None of us are feeling too motivated today, but Sean, Ann, and I rally ourselves to take advantage of one more sunny Saturday at Vedauwoo. There’s a ripping Wyoming wind on the drive up, but the Nautilus formation provides a pleasant sheltered spot at Friday’s Recess. I enjoy leading a couple of 5.8 trad pitches…

It seems to be the season of the Praying Mantis at Golden Cliffs. They’ve turned Golden, like the scrubby hillside weeds. Ann met one along the trail, then another came up to watch us climb and kindly offered to belay Sean. Climbs of the day: Big Dihedral 5.8 (A very fun trad lead!), Deck Chairs…

We figured it would be a cold, short day, perhaps the last of the season at Vedauwoo. We end up climbing under a hot sun, of course. We bring our friend Sean to the Fall Wall area to indroduce him to slab climbing on our favorites, Easy Friction 5.4, Easy Lieback 5.5, Cold Fingers 5.7,…

We rise early and set off bravely through the fog to Vedauwoo, where the frosty weather inspires us to take a nap in the car. We’re woken pleasantly by the sun, and we pack off happily towards Walt’s Wall. In the pay-parking area four climbers dart off as soon as they see us without so…

A lazy, disorganized start to the day gets me to the crag without my climbing shoes. By the time I find the Ra area we don’t have much time left anyway. Ann steps up to the plate and leads the first pitch of Warm Beer and Cold Women, 5.8. It requires the placement of a…

To fill out our vacation we head back for one last day at Vedauwoo, this time with my long-lost cousin Doug Blocksma. We find Fall Wall vacant, which seems surprising for a Sunday. Ann, hungry now for some more leads, sets up ropes on Easy Friction, 5.4, and Cold Fingers, 5.7. Cold Fingers is fairly…

A little sport climbing sounds appealing, so we head up to the Riviera wall in Boulder Canyon. Despite dark clouds, we enjoy climbing Chouette, 5.6, and Splash, 5.7, on beautifully smooth, featured granite before the rain starts. We have to wait out half an hour of rain, then Ann surprises me by announcing she’s in…

We were a little nervous about tackling the imposing multipitch climbs on Lumpy Ridge, but found one 5.7 route up “The Pear” that looked mellow enough. Our tactic of using vacation time to hit this popular area during the week worked perfectly – the Twin Owls trailhead was nearly empty. The building cloud cover posed…

After a pleasant night of camping, we mosey over to the Nautilus formation near the entrance of Vedauwoo determined to ease back into some route climbing. But sometimes climbing and ease just aren’t meant for the same sentence.

I like this spot near Red Feather Lakes. It has solid, sharp, Vedauwoo-style granite boulders and formations in a more expansive feeling foothills setting. We did some fun problems, most too hard for us, but still quite enjoyable along with a night outdoors. We saw only one other climber, who told us there are trad…