The Organic Climber – Vegetarian running, cycling, swimming, rock climbing and raw foods.

Things have been insanely busy lately with Bearded Brothers so I haven’t had much time to blog here, but hope that will change as the business becomes more self-sustaining. But, today I find myself sitting in my favorite coffee shop with a bit of time to kill. So, I thought I would write a blog I had thought about several months ago.

“I would never do that”, is something I have said many times. Many of the times it has been climbing related, other times fitness or goal related.  Despite having said that, many times I find myself doing the very thing I said I would never do.

When I first started rock climbing I felt safe in the realm of top rope climbing and said to myself I will never sport climb; but quickly realized my climbing options were very limited without that skill set. So, I set off to learn how to become a sport climber. This opened up lots more possibilities to where I could climb. Rather than being stuck at a crappy conglomerate stone crag in West Texas, I was able to venture to places such as Shelf Road in Colorado and Horseshoe Canyon in Arkansas.

The next thing I caught myself saying I would never do was trad climbing. But if you have been following this blog for any length of time, you will know I’m an avid trad climber. I would much rather spend a full day climbing 3 – 12 pitches high above the earth, than climbing just a few hard sport climbs. Trad climbing has opened up endless potential in terms of climbing.

Since taking up trad I have made many ground up first ascents of previously untouched rock. I have blazed my own trail up the East Face of Longs Peak when the start of the partially bolted route was covered in snow. There is a much greater since of satisfaction having climbed a route while placing your own gear than merely clipping a pre-drilled bolt. On top of that, I get to climb in places a majority of climbers will never even dream of. It has even allowed me to use my skills to guide groups of other climbers with the non-profit organization Ascend Outdoors.

I have even said this about running and triathlons. When I first started running I thought I would never run more than three or four miles, but one day after running six miles I was challenged to enter a half marathon. I replied, “no way, that’s not for me”. In other words, I would never do that. But, after researching the training required I realized I was half way to being able to run a half marathon with plenty of time left before the Dallas White Rock Marathon, so it was at that time I became a runner.

After having run several half marathons I knew several people that participated in triathlons, and again I said, “I would never do that”. Fast forward to over a year later I find myself starting my training for the Austin Triathlon, in which I finished 17^th out of 71 in my age group. Once again, having said I would never do something, I found myself doing that very thing.

My latest business endeavor, Bearded Brothers was another such thing I told myself I would never do. Even though I had always wanted to own my own business, I told myself I didn’t want the responsibility, but looking back on it now I see that it was just fear. Now I am fully emerged creating, selling, and marketing the best energy bars on the planet. We are just 7 months into the venture and already have a presence in nearly 50 retail locations. We are currently working on getting our product into larger grocery stores such as Whole Foods.

So, the lesson to be learned here is, never say I would never do that, because you just might. And, if you catch yourself saying it – realize it could be fear holding you back. It’s likely just an excuse to not try something you really do want to do out of fear of failure or putting in the time it takes to learn it. When in doubt, just go for it!

Climbing, Cross Training, Health & Fitness, Tri Training by OrganicClimber
business, fear, rock climbing, Running, sport, trad, triathlon, venture
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Since I started dating my current fiancée we started off our relationship long distance, so my opportunities to go climbing had decreased since we were spending our weekends together. But, this past weekend we both packed up the Subaru and drove north to the Ozark National Forest in Arkansas for a weekend of climbing. It had been several months since my last trip up there; so needless to say, I was pretty psyched to get back up to the climbing area I had been helping to develop.

The biggest downside to the trip was having a nine-hour drive, as opposed to the five-hour drive from Dallas that I was accustomed to. But, having an awesome traveling companion helped the trip go by fast. We even had a dine-in rest stop along the way and still arrived at the mountain with plenty of daylight left.

Upon arriving at the campsite, we promptly threw on the climbing pack and headed down to the climbing area. Our friends Gary and Mark had already been there, and passed us on our way down. Gary was grabbing new batteries for the drill to install bolts at the top of a couple of new routes, so we waited at the top of the cliff for him to return and enjoyed the views. Despite the cloudy haze over the mountains it was an enjoyable sight, with crisp pine scented air. After Gary arrived back at the top of the cliff he drilled holes for two routes and installed the bolts on one of the routes. After he finished up we headed back to camp to set up the tent and make dinner.

Upon unpacking the gear to make dinner I realized I was missing the hose line to the propane tank for my Coleman stove, so we ended up having to use my backpacking stove to make our quesadillas. The two-cheese blend along with a Texas style hot sauce made for a scrumptious meal. My evening meals are typically my only cooked meal while camping. For breakfast I will usually eat fruit and sometimes pack a smoothie for the first morning, and I will snack on fruit and nuts throughout the day.

The next morning we arose early, Kristy hadn’t slept a wink so decided to go for a hike, rather than risk poor judgment on the climbing wall. This weekend trip to the crag was the first weekend we had newcomers come out to enjoy the fruits of our development. It was fun watching other climbers enjoy (and struggle on) our established routes.

Most people stuck to moderate climbs, I opted to re-climb a moderate 5.7, that was the first climb I established, but ended on a 5.8 climb to the right. I ended up failing on the send though. I couldn’t commit to the crux move. Even though it was well protected with a number six Black Diamond Camelot, my mental game was not there. Gary then finished the route for me and I cleaned on top rope, sending past the crux move without a problem. Had I been consistently lead climbing for the past few months I’m sure I would have pulled the move on lead.

After about a half hour of resting I ended up climbing an easy 5.6, mixed trad and sport route. It was a climb I had never been on before and is probably the most well protected climb at the crag. I sent the climb without any problems. Compared to the rest of the climbing area this one is over bolted, which was great for me seeing as how I hadn’t lead in quite a while.

The next climb I did was Spearhead Arete, an FA (as the second) for the trip. Gary was celebrating his 50^th birthday and wasn’t going to let the weekend slip away without another FA under his belt. Having finished the route, his belayer offered me the follow. I respectfully tried to decline, but ended up being on rope. The climb was a 5.10a that was fairly sustained and started off with a heel hook move onto a ledge. After pulling onto the ledge you have to move around the corner of the arête and work your way up on delicate feet. After moving further up you can either move around the arête again and pull a roof using an under cling, or you can go straight up on small holds and no feet, only smearing. I made a few attempts at the overhang, but ended up going up the face, spearing on the lichen covered wall, just praying my feet didn’t slip out from under me.

Upon making it to the top Gary and I set up a top rope and let others be a part of the FA ascent. Three other climbers made there way up the route, thus getting their name in the guidebook as Gary’s Birthday Bash FA for Spearhead Arête. After finishing up this climb we made our way north to the most newly developed climbing area. While other climbers enjoyed a couple more hours of sends I decided to go back up to the campsite and join Kristy who was back from her hike.

That evening we enjoyed a “dump”, which was basically crab boil, shrimp, snow peas and venison all boiled together. I occasionally will eat seafood so took place in enjoying the dump, sans venison of course. I did end up with a small stomachache though, likely from the juices of the venison. The food was delicious though, and beers enjoyed by all. A lot of the climbers stayed up later into the night around a campfire, but Kristy and I retired fairly early due to a sleepless nigh for her. Sadly, that night ended up being somewhat sleepless