Two Days

This last Saturday I got to climb with Jesse M out in Redstone, Colorado. He wanted to fire a mixed ice and rock climb that he took a 30 footer on the weekend before. We stayed in Carbondale with Andrew B from Rock and Ice Magazine. After he cooked us a fat meal and smoked out the whole house with chipotle seasoning on the steak fajitas, we tried to pick out baby names. Long story short, we had a lot of fun rhyming names with Pizem. Oh yeah, by the way my wife and I are going to have a baby this coming August (more on that later). Then we headed to meet DR the owner of Rock and Ice Magazine, who had been establishing ice and mixed routes near his house in the mountains. This photo is of Jesse attempting the second mixed ice route of the day, but the ice over the first route was softening up so quickly that it was extremely difficult to make the campus moves over the roof.

Me at the base of the Silver Surfer. It was real Colorado conditions this weekend with the cold wind, blowing snow, and blizzard like conditions. I had to batten down the hatches and was totally lucky to be wearing the best outerwear on the market. Arcteryx everything!

DR shooting some video while slayed slayed the dragon! The mixed route had ice that was at places no more than an inch thick. This was the first time that I climbed anything so thin. I was way impressed with Jesse's ability to hang in there at the ice was giving way on every placement. He stayed focused and calm and held on until he made it to the next best section of good ice.

The Silver Surfer heads up from the very bottom of the wall to the obvious black streak on the wall. The tiny looking drips to the right of that is called the Honeydripper. We tried to climb that pitch but the ice on it was deteriorating rapidly in the afternoon and made it impossible.

The first thing that I saw on the 5 minute hike from the car to the ice.

That was day one. Jesse sent and we headed back to Grand Junction to see if I could take care of business before the forecasted rain and snow.

piz : )