Trip Report
3 Days in CO
Friday August 17, 2012 8:48pm
Booked out to CO to climb with ct, the man who introduced me to the trad game. Last time I was out there was '08 and we climbed moderates at Lumpy, Hallet, and the Spearhead. This time would be a little less moderate :) While in general I like to offer my prose to tell the tale- I am a bit spent creatively and will let the pics do most of the talking for this one.

Day 1 I got into the flow at Dream Canyon, and then a solo of the first flatiron. Apart from bruising the sh*t out of my foot grounding off of In Your Dreams- it was an all around pleasurable day. Coming from Oakland- experiencing access like that gives one pause. The road warrior price for metropolitan Cali climbers is steep.

Day 2 was set to acclimatize on the Black Wall at Mt. Evans. There is a road for cars that goes to 14K feet? Really?!

The Mt. Evans plateau is a bit reminiscent of the Dana Plateau- rapping in and climbing back to the top contributed to this feeling.

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ct on the plateau
ct on the plateau
Credit: snowhazed
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Cary Granite is beauty of a four pitch route. I onsighted the fingery 11- first pitch, and ct cleanly dispatched the 11- second pitch.

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P1
P1
Credit: snowhazed
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Following P2
Following P2
Credit: snowhazed
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Desperate 11c face off of the belay leads right into an 11c hands and layback roof. After pulling the roof I had to dig pretty deep to climb a long section of featured wideness a loooong ways above the last piece. I fiddled in an ok purple c3 into a seam before pulling the last moves to the belay.

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P3
P3
Credit: snowhazed
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A look at the Black Wall. Cary Granite climbs the obvious leftmost cra...
A look at the Black Wall. Cary Granite climbs the obvious leftmost crack system.
Credit: snowhazed
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Ct blasted up the last 5.10 pitch to the top and we were back in Boulder in time for mango margaritas.

Day 3 the alarm goes off at 130AM and away we drive to RMNP. Some quesy hiking that blurs in darkness and points of headlamp lights, and a few timewarped hours later I find myself staring at this.

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Diamond!
Diamond!
Credit: snowhazed
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I have felt much better, and I have felt much worse as we started up the North Chimney. Pretty casual except for the 400 feet of vegetation, mud, snow, and toaster sized blocks rained down on us by the people above.

Gaining Broadway ledge I mutter aloud "Can we do some Real rock climbing now?"
ct- "That wasn't real enough for you?"
me- "Oh that was real, I just wouldn't call it rock climbing."
pro climber next to us- "What would you call it?"
me- "Uhh... uphill surfing."
all- "Indeed."

D7 was first freed by John Bachar, and is one hell of a line. The first few pitches get going with some physical and steep "5.9" There is at least 40 fixed pins over the 700 feet of climbing- some of them looked pretty damn good! Others- not so much.

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Following P2
Following P2
Credit: snowhazed
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A lot of great 5.10 climbing gets us underneath the crux pitch- sustained 11c/d fingers/face/lieback. ct bears down and sends all of the techy climbing up to the last little sequence where the locks turn to shite and the feet disappear. One last desperation move is just missed, and the onsight- just barely missed. What is it with pitches and heartbreaker moves at the end?

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Coming up the last of the 5.10
Coming up the last of the 5.10
Credit: snowhazed
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Crux
Crux
Credit: snowhazed
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One more long ass pitch of 11- to keep us honest and we are outta there!

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Take us home Roberto!
Take us home Roberto!
Credit: snowhazed
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Getting in an alpine beatdown with one of your closest friends is an experience that reaches beyond mere language.

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summit
summit
Credit: snowhazed
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bye bye
bye bye
Credit: snowhazed
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Beers and girls in Boulder ensure that 25 hours after waking up, I go to sleep for 2 hours before going to the airport at 4 in the morning. Next thing I know I am back to work in the Bay and can only tangentially fathom that mere hours earlier I was standing on top of the Diamond. Life is crazy, and crazy good.





  Trip Report Views: 3,469
snowhazed
About the Author
snowhazed is a trad climber from Oaksterdam, CA.

Comments
kaholatingtong

Trad climber
The fake McCoy from nevernever land.
  Aug 17, 2012 - 09:36pm PT
most excellent
k-man

Gym climber
SCruz
  Aug 17, 2012 - 09:45pm PT
A short hop, but what a mega hop it was. Sounds like pure joy ...
wbw

Trad climber
'cross the great divide
  Aug 17, 2012 - 10:39pm PT
I'd say that's a proud 3 day trip, and great TR. Thanks.
ms55401

Trad climber
minneapolis, mn
  Aug 17, 2012 - 10:40pm PT
this site could use more Colo. and less Calif.
thanks
Dirka

Trad climber
Hustle City
  Aug 17, 2012 - 11:14pm PT
Berto! Tyrell! How i miss u both! Keep crushing for me!
SteveW

Trad climber
The state of confusion
  Aug 18, 2012 - 12:17am PT

You guys are Bad!!!!!

