Vertical Edition: 11/01/2010

As if it is a surprise to anyone, I am drinking coffee and listening to music. No climbing movies yet this morning. I am going to start this off with a couple pictures so you all can share my morning with me.

Pikes with the day's first light from my yard.

This was taken from my bed.

Also from the yard.

So as always I was up at 6, right about when the sun starts to come up. I cannot decide what the real reason is for this. I think it is partly self inflicted and partly animal inflicted. I usually start waking up around then, but Sharma always wakes up around then. I could be to blame for consistently waking up that early and making that part of his difficult schedule. I suppose it makes sense that he comes to expect me up at that time. Either way, it is not always a blessing. I do however get to the see the sun come up over the Eastern horizon each morning.

It is November 14th. How in the hell is it November 14th? Colorado has finally figured out that it is. Up until this week it has been inexplicably warm for this time of year. Not anymore. It is down to low thirties and high twenties at night, mid forties during the day. Still beautiful and sunny so it doesn't really feel that bad though.

As of October 28th I have been teaching again full time, which I enjoy way more than me sitting in class. Last week Kevin (the other Kevin that I teach with) was gone Tuesday and Wednesday so I had sole responsibility of the class. It actually went really well and I was pleased with the result. It is hard to believe that I have one month until I take over the class completely.

Now, lets journey back. November 5th was last Friday. I got done with school and did the typical afternoon stuff. Played with the idiot (Sharma), ran errands etc. I ended up going to a guy's house to play poker, who is a teacher in the same district that I teach in. I was by far the youngest person at this person's house. I think the close second was 35. Anyway I went with Kevin (teaching) and was a little hesitant since I hadn't played poker in probably 5 years. It ended up being a lot of fun and I won 100 dollars so that was exciting. I am not sure if I will be invited back.

The next day I went up to Castlewood Canyon with my friend Margaret to go sport climbing. I met Margaret climbing at CC's gym because I was wearing my Miguel's shirt. Apparently she moves to the Red and works at Miguel's every summer. Also she is an awesome climber. So Saturday was fun; good climbing and a beautiful day.

Here are some pics of Castlewood from when Nick and I went a couple weeks ago.

There is a rad route on that spire called "Phalloid Void."

At the trailhead.

Nick on "Phalloid Void."

There was a ledge right below the anchors on one of the route.

Me on "Cobble Wobble." One of my favorite route in the front range.

Me enjoying the sunset.

I fell off a boulder problem. Not cool.

Sunday I decided to explore the trails across from my home. They are amazing. I took the mountain bike out just to explore and see how they were. Soooo good. Huge hills with gnarly downhills everywhere. And tons of it! There is so much riding there! The best part being I can see it from my window. It literally takes me 15 seconds to get there from my house. The downside is the trails are not groomed at all. I would guess there has never been any trailwork done there. There is quite a bit of garbage from people dumping shit. Since there has been no trailwork done the trails are loose in a lot of spots with some large rocks littering the trails. This doesn't bother me, however it does require full attention while riding because otherwise you end up rolling down the hill without you bike. So here is a little video of a ride from this week. It isn't the best thing I have ever produced but more than anything I wanted to show the scale of this place. Both in the sense of how much is here, how big and how steep the downhills are, and how fast the riding is. The clip at the end is about a minute long and it is all downhill for probably a half mile. Amazing. Also the clip in the middle is me hiking up one of the hills. It took me about 8 minutes to hike up, and 20 seconds to come down. Enormous downhill.

Anyway here it is.

On Monday I decided that I needed the day off. Well kind of. Two friends of mine, Mark Freidline and Dave Patton, were in from out of town and wanted me to climb the third Flatiron with them. I had a goal when I moved out here to climb the third before the end of the summer and never was able to get stuff together for it. Therefore, when the opportunity came about I jumped on it. Kevin was nice enough to let me have the day off. I got up at about 5 to head up to Boulder. I knew that if I was going through Denver at 7 I would get caught in traffic on both sides of the city. Since I have some experience with Denver rush hour I made the executive decision to leave early to beat it. I was through the city by 6:15am and made it to Boulder at about 7. Since I wasn't meeting Mark and Dave until 8 I had coffee and breakfast at Brueggers to wait for them.

For those of you who do not know what the third Flatiron is, it is a mammoth sized fin of conglomerate sandstone that looms just to the West of the town of Boulder. The third is about 1000 feet high and known for being epic and classic climbing. When I got to the parking area I just sat and stared at it. It is HUGE...and beautiful. When Mark and Dave got to the parking area we racked up and headed toward the third. The hike was miserable. Way steeper than it looked. It is probably 20 minutes up to the climb.

