RC - A climbing NAT-U-REL

Ya so it must run in the family.  The Casey's appear to be climbing naturals:), first Kristin and now Ryan Casey (RC), who got the crash course last weekend.


Day 1: Little Eiger wall at Clear Creek Canyon.  Ryan is introduced via a 5.10a crack, followed by a 130' 5.10c with a large roof bulge.  To round out the day Ryan took on a 5.9+ dihedral, completing the cycle regarding classic features. 



Ryan on Headline 5.10a





Day 2:  Tyrolean traverses leading to the highly diverse granite greatness.  The Sport Park at Boulder Canyon is where we found ourselves on Sunday.  Again Ryan crushed!  Several days after our weekend of climbing with Ryan, I hear he has been dreaming of rock climbing and waking up with sweaty hands:) 

Ryan crossing Boulder Creek via a "hand tyro" to The Sport Park

Kristin on the "aerial tyro" to Avalon Wall

Ryno on Chicken Hawk 5.9+



Me on-sighting  Big Dipper 5.11a

Crossing in style:)

Noteworthy Sends:

Big Dipper  5.11a
OS

Eldo - A Few of the "Easy" Classics

Our Golden based adventure pad received its first visitors last week.  Friends from NM (Robin and Eowyn) escaped their drought ridden southwestern state for some good ol CO rock love’n.  The sched for each day included early starts to avoid the midday heat which scorches the majority of EldoradoCanyon’s glorious formations.  Upon completion of the AM’s routes, we would drive back to Golden for some Clear Creek action, taking advantage of numerous afternoon shaded crags.  The third stage of each day led to much anticipated visits to one of CO’s five hundred thousand billion micro breweries, for some post climbing brew ha ha’s.

Breweries visited:

Golden City Brewery (2^nd largest brewery in Golden)

Tommy Knockers Brewery

Avery Brewery       

Guidebook: 

NEW Eldorado Canyon Guidebook is RAD  

Robin on Calypso's 1st pitch

Kristin and I following...Hey Robin where's my protection on red?

K on the 2nd pitch of Breezy

Love It

Robin on West Chimney

K showing up Robin and climbing The Great Zot's 1st pitch finger crack

Belaying Robin on pitch 3 of Swanson's Arete.  In the background is Rewritten's classic 4th pitch

K on the super exposed 3rd pitch of Swanson's Arete

K the money pitch 4 roof on Swanson's

The crew each with our own variation of squinting to avoid the blazing sun, after topping out Lumpe Tower on Redgarden Wall

Ten Sleep Canyon - Reunion on Limestone

The Trips Itinerary 

1. July 4th: last day of Residency with team Deac.  Gonna miss you guys:
2. July 5th AM: Cram all of our belongings into two vehicles and one 5x8 Uhaul trailer.
3. July 5th PM: In route to Ten Sleep Canyon Wyoming for a climbing reunion between  "The Crew Formally from NM" and "The Crew Currently from NM, AZ"
4. July 10th: Completing the journey and move to our new home in Golden, Colorado

The Guidebook:

Ten Sleep Climbing Guide by Aaron Huey -2011

The Climbing:

Ten sleep Canyon is located in the Bighorn Mountains of north-central Wyoming, offering world-class limestone climbing.  Tommy Caldwell, Jonathan Siegrist among other professional climbers found Ten Sleep a more than worthy destination.  Click HERE for a link to Siegrist's blog and entry for Ten Sleep.

The Crew:

Da Crew - Short on Shot Glasses for Suzanna's B-day thus bowls and PBR cans:)

PBR Camp Fire Bomb - WAG Photos

Found in the Little Sleeper town of Ten Sleep Wyoming, about 15 minute drive from the Climbing

Some of the east side crags - including the ARC

The Mondo Beyondo Sector, with Slavery Wall seen at pictures center

Trail Markers - Ten Sleep Style

Helmet :) 

Wendy from Santa Fe on Burning Grandma's Bones 5.11b/c

Full Bloom

Me on Crossbow Chaos Theory 5.11a

Noteworthy Sends:


Burning Grandma's Bones 5.11b/c
FL


Crossbow Chaos Theory 5.11a
OS


I Just Do Eyes 5.11b
OS

We have Arrived!  Golden ROCKS :)

The "Origins" & "Headers" - Smith Rock

The Origins of Sport Climbing - or better described as bolted featureless concrete vertical walls.

• 1983 : Alan Watts introduced sport climbing to the US, with Watts Tots, 5.12b at Smith Rock, Oregon 
• 2011: Kristin, Brian, Casey and Me make our first and defiantly not our last trip to Smith 
• 2011: Kristin battles Rock

This place is rad, its the whole enchilada...awesome bivy site with heated water and showers, dirt-bags from all over the globe setting up camp for weeks at a time, thousands of routes sport n trad, the winding crooked creek snaking its way around the countless formations of volcanic tuft, oh ya and snakes...tons of them.  We saw 5 snakes including one of those rattler kinds.

Mt Hood over Asterisk Pass & The Christian Brothers Wall

The Morning Glory Wall - in all its glory

My Casey on The Outsiders 5.9

Brian setting up with the static beta on Toxic 5.11b

Me setting up for the dyno beta

Nailing the Dyno

Kristin On-sighting Carla the Stripper 5.8

Brian's Casey on Hop on Pop 5.8

The "Battle" - K takes a header.  
The darn rope behind the foot during an awkward crux maneuver :( 

Kristin was on fire leading and red-pointing several routes over the weekend, then the Phoenix wall got the Phoenix wall did the above.  She was two bolts from the on sight when an awkward sequence forced the rope behind her right foot, I yelled watch your right foot, then she popped off. It wasn't til the end of the fall that the rope flipped her upside down, her left elbow and forearm hit first followed by her dome.  The above pic was taken as instructed by the patient / ER nurse extraordinaire.  She then instructed the cleaning and temporary closure of the wound.  I must say for a caveman pharmacist, I did such a great job with the temporary fix, that the ER doc looked at the wound and said Derma-bond (basically glue for you non medical peeps) no stitches.  I said  "Doc lets try spreading the wound a bit its pretty deep"  Oh ya it needs stitches answers the doc...DUH!  10 stitches later K and I are heading back to camp for some pita pizzas made by the amazingly tough girl herself.  If it was me we would of been shacking up in the nearest 5 star hotel :)

• Lesson learned: helmets when sport climbing will be worn when pushing one's limits on lead.
• Kristin is one tough cookie, oh ya and she's got a hard head:)       
• The best pain killers or not narcotics.....but BEER

1 header --> 10 stitches = 10 beers @ Bend Brewery