Moderates at Chaos

Here are some photos of moderate problems at Chaos. Maybe they already have names and grades so my names are only suggestions.


New Human Being. A classic V1 or 2 behind European Human Being--It looks nondescript but has cool moves, perfect rock.



The green 75 slab. Just behind the tree are two maybe three fairly high and thin slab problems, still undone? This boulder is just south of EHB.




This I would describe as a V3 or V4 traverse "Lakside Amusement". Start low on the jug on the right and go straight left to the topout. Classic moderate warmup on the backside of the Green 75 boulder, facing the lake. A number of straight-up problems go through the overhang but the landings are bad.

A little climbing at the Spot

I took a week off and decided to try some easy climbing. First I went to CATS but unfortunately it was far too crowded. The Spot was much more mellow and I did 15 or 20 problems up to 4-spot in difficulty with no real issues which was nice. Caolan and Sophia had a good time as well. The Spot is very popular with couples who have babies because you can easily switch off child care.



I visited a website called planetfear.com which is all about British climbing and brought back some memories of time spent in Sheffield in the mid-80s. I'll write more on this soon...

New Video

She who must be obeyed telling it like it is.

Running Green Mountain

Still trying to rehab my shoulder from whatever rotator-cuff mess I induced at the Spot about a month ago, and made worse last week. Memo to everyone--do not push it with a shoulder injury; the joint is flimsy enough as it is. So basic exercises, maintaining range of motion, icing and rest for a week or more.

I ran Green Mountain via Gregory Canyon and the Ranger trail this Saturday and saw a fair number of people on the trail. I was running with Willa, our dog who is about to turn 11. She kept up just fine up and down though she was tired later. Amazing

Trail running has become very popular of late and I have noticed more people out on the local hills. For me there is a style element involved which means you never walk or "power hike", even if there is no speed advantage to running. The game is to maintain running momentum and stance even in hard terrain. So the challenge is one of strength and continuity. I'm hoping to run Audubon before the snow starts but we'll see.

Frontrange Climbing News and prediction

In the instant feedback environment of climbing today, news of Paul Robinson's ascent of Jade a supposed V15 in Upper Chaos spread fast. With it of course speculation about the grade of difficulty and Jamie Emerson has called it correctly in my opinion. What will be the next super project? I think for a problem to really hold its top level status today, it's going to have to be quite a bit more sustained and way less straightforward than Jade. The model for the future is a problem like Circadian Rhythm in the Poudre but longer and more abstract. The image below is from Climbing Magazine



Pulling on little crimpers, while I'm fond of it, is too straightforward a technique of climbing, almost like ice climbing so that the difficulty resides solely in angle, distance between holds, and their size, which for Paul or Daniel is almost irrelevant. The interesting question may be whether the trend is heading back towards routes, where linking sections of V13 or 14 between clips points to the future of hard climbing. After seeing Paul or Daniel easily flash V11 and 12 crimp ladders in the gym, it's clear that the search for difficulty has to take a different direction than thin crimps on a steep wall.

First day of school

First day of school so no more play clothes on weekdays for a while. We all went up to RMNP to go for a walk and take Sophia up into the mountains. We had a little rain but the sun soon came out and we had beautiful weather up to Emerald Lake. Sophia had a great time riding in her carrier so maybe Chaos Canyon next trip. The shoulder is feeling better so maybe some progress for fall? The NE face on Hallet's is amazing but I have to get my trad skills in order for a route of that magnitude.