When you get to the actual climb, you aren't starting at the base of the Flatiron. You hike up to about the 200 foot mark, then traverse out onto it, then start your ascent. Here is a picture of our route.

We followed the 1 all the way to the summit. For some perspective, look for the C U painted on the rock. Those letters are 100 feet tall.

The climbing was as good as rumored. All very moderate climbing and just so fun. Not to mention you are doing it for about 800 feet. The three of us summited in about 3 hours. A lot of that time was rope management and switching belays at the belay stations and that type of stuff. Since we had three people we climbed it with two different ropes, which slows things down a little. Most of the belay spots were spacious enough to be comfortable. You could take off your pack and sit and just relax. At about 800 feet, 200 feet short of the summit, I was sitting by myself because I was the third climber for this pitch. I just thought to myself how special it was to be a part of the world that I currently was. How many people get to "sit and relax" tethered (attached) to the side of a 1000 foot piece of rock. It was a pretty special moment for me. I felt like I have finally made it to a place in my climbing career where I was doing something pretty extraordinary. Anyway enough sentiment. Oh, I did see a man soloing (no rope) with NO SHOES ON! I looked over and there he was, no rope, no shoes. What a crazy person. We finished the climb, rappelled down, and retired to boulder for celebratory beers and food. What a special day. It was good getting to share it with Mark and Dave.

Morning light on the drive.

The third is the one on the left.

Our first look at the route.

Me finishing up the 2nd pitch and Dave on belay.

One of the less roomy belay spots.

Mark on belay looking very pleased.

Dave on the summit push.

Man soloing barefoot at about 900 feet.

Rosco's comment to this picture was "this is the happiest homeless man I have ever seen."

Summit pic.

The final rappel on the back of the Flatiron.

The rest of the week went well. Not quite as exciting as Monday but still good. Thursday I had the day off because of Veterans day, which was quite nice. That is when I filmed the biking video. At about 3 Nick and his brother Lance came down to the Springs to hang out. We started off at the Trinity brewery for a beer, then headed up to Manitou to have giant margaritas and dinner at the loop. I/we love the loop. The best mexican food and the best margaritas ever. We had a lot of fun and it was good to see them since I don't get to as much anymore. Friday went by with minimal excitement. I spent the evening watching movies with my friends Alice and Trista. Saturday was a great day. As usual I was up at 6. Nick texted me at 5:45 so apparently he beat me in the "wake up at a stupid ass time contest" and asked what my plans were because he wanted me to come up and mountain bike in Evergreen. After not much contemplation I agreed. After breakfast I threw the frisbee for Sharma for a while then packed up my stuff. For the record I absolutely love Evergreen. Beautiful little mountain town, surrounded by trees and mountains. The ride was sick. I believe it was a place called Elk Park. He had ridden there and passed on to me that it was fast, flowy riding and that you can just rip. He was right on all accounts. After an initial mile or so climb, you just fly. There was quite a bit of snow on the trail but it was packed enough to not be a nuisance. Fast, fast, riding, and beautiful scenery. Mountains in every direction. After our ride we stopped in the downtown area of Evergreen for a beer at a place called Jack's Saloon, or something like that. It is a funny little place that kind of feels like you're drinking in someone's living room. Couches, and stuff like that. Since it was only 11:30am we were joined by a slew of lovely people. After our beers we headed back to his place downtown. We decided that the best thing to fill the afternoon with was hot tubbing on the roof, peppermint schnapps and hot cocoa, and grilling burgers. Hard to beat all those things on a downtown rooftop with a view of the mountains.

It was 32 degrees though.

I came back home at 5ish and met up with my friends Alice and Trista to get tickets for CC's hockey game. I hadn't been to one and was stoked to finally go. It was fun but not quite like Miami hockey. Also CC played like garbage, which didn't help.

All of that brings us here, to this morning. I am having coffee, Sharma is chewing on a Volkswagon sized bone that I bought him, and Boss is running around like a creep. It's hard to tell what he is thinking. Far easier with Sharma since the answer is "nothing." I am heading to school for lesson planning here at 11, then going to the Garden with Margaret to try to finish the Slapper. Hopefully today is the day. I haven't climbed since Tuesday, which is very difficult for me, in hopes of being rested and strong enough to send. Fingers crossed. Love all of you and have great weeks.