

Paul and I decided this year’s anniversary we needed to do something adventurous. Not only because it was our 10th, but primarily because since we had the kids we haven’t really done much for our anniversaries, other than maybe toast with a glass of wine. I know, LAME! Here’s a recap of anniversaries past:

1st anniversary: Yosemite. We hiked to the top of North Dome and ate our wedding cake on top, with a magnificent view of Half Dome. (After our wedding in upstate NY my mom had saved the topper of our cake in the freezer, then shipped it to us in Arizona in dry ice a year later and we packed it in the cooler and took it with us to Yosemite, then hiked it to the top –a travelin’ little piece of cake that was!).

2nd anniversary: Grand Canyon. Having recently gotten psyched on long-distance trail running and completed Imogene Pass Run in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado for the first time just a few weeks prior, we decided it’d be fun to run across the Grand Canyon and back. It was both fun…AND HARD! And we loved it.

3rd anniversary: Long’s Peak. Hiking/running it, not climbing it. Hiking proved to be almost as epic as climbing might have been though because I got altitude sickness and we had to turn back below the summit. Still a great time though and we redeemed ourselves with some Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP) bouldering the next day.

4th anniversary: Bishop. This anniversary was spent in the midst of our dreamy six month Colorado-Pittsburgh-Rocklands-Marathon New York-Bishop-Yosemite trip. Basically the entire six months was a big anniversary celebration that year. 

5th anniversary: Mt. Lemmon hike two weeks prior to Silas’ grand arrival. I was ready to pop! I remember doing a short little hike and then eating a cookie at the Cookie Cabin that I immediately went and upchucked in their bathroom.

6th anniversary: Can’t remember. My webposts around this time don’t even give me a clue so chances are we did the whole “cheers with a glass of wine” deal.

7th anniversary: I was pregnant in my first trimester with Ivan. If I had to guess I was probably vomiting most of that day. (Pregnancy was not good to me with either child).
8th anniversary: These were sad times as Morgie had passed away. ‘Nuff said about that.

9th anniversary: Feeling that we owed it to ourselves to do something (anything!) for our anniversary that year we arranged for our dear friend Linda to babysit the kids while we went out on the town. Unfortunately Linda fell ill and had to cancel last minute. So we instead gobbled down the homemade mac & cheese I had made special for the kids and the four of us were all in bed by 8pm.

So in classic apAdventures-style, we’re gonna go big this year. For our 10 years of blissful marriage we’re going to boulder at 10 blissful bouldering locations throughout Arizona, Utah and Colorado over the course of 17 days. Stay tuned. We hope to be able to do some posts along the way.

posted by ARR

We’re up here in RMNP again. This time for a 3 day onslaught. Yesterday climbing, today resting, tomorrow climbing.

Today’s rest day included a hike and chess. We hiked the Flat Top Mountain trail (towards Flat Top mountain). Got a late start (of course, cause it’s a rest day, duh!) so had to deal with the afternoon thunderstorms…which ended up turning us around before the summit. Well, that and the 2+ feet of snow up there. Regardless, we got a great vista of Dream Lake from above and Chaos Canyon from afar – awesome perspective compared to being right on top of these areas when bouldering.

The chess portion of the day was awesome as well – cause it was my first time ever playing!! Woohoo, this trip is educational! I kicked Paul’s butt. Ok, just kidding. I got slaughtered, haha

Campsite 102 at Moraine Park, RMNP

View of Bierstadt Lake from Flat Top Mountain Trail, RMNP

View of Longs Peak from Flat Top Mountain Trail at the Dream Lake vista, RMNP
Bear Lake, RMNP

posted by arr from the Coffee on the Rocks coffee shop in Estes Park, CO

Joe bought a long board last week. And on our way down into Nederland (cutsey little hippie town in the mountains above Boulder), he decided to try it out for the first time. Steep mountain roads + first time long boardin’ = yikes! But as we all know, Joe is badass in just about everything he attempts. He cruised into Ned like a mountain-boy native.

Later on that evening, Holly and Joe held a little party at their place with us, Jed and Rachel from upstairs, Joe’s brother Mike and girlfriend Emily, and THE one and only….Courtney Phillips. Courtney, our dear friend whom now is a Salt Lake local, was in Boulder for the weekend visiting friends. After numerous failed-attempt, bad reception cell phone calls, we finally got a hold of that boy and got his butt up here to party with us. We haven’t seen Courtney since last spring in Fontainebleau, France. So needless to say, we all had a great time….boozin’ up and catchin’ up. Whiskey tastes so much yummier up here in the mountains.

Joe cruisin’ into Ned on his new mountain board

Holly rockin’ a sun dress on Joe’s new mountain board

posted by arr

We thought two rest days would be plenty of time to recover and come back to RMNP and crush our harder problems. Well, we thought wrong. When we attempted to warm up yesterday it was clear, we need a lot more rest.

Our initial attack on the park throughout the week left us dead tired. On one of the climbing days last week I got carried away trying to send Tommy’s Arete v8 (at Emerald Lake). Its style is very different from what April and I are used to. It is a sloping arete requiring compression and technical moves. After climbing primarily on steep crimps this one took a toll on my body. On my first go from the bottom I climbed all the way up, past the hardest moves and then got stuck. I should have tried the last few moves but I was too excited. I dropped off, worked the moves and was sure I’d send next go. About 20 tries later I still didn’t celebrate the send. I did however dial every little perfection out of the climb because each attempt left me more and more tired, unable to reach my high point. After squeezing the arete for a long long time I had to call it quits. I was so tired that evening I almost fell asleep cooking dinner and afterwards I could barely lift my arm to brush my teeth.

