apAdventures

Not much to report in terms of climbing now that we’re in Pittsburgh but there is plenty of fun to be had. Last night we went to PNC park and saw the Pittsburgh Pirates play the Houston Astros. It was a blast even though we only got to see about 4 innings before a huge rain storm blew in. We waited around for a little and then gave up. The game actually continued some time near 11PM and finished after 1AM. The Pirates made a come back and won 4 to 3. Way to go bucs.

Normal Pittsburgh skies. Who would have thought it would rain?

A few dark clouds blew in

Then the heavy rain started

Game delayed

Time to evacuate

posted by pjv

“What’s the furthest you’ve ever hiked for bouldering?”

My father asked me this question last week. And last week I responded with a reference to a heinous approach in Joshua Tree, California to an area called The Underground. If my memory serves me correctly, I think I remember this approach taking about an hour, with about 1000 feet of elevation gain, and quite a bit of scrambling. Last week, this was my answer.

This week however, I have a new answer. Mt. Evans baby. A new record has been set for Paul and I. THIS is the furthest we’ve ever hiked for bouldering. Our heinous approach record (for bouldering) has been re-established not only by distance, but more importantly: oxygen-deprived elevation. We visited both Area A and Area D of Mt. Evans, and sheesh….my legs are still sore!

Area A took us about 1.5 hours to hike into, around 3-4 miles I think, topping out somewhere around 11,000 feet. The boulders were, as promised, amazing and beautiful and remote. The Dali Wall is probably the sweetest 45 we’ve ever laid our tips on. Area D on the other hand, is waaaay the heck up there. Instead of hiking up to the boulders, like Area A, you set off from a trailhead at 13,100 feet and hike down to the boulders at 11,750 feet. The trail isn’t all that long, just steep! And dang, it sure makes a difference having to hike up at the end of a climbing day, versus getting rewarded with a hike down. Area D holds the ultimate MEGA classic The Nothing v8.

I would guess (or secretly hope, actually) that most boulderers would write these areas off as “too far”, “too much work”, or “too tiring.” I say the word ‘guess’, because it has been our experience that most boulderers are lazy, haha. Yeah, I’m talkin’ to YOU. I say the word ‘hope’ though, because I’d love for these remote boulders to remain just that, remote….quiet…..peaceful. While we were up there, we saw just one other climber. Quite a special treat for these two anti-social climbers.

Mt. Evans marks the end of this Colorado portion of the trip for Paul and I. Having spent the majority of our time up in RMNP, we only had a couple of days at Evans. I’m tempted to say we regret not spending more time at Evans because it turned out to be soooo soooo good. But I can’t say we regret anything at all. RMNP was awesome. And, Evans is awesome too. And, well….pretty much all Colorado rock in general is awesome. And for this reason, as we trek across the state of Kansas towards Pittsburgh, Sportsmobile humming along, Paul and I entertain the thought of making a quick stop at Evans, later on in this 6 month adventure, after our muscles have been honed in Rocklands, South Africa. Ooooo, the daydreams…..of blasting out that 1.5 hour hike, lacing up our rock shoes under the Dali Wall, and climbing that Colorado granite face to its top.

Mt. Evans, Colorado, Area A

Paul on the problem The Dali v9 on the Dali Wall, Area A

Paul on No More Greener Grass v12, The Dali Wall

Paul at the top of Mt. Evans

Goats at the top of Mt. Evans

Area D

Unknown name/rating, Area D

Unknown name/rating, Area D

The Nothing v8, Area D

Area D

Morgan

posted by arr from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Here is a little tease. Mt. Evans bouldering is awesome!

Paul: unknown name/rating

Holly sending a super fun climb: unknown name/rating

Paul sending The Dali v9

posted by pjv

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