Sadly, Ann is down with the stomach funk today, so Sean and I leave for Greyrock at 8 am without her. The parking lot is already nearly full at 9, and the day is clear and warm. Excited, we lug our gear quickly up the 3.3-mile, 1,500-ft approach to the South Slabs. Last time I…

Sean was introduced to bouldering today after riding his bike up to Rotary Park to meet me. “I’ll never ever do that again,” he said of the ride. These hills are some of the steepest little buggers in the area. We spent most of our time on The Eliminator boulder (I think), working some of…

For the first time this year I headed up to Rotary Park by Horsetooth Reservoir after work for some real bouldering. It felt like it had been a very long time, but slowly the feeling of my hands on the rock, the sun on my back, and the changing sky reminded that climbing is almost…

With promises of temperatures in the 60’s, we head up the South St. Vrain Canyon to try some climbing at the Ironclads. We make the hike in, and Sean learns how to set up a toprope and rappel. The warm temperatures, though, are overwhelmed by violent winds, which drive us off after a single, frozen-fingered,…

My cousin Doug, his fianceé Liz, and Sean joined Ann and me to spend this balmy last day of the year climbing outside Golden. Ann has a hand injury she sustained in the gym, and is laying off climbing for awhile. We were fortunate to have her company, though, and she took some great pictures.…

We’re treated to another day of gorgeous sun, with just a little bite in the wind this time. We figure out the hike from the Bank campground to Cactus Cliff, a worthwhile outing in itself. There are more climbers on the rock today, but we still find things to climb. I try an onsight of…

We don’t get on the rock at Cactus Cliff until the afternoon, but the perfect weather holds for us. The book we have makes it look like Shelf Road is dominated by 5.11 and 5.12 routes, but we find a couple of good easier climbs. It looks like a lot of newer routes have been…

We milk another day of climbing out of the season! It was actually pretty nice out, and we had this crag to ourselves. Ann confidently chose to lead Acts of Contrition, a dicey 5.8 slab, as her first climb of the day. It worked her, and she took her first lead fall, but I was…

It’s overcast with rain in the forecast, but we’re so in the mood to climb, we pick up Sean and head for Boulder Canyon anyway. Alas, it’s raining hard when we arrive. Rather than turn right around, we continue up to Nederland and over to the South St. Vrain Canyon to descend. Surprisingly it’s dry…