rock climbing – Wild Wanderer

The Piggy Bank – Shelf Road Climbing

It had been less than a week since the accident at Garden of the Gods, and I was still quite sore, but when Tim asked me if I wanted to go climbing I said yes. I had bruises all over my body, my knees and elbows were scraped up, and my neck was still sore, but I needed to get back in the saddle ASAP, with someone I could trust.

We met in the morning and all drove together (Emily, Tim, and I) to shelf road. This was my first time there: shocking! I know, but I’m more of a solo climber, and if it’s a nice day I’m in the mountains.

There’s a bathroom at the trailhead and lots of loose dogs running around. This seems to be a popular place to bring your pooch. When we arrived it was cold and windy, so we brought extra gloves and jackets and hiked down the dirt road to The Piggy Bank

There were a lot of people climbing, but still plenty of spots. We found an empty area, set down our gear, and got ready. Tim asked me to belay him, but Emily wanted the practice, so she belayed while Tim set up the first route.

Then it was Emily’s turn to climb. I let her wear my climbing shoes.

Here’s a video of her on her way down (the people next us were noisy)

I was up next. I put on my helmet and winced: I had a bruise from wearing it when I fell and every place my helmet touched my forehead was tender. However, I’m proud to say I made it to the top, and back down, without incident!

After my fall earlier in the week I was a bit scared to do this again so soon, but also knew it was necessary. In all, we each got in 3 runs for the day. Tim belayed Emily and I, and Emily belayed Tim (and I helped anchor her while he came back down). It was a great day, warming up as the afternoon went on. I was really glad we made it out! Here are some more picture highlights (the last run was the hardest, but they were all about 5.8).

I was even able to take my jacket off for the last run, which always makes for a great day. Thanks Tim for bringing us out today!

Garden of the Gods Keyhole Route & Kindergarten Rock

I went rock climbing with a group from church recently. This was super fun but a little out of my comfort zone, as I’m not a big ‘people person’ and usually climb alone. Everyone was super nice and I was able to get in a run on the keyhole route at the Garden of the Gods. It was a bit chilly out (hence the puffy) but as a bonus someone brought homemade fudge (yum!).

The fun started around 12:30pm with ‘Ralph’s Tree’. You see, Ralph went up first so he could stay up there and take pictures of everyone climbing. Since he was first it was his job to climb up and then throw the rope back down. Well, the rope got caught on a scrub bush and knotted up when he threw it down. It took about 20 minutes for him to sort it all out, but finally he was able to get the rope unstuck and toss it down. We all joked about it and shouted up at him to be more careful with the next rope. Well, you guessed it, the second rope got tangled too, and we couldn’t stop laughing! For a visual, here’s the scrub tree that was the only obstacle that needed to be avoided… and the one that tangled the ropes twice.

We all had a good laugh about that one and teased him in good fun until the end of the event. Eric was on belay (without shoes, of course) for the orange route and due to the slope of the rock (or lack thereof) the rope near the top had more friction than normal and he had his work cut out for him

Since I was a guest I waited for everyone else to climb first. As I was waiting and watching and enjoying homemade fudge I noticed some climbers to our left topping out at a cool gully (Eric says we can try that one next). Anyway, I thought it was a cool visual so I grabbed Eric’s mirrorless and took a few photos. Don’t they look cool?

Oh, and while I was there I saw the opportunity to take a shadowselfie I couldn’t pass up.

It was fun watching everyone else climb up, and while they did I took the opportunity to study their routes. Check out Curtis and Connie rappelling down together! Awwww!

A Coopers Hawk decided to perch near us for a while

When it was my turn to climb I was totally ready. I knew which line I wanted to take and just went for it. It actually felt pretty easy. Ralph got a picture of me from above

Once at the top I sat for a minute and enjoyed the view. I could hear the conversations of visitors strolling around below

Of course I got a selfie

And then rappelled back down

I was one of the last to climb (a few people went twice after I was done) and even though it was early the sun was fading fast. It tends to do that with Pikes Peak to the west. I was talking with Eric and decided to get creative with my camera.

All in all a fun time! Afterwards I brought Emily home a pizza and then joined everyone for church.

Oh, and here’s a few photos from Kindergarten Rock Eric and I climbed that one last week but I didn’t post.

And from scoping out Keyhole for this trip

Another cool silhouette sunset shot. That one’s on my list of climbs too.

