Eric and Lucie on Loose Ends.After several years of talking about it and somehow never managing to make those plans materialize, we finally broke that streak with a visit to our friends’, Eric and Lucie’s, place in Boulder . Two days of some amazingly fun cragging with great company followed. On Saturday, we did a couple of routes in Eldorado Canyon just outside of town. Our only previous experience with Colorado climbing had been the Bastille Crack in Eldo – we remember it as being polished, sandbagged, and crowded. The combination of first rate company and the route choices certainly flipped our perceptions of the place however; and despite Shirley’s bad cold, we really enjoyed ourselves this time around!
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Eric, Lucie, and Shirley with The Book.On Sunday, we went to Lumpy Ridge and headed for The Book formation. A spectacular cragging area: beautiful granite domes and pinnacles sit high above the green pasture land of Estes Park valley. The views stretch further into the national park and the climber’s eye is drawn to the unmistakable Diamond (wall) on Longs Peak . Groves of golden leafed aspens complete the ambiance. We climbed the 3-pitch J-Crack route (5.9) while Eric and Lucie did the next door Loose Ends. The money pitch (#2) of J-Crack is a stunning (if somewhat painful for the feet) groove/finger crack in the center of the face. We all then exited via the Cheap Date (5.10b) finger crack…I found it plenty hard (hung) while Lucie easily cruised it.
A very fun weekend that we can hopefully repay for at Smith and Trout!
Photos
Saturday – Eldo
Fun face/crack clambering in Eldorado Canyon (Sept. 2012).Lucie leading yet another great pitch of the weekend belayed by Eric (Sept. 2012).Shirley enjoying a very fun line in Eldorado Canyon (Sept. 2012).Eric coming up to the belay in Eldo Canyon (Sept. 2012).Leading somewhere high up in Eldorado Canyon (Sept. 2012).Shirley on an upper pitch in Eldorado Canyon – fun, thought provoking trad climbing (Sept. 2012).Leading a pitch high above the Eldorado Canyon. Photo by Eric or Lucie (Sept. 2012).High on some route in Eldo. Photo by our friends Eric or Lucie (Sept. 2012).Leading the very nice Darkness ’til Dawn (Sept. 2012).Eric, Lucie, and Shirley at the base of the Darkness Till Dawn route in Eldo…tail end of an amazingly fun day of climbing!
Sunday – Lumpy
Eric (in the lead), Lucie, and Shirley hiking in for a super fun day of climbing in the stunning Lumpy Ridge! I think the dome on the right is Batman Rock (Sept. 2012).Lucie starting the lead of Loose Ends belayed by Eric. Another great looking line that we’ll hopefully get to climb some day (Sept. 2012).Lucie leading Loose Ends and Shirley is starting up the first pitch of J Crack. Photo by Eric (Sept. 2012).Lucie cruising Loose Ends (pitch 1; Sept. 2012).Starting up pitch 2 (THE pitch ) of J Crack…fun, fun, fun!!!High on the beautiful pitch 2 of J Crack (Sept. 2012).Our friends Eric and Lucie doing the gear swap atop the 2nd pitch of Loose Ends. Photo taken from the 2nd pitch of J Crack (Sept. 2012).Shirley enjoying the pretty pretty pitch 2 of (money pitch!) of J Crack (Sept. 2012).A bit of Estes Park Valley in its fall glory as seen from high up on The Book formation (Sept. 2012).Eric and Lucie atop pitch 2 of Loose Ends – what a view, eh?!!Starting up the third pitch of J Crack. Cool photo is courtesy of either Eric or Lucie (thanks guys!).Leading pitch 3 of J Crack (Sept. 2012).Shirley belaying me on a version of pitch 3 of J Crack (Sept. 2012).Higher on J Crack’s left side exit, pitch 3 (Sep. 2012).Looking east from the top of the J Crack…charming Colorado fall, yes?Shirley topping out on the spectacular J Crack (5.9) – pitch 3 (Sept. 2012).Looking E/SE towards Batman Rock (note the climbers) from the top of The Book formation (Sept. 2012).Leading the beautiful finger crack that is Cheap Date high on The Book. Somewhat cerebral face climbing to reach the slanting (hard) finger/tips crack (Sept. 2012).En route to the tips/finger crack education on the Cheap Date pitch high on The Book (Sept. 2012).Shirley atop the Cheap Date (5.10b) pitch. One low 5th class pitch remains to the exit (Sept. 2012).Lucie topping out on The Book formation belayed by Eric (Sept. 2012).Elders Lucie, yours truly and Shirley during our photo shoot in Lumpy for the cover of our new album of Mormon rock hymns (photo credit goes to Elder Eric – who’s in the band as well but will not be on the cover shot; Sept. 2012).Looking up from the base of The Book. There’s a party on the money pitch of J Crack (5.9). Lookee that beautiful granite (Sept. 2012)!!The south face of The Book formation at Lumpy Ridge (Sept. 2012).An unknown party on the third pitch (left side exit) of J Crack. This is the finish we took as well. Such an obvious line on the south face of The Book formation (Sept. 2012).Eric, Lucie, and Shirley with The Book (right) formation in the background. Sundance Buttress is visible on the far left. A great day of climbing makes for some happy climbers!!The crew hiking out after a terrific day of climbing at Lumpy Ridge. Twin Owls formation is visible (Sept. 2012).The Colorado aspen grove on the hike out from Lumpy (Sept. 2012).