Paul on Tommy’s Arete v8

April was battling Real Large v9 during the time I sessioned Tommy’s Arete. She was trying to believe that one of the crux moves was possible for her (it certainly looked possible based on how incredibly close she was). April kept falling short of the good portion of the hold trying to figure a way to get about another inch or so of distance. She and I couldn’t think of any other way to complete the move. Her final decision was to put that climb on hold for the day and try the sit start to The Kind v6.

April on The Kind – Sit v6

Yesterday we decided it is definitely time to rest. We were expecting to destroy our well rehearsed climbs but they still felt hard. We managed to send but we’ll have to wait a few days to get back to our main projects.

posted by pjv

On a 29 degree afternoon back in October of last year April, myself and Joe set out on a journey to find the Emerald lake boulders. The freezing temperatures didn’t phase us at first. We eagerly had our gear packed and were heading up up up on the trail. The trail leaves the Bear Lake parking lot at an elevation of 9475ft and eventually reaches Emerald Lake at around 10,080ft. For the fact that the overall elevation gain is 605ft you better be psyched from the beginning because this area is not for the roadside bouldering fans. This area is for the climber who seeks adventure, wants to experience the endless beauty of RMNP, and who is in search of hidden super classic boulders.

Having said that, the hike is actually the best form of warming up and getting the blood flowing. By the time we found the main boulder, called The Kind boulder, we were ready to go. Well…at least for the first 5 minutes. Joe checked his watch (which included a thermometer) and said, “The temperature is dropping. I’m reading 32….(a half hour later)…uh…now it’s 29.”

Our “warm up” consisted of one climb called The Girlfriend Problem. We quickly moved to the ultra classic The Kind v5. After one go we all felt the effects of the frigid cold. We were quickly loosing the feeling in our fingers and toes but still had some positive energy to keep trying The Kind. Now that I think about it I probably sucked all that positive energy from Joe and April because I was the only one who sent. I raved about how the climb was one of the best v5s I had ever done. “Better than Dragonfly at Hueco!” They looked at me somewhat pissed and said, “dude, if it was just a little bit warmer and we could feel our fingers we would definitely send.” I agreed! They were both so close.

Well, now for revenge. Today April and I headed back to The Kind boulder and in between a couple quick rain showers April topped out and said, “Yep, that climb is one of the best v5s ever.

Better than Hueco’s Dragonfly? That’s a pretty darn strong statement. I knew Dragonfly was April’s ultimate favorite. But, she agreed. The Kind is super classic.

April on The Kind v5 at Emerald Lake, RMNP

posted by pjv from The Kind Coffee shop in Estes Park, CO

After a lot of driving on Saturday we finally made it to our first destination, Colorado! April’s sister Holly and her boyfriend Joe have welcomed us into their mountain home and have let us set up camp in their driveway…

On Sunday morning we woke, still tired from all the driving but without hesitation, packed up, drove up to Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP) and made the trek up to Emerald Lake.

Our plan was to hike up to Chaos Canyon and check out a couple climbs we scoped out last October (on our anniversary trip to RMNP). Before we knew it we were at “The Kind” boulder right below Emerald Lake and realized we missed the fork which leads higher up towards Chaos Canyon. Usually it isn’t hard to miss but this year we’ve heard RMNP has received a lot more snow than usual, making trail finding a little more tricky. So we settled on some Emerald Lake bouldering.

Paul on Real Large V9 at Emerald Lake

April on an unknown climb at Emerald Lake

posted by pjv from Joe and Holly’s apartment in the mountains

It’s healthy to have dreams. It’s even healthier to turn one of those dreams into reality. A colleague once told me that he prefers to have hundreds, thousands! of dreams. Because with thousands of dreams, there’s a much greater probability that he can turn at least one into reality. I like this philosophy.

So here WE go. Paul and I are about to live a dream. A dream that we’ve discussed numerous times amongst ourselves, loved ones, and friends. A dream that has gone through many iterations, revisions and re-writes. We’ve been talking the talk about this “big climbing road trip” for sooooo long that I’m seriously having a lot of trouble this week differentiating between the reality and the dream. Is this for real?! Are we really pulling this off? Am I……dreaming?

And then I look at the van parked out front, the vehicle which is about to be our little home-away-from home for a while. And I see how nicely and neatly its packed. Packed with all the material items that we will be living off of over the next 6 months. I’m surprised actually, at how much room we still have in there. Either the van is way more space-efficient than I thought, or we’ve seriously forgotten some major stuff. I realize how little I care about this right now. As long as the crashpads, climbing shoes, and at least a tad of chalk are in there, we’ll make due. Oh yeah – and our plane tickets and passports. Can’t forget those.

Paul tried to be a little creative in giving hints on this site of our potential destinations. If you’re a climber, you’ve already got it figured out. If you’re not, then I am jittering with excitement to announce that the final cut of our “big climbing roadtrip” dream will include the following destinations. <drum roll please>

1. Rocky Mountain National Park (and surrounding areas), Colorado
2. Rocklands, South Africa
3. Bishop, California

Yep. That’s the plan man. Thrown in amongst these areas will also be plenty of time spent at home with the fam’s in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Marathon, New York.

So without further ado, I now must get back to the packing so we can hit the road….TODAY. Stay tuned on the site. You’re about to see a lot more action.

posted by arr from home in Tucson

I can’t stop looking at this amazing photo, wondering what it will be like to climb in this foreign land, experiencing what may be the world’s most incredible bouldering mecca. It’s almost time people. Time for the ultimate adventure…

Photo by Keith Ladzinski