Rafting and Rappelling – Royal Gorge

I have mixed feelings about this river. I’ve been rafting here at least a dozen times, but that one time in 2009 still haunts me. I’d been invited out on the water today (with the added bonus of some potential rock climbing) and was determined not to think about what happened in that icy river 10 years ago. Instead I was going to focus on today’s experience.

I didn’t even realize you could go rafting in Colorado in April, but apparently it’s a thing! Because we were rafting we took 2 separate vehicles and met at a gas station on the way. A local 4H club was having a bake sale, and I couldn’t resist (no, I didn’t but cookies, but left a donation). 4H and FFA bring back so many awesome memories I couldn’t not donate, even just a little bit. Oh, and they were totally taking over that gas station. There were probably 15 students there with their parents. They made an impact, and the belt buckles and handmade signs were a nice touch.

In any event, we parked my truck at the end of our intended route and drove together to the launch area. I breathed a sigh of relief when I realized we were nowhere the crash site (it was miles upstream). OK, I could completely relax now. Even though I try not to, on past trips I’ve been glued to the water to see if I can find where we landed. Funny thing, my success rate in actually finding the spot is about 50/50.

First things first: setting up the raft. To be honest I didn’t do much work, but it seemed straightforward. There’s tons of gear you need (or hope you don’t need) for a day on the water. After setting up I stayed by the raft and just relaxed and did yoga for a bit while he parked his car in a lot a few minutes away.

To my surprise it was a beautiful day; A bit chilly when the wind blew, but with the PFD on it wasn’t too bad. My feet were cold, but that was to be expected. I was only splashed by the water a few times, and tried to make it fun. Today’s trip down the river was more serene than any other trip I’ve taken, most likely because I’m usually in charge of 25 excited girls and the river’s flowing faster. It was nice just floating on the river, my friend doing most of the work (which I felt guilty about). On the downside the water could be loud at times and I had a hard time hearing and missed a few strokes (whoops). There were dozens of geese and lots of small birds on the water’s edge. One of my favorite parts about being in nature is seeing wildlife.

After a few hours of rafting we stopped directly underneath the Royal Gorge. I’ve never actually been to the Royal Gorge (something that needs to be rectified soon).

Our intention was to get some photos of me climbing. My main intention was to learn. I want to solo a few Centennials this summer that include rock climbing, and while I’ve climbed for years in a gym and many times with groups, I’ve never been solo, or even in charge of setting up my own equipment. That means I have no true idea what I’m doing, and that needs to change.

I found a friendly rock to hide behind and changed into my climbing gear (this was tricky; as we were directly under the viewing platform of the Royal Gorge, and I’m sure there were tourists with binoculars up there).

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I was given a quick briefing about how to secure ropes that astonished me in its reliance on trusting the strength of rocks I’ve been taught not to trust, and then started climbing. I’ve never been climbing without shoes before, and it was trickier than I’d imagined. I’ve also never self belayed, and I was clumsy to say the least. The rope kept getting longer than I wanted it to, but I wasn’t sure how to quickly shorten it.

Climbing up was pretty easy. The only difficult part was stopping for pictures. I like to keep moving, and I wasn’t too steady staying in one place. I felt nervous and unsecure, and my harness was definitely too tight.

OK, after climbing up it was time to maneuver around the rock so I could rappel down. I like bouldering, and this was exactly what this was (except for the rope and harness continually getting in the way).

I started rappelling and then stopped in place for a picture.

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All was going well, or at least I thought it was, as staying in one place was working. But as soon as I tried to rappel just a little bit something went wrong: I started sliding and couldn’t stop myself. Believe me, I tried, and I have the rope burns on my fingers to prove it. Luckily I was able to slow myself down so I didn’t hit the ground too hard, but I was immediately consumed by tons of negative and unproductive emotions.

I was embarrassed I’d slipped, I wasn’t quite sure how it’d happened, and yes, I was in a little bit of shock from the whole experience. Now I felt very silly for not bringing my helmet (I’d left it in the car… on purpose). I don’t fail well, but need to get over that if I want to accomplish my goals. I still don’t quite know what I’m doing when it comes to solo climbing, and this incident proved that. I’m going to need more practice before tackling this myself. I wanted to get up and try again, but was advised otherwise. So I walked down to the river to cool my burnt fingers in the water.

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We did have time to hang from some rocks though….

Note to self: Now that cookie season is over I need to work on toning my arms.