Thanks for sharing!
Rhodo-Router

Gym climber
sawatch choss
  Aug 18, 2012 - 10:08am PT
Wow, that's quite a 3-day trip. Visitors always get it done while the locals sit around waiting for the perfect day!
thekidcormier

Gym climber
squamish, b.c.
  Aug 18, 2012 - 10:28am PT
Well that looks fun as hell, nice tr
ydpl8s

Trad climber
Santa Monica, California
  Aug 18, 2012 - 04:03pm PT
Bump for getting it done in 3 days! That's a lot of driving, pitches of .10's and .11's, and amazing scenery in a short time, you got after it!
generationfourth

Trad climber
Arizona
  Aug 18, 2012 - 04:17pm PT
burly
ct

climber
WA
  Aug 18, 2012 - 11:29pm PT
I may have introduced Snowhazed to the trad game, but he has walked farther down the path than I ever thought he would.

It was an amazing pleasure to show my friend some of what CO has to offer. Next stop: The Needles!
cowpoke

climber
  Aug 21, 2012 - 04:16pm PT
Fantastic! Perfect description of the north chimney, and super-props for working in such hardass stellar routes in 3 days...your CO friend treats you right.
Gagner

climber
Boulder
  Aug 21, 2012 - 04:51pm PT
SWEEEEET!! Way to get after it. All good worthy, and fun, climbs!! And coming from sea level - proud!!

Paul
micronut

Trad climber
Fresno/Clovis, ca
  Aug 21, 2012 - 06:07pm PT
Prose? We don need no stinkin prose!

Great little write up man. Thanks for posting something up. Way to get in and out. A quick smash and grab job. 3 days! Stealthy!
dirt claud

Social climber
san diego,ca
  Aug 21, 2012 - 08:10pm PT
Looks like you guys had a blast. Great pics and write up.TFPU
badxtracab

Mountain climber
colorado
  Aug 23, 2012 - 06:34pm PT
Eastern Sierra... 10 ++ colo 2
Tarbuster

climber
right here, right now
  Aug 23, 2012 - 06:57pm PT
Not bad for an Alpine rock climber's introductory tour in these parts.
No messing around: straight to the good stuff!
labrat

Trad climber
Erik O. Auburn, CA
  Aug 23, 2012 - 07:02pm PT
Wow! Nice! Thanks for posting up!
mike m

Trad climber
black hills
  Aug 23, 2012 - 07:12pm PT
Very cool those are some great shots of mount evans and some of the upper pitches on the Diamond.
ydpl8s

Trad climber
Santa Monica, California
  Jul 24, 2015 - 11:22am PT
Bump for East side (of the continental divide) alpine goodness.
skcreidc

Social climber
SD, CA
  Jul 24, 2015 - 11:31am PT
Cary Granite is beauty of a four pitch route.

The whole TR is Damn nice for such a short amount of time....but I wonder if Eeyonkee saw it and that quote?
ydpl8s

Trad climber
Santa Monica, California
  Jul 24, 2015 - 11:51am PT
I think that it is 4 pitches, the 1st pitch is 1st pitch of Good Evans.
overwatch

climber
Arizona
  Jul 24, 2015 - 12:07pm PT
Cool
skcreidc

Social climber
SD, CA
  Jul 24, 2015 - 12:08pm PT
You are right on Ydpl8s, and that area is crazy beautiful looking. Those 4 pitches were put up by Greg and Clean Dan; just nice to know your stuff is appreciated. Not that I have any relationship to the route...
ydpl8s

Trad climber
Santa Monica, California
  Jul 24, 2015 - 12:10pm PT
Me too neither, just looked down on it, that is a really cool wall at an altitude that "should" keep the flatlanders away. :-)
JEleazarian

Trad climber
Fresno CA
  Jul 24, 2015 - 12:11pm PT
Wonderful TR, and great work. Thanks to you, and thanks to those who bumped this.

John
MisterE

Gym climber
Small Town with a Big Back Yard
  Jul 25, 2015 - 05:48pm PT
Missed this the first time around - what an amazing whirlwind trip!

Great stoke, thanks snowhazed.
GARY Owen

Trad climber
Lexington
  Jul 25, 2015 - 08:59pm PT
tfpu
Prod

Trad climber
  Jul 26, 2015 - 07:04am PT
Ho hum....

Prod.
tradmanclimbs

Ice climber
Pomfert VT
  Jul 26, 2015 - 05:46pm PT
Wow! I would be more than happy to get up one of those cliffs on a 3 day trip!
mike m

Trad climber
black hills
  Jul 26, 2015 - 06:35pm PT
Saw I commented on this three years ago. Still a great report.
le_bruce

climber
Oakland, CA
  Jul 26, 2015 - 11:11pm PT
Loved it.

Coming from Oakland- experiencing access like that gives one pause. The road warrior price for metropolitan Cali climbers is steep.

Truth.
Jaybro

Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
  Jul 27, 2015 - 04:11am PT
Brutally gnarly trip! Just the thought of BA to Mt Evans, with only one day toaclimate, makes my head explode.

I think there is an understated side story in there; "beers, girl, two hours sleep"that may be ab epic in itself.....
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