Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Utah-Maple Canyon

We headed down to Maple Canyon which is about 90 miles south of SLC.

P9100644

We drove down late on Friday night and found a campsite.

P9100632

I wanted to do some the multipitch climbs and we headed up the Amory to get on Slamfire 5.9 sport 4 pitches.

P9100634

We did Slamfire as 2 pitches and went back for another route on the Armory.

P9100635

 

P9100636

Enjoying the views of Maple Canyon.

P9100638P9100642

The summit shot.

Monday, October 24, 2011

SLC-Devil’s Castle

We headed back up Little Cottonwood Canyon

P9040581

We parked and headed in on the approach.

P9040582

Views of Devil’s Castle.

P9040585P9040587

We made it across the little snow field at the base and I took the first lead which was a little exciting and the rock was chossier than we were expecting but was over all a pretty good pitch.

P9040590

The crux pitch was next and Anja wasn’t excited about the rock quality so I kept leading.

P9040592

I got it done and enjoying the day.

P9040593

Nice views.

P9040598

It was then into the 5.8 pitch followed by what we did as 2 pitches of 5.4.

P9040600

On the second 5.4 pitch.

P9040603

Then we made the last 5.10 pitch and I was up again.

P9040607

It was a little exciting to a roof.

P9040608

Then it got going with a 4th class pitch to a huge ledge.  From the ledge there were lots of choices to end but we took the 5.9 direct finish with a little adventure 5.7 at the end.

P9040610

Anja found some cool formations at the top.

P9040620

On the top ridge line.

P9040617

Good day on top!  The descent was about 1.5 hour hike down and we were home by 7 pm.  Pretty cool day to get out so quick into such an alpine setting.

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

SLC-Hell Gate

We’d made it down to SLC and rented a new car in SLC.  It was cheaper to get a one way rental and then a local rental.

P8200542

We headed to Hell Gate up Little Cottonwood Canyon for some sport climbing.

P8200545

The first routes we picked were really chossy and not great.

P8200546

While there we ran into one of our new roommate’s Jake.  Go figure we know like a dozen people in SLC and we met one out climbing. 

P8200554

Jake’s climbing partner recommended an arĂȘte route on the right which was great.

P8200567

It even had a little extension at the top.

P8200570

Anja squeezed one more climb in and found this nice 10b.

P8200573

Jake was up climbing next to us.

P8200571

Weather was threatening so we called it a day.

Monday, October 17, 2011

Wind Rivers Fail

We’d gone to Salt Lake for some interviews and had a window of free time so we headed to the Wind Rivers to go into Deep Lake.

P8190537

We headed in the long dirt road to the Big Sandy Trailhead.  On the last 4 miles of rough dirt road I heard a clunking sound and it had also out of character had the GEN light flicker.  I crawled under the car and the front passenger wheel was moving around.  I couldn’t see anything broken but our trip was clearly over as I had an interview on Monday and it was Thursday night.

P8190540

Friday morning the van drove just fine out to Rock Spring.  We luckily found a mechanic to look at it and he told us the van just had a loose bolt and if we took it to an alignment shop they would take care of it.  They pulled the van out and parked it and left it running when I jumped in the van was dead and would not restart.  I screwed around with the van but nothing worked and we turned it over to the pros.  The biggest indicator I should have seen was the engine code reader I had wouldn’t register.

P8300577

The van computer was fired and would take a week to get.  We found a SUV rental one way to Salt Lake and headed down to SLC.  We didn’t have the van to crash in so we called up our friends George and Denise to see if they had a room we could rent and we crashed with them.  A week later I walked down to catch the SLC TRAX to downtown and caught greyhound to Rock Springs and then walked to the mechanic.  The van ran fine back and everything was back rolling.

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Boulder-Bitty Buttress and Young and the Rackless

We headed up to Bitty Buttress to the right of the Blob in Boulder Canyon.

P8040503

P8040454

P8040463

Bitty Buttress is 5.9 3 pitches.  It’s a steep start with a little tough gear off the deck but on good holds.

P8040464

P8040469

Up near the top of the first pitch is a fairly committing slabby move above your last piece.

P8040471

The belay ledge was awesome for the first pitch.

P8040475

Anja took the second pitch which was another awesome belay ledge.

P8040480

I topped out the third pitch which had a the crux move again above the last piece and a little runout on huge 5.8 sport holds.  Anja following to the top of the dome.

P8040483

On the walk off we went right past the Young and the Rackless 5.9 4 sport pitches. 

P8040488

The route was really cruiser.

P8040490

We did the route in 2 pitches and skipped some bolts because their were just so many for the level of climbing.

P8040495

At the top we could see a storm rolling and hurried off but being Boulder we could a party just starting the approach to the Blob.  I guess if you are a local climbing in the rain just doesn’t scare you.

P8040501

It was a great day of climbing in Boulder Canyon and my favorite day I’ve had in Boulder Canyon.

Monday, October 10, 2011

BBQing in Boulder

We had some nice times BBQing and brewing on my folks back porch in Boulder.

DSC03061DSC03064DSC03096P7160319P7170324P7170325

 

P7150313

I also helped my folks get rid of some ridiculous furniture like these hide a beds which were out of my grandma’s house.