Oh, and it was fun to see the Royal Gorge train go by. Everyone waves at you and you’re kind of supposed to wave back…

We gathered up our gear and rafted back down to my truck. I was amused to learn we just tied up the raft and left it on the water while we drove to get the other vehicle. This seemed pretty trusting to me, but I guess the rafting community’s pretty honest? Deflating the raft and putting it away proved similar to taking down a tent. A heavy, canvas tent made out of rubber. It was much later than I’d realized (wow! Was it really already 4:30pm?) and I’d promised the girls I’d be home by 6, so I drove a bit faster than I should have home.

OK, so lessons learned today:

You can raft the river in April
It wasn’t as cold as I’d expected on the river in April
A canyon is wider than a gorge (duh…lol!)
I’m better at taking photos than being a subject (this needs work!)
If your guide knows what they’re doing you can avoid getting wet (but it’s probably more fun to tackle the rapids instead of glide through them. Still, I appreciated staying mostly dry)
I need to do some research and practice on how to set up webbing safely (I’ve tried this before and came up empty, so I’m going to have to search again)
I need to buy webbing (maybe on my trip to get a new backpack?) and figure out exactly how much I need
Self belayed rappelling is not my strong suit. I need to practice, preferably in a place where a fall won’t be too tragic.
I may need a thicker and longer rope (mine will hold me, but it’s slippery… maybe gloves?)
I need to develop more patience with myself
I need to fail faster and not beat myself up so much when I do
While I feel like I got the perfect amount of sun, sunscreen is my friend and I can’t forget that
Knowledgeable and patient friends are invaluable
I need to visit the top of the Royal Gorge

CityRock

I didn’t correlate a climbing gym to a regular gym in this way before, but apparently they fill up for the New Year as well with all those resolutioners: CityRock was packed!!! I got there at about 6:30pm, and I could tell it was filling up fast for the night. I checked in and stuffed my gear in the last cubby available.

I really wanted to start my night bouldering, but I could tell by the number of people already there I’d better start with rock climbing (again) because the auto belays were all going to be taken soon and I’d never get the chance to climb.

It was almost too easy today: I climbed about 6 runs, all between 5.7-5.10- . I climbed some because they were there, and others because I actually enjoyed them. I’m stuck on 5.10- and can’t seem to climb a 5.10+. However, I’m not sure how static those rankings actually are. I feel really solid on a 5.9, and that’s probably where I’ll continue climbing, but there’s a 5.8 I just can’t seem to get! Maybe it’s because it’s on a curved wall? In any event, I usually end up trying that one last, and by that time my arms have given out. Maybe I’ll start with that one next time. The 5.11’s require me to cut my fingernails, and I’m not that committed yet. In fact, I broke a nail tonight and it’s the first one I’ve broken so far since climbing. I’m pretty proud of that!

After getting my fill of rock climbing I headed over to the bouldering area. By this point my arms were a bit sore, but I was able to do the yellow curved V1 without much difficulty. I went to the V3 run I’d done last time, but couldn’t get a good grip. I noticed a kid (probably 13) watching me, and I said “it needs to be cleaned”. He assumed I wanted him to do it, and climbed up just to clean it off. I smiled inwardly: I was just making an observation not asking him to clean it! I forget the power adults have on kids when they make comments…lol!

He looked like a regular who knew what he was doing, so I asked him if he wanted to climb. Nope, he was taking a bit of a rest. So I tried the run again and was successful. The kid watched me the engire time and seemed impressed: he asked me a bunch of questions about how I did the route, and said that one took him forever to ‘get’. It was as if suddenly I was important in his eyes. I don’t know why, but it made me feel good to impress a 13 year old kid. Sheesh! I moved on (and didn’t ever end up seeing him climb anything that night).

I moved back down to the lower climbing area and saw a kid that was supposed to be at Boy Scouts. He sheepishly stated his plans had changed at the last minute (funny thing, his father was at the Boy Scout meeting down the street… I wonder if he knew?). At this point I was seriously tired. I tried the Yellow V1 run again and while I made a valiant attempt and held on for quite a while, I wasn’t able to push myself over the ledge. This happens after you’ve been climbing for a while and don’t rest. I was encouraged by the others sitting down how it was impressive I’d held on for so long. This is a common occurrence at the gym: everyone encourages everyone. I still feel uncomfortable in this sort of environment, so I thanked them and switched climbing areas. I did a few more runs with the auto belays and called it a day after only about an hour of climbing. I need to learn to either take breaks or build up my strength. In any event, it was a successful night of climbing! I didn’t embarrass myself by falling, and there wasn’t a run I’d been able to do before that I couldn’t do tonight. Now to work on those 5.10+ and V3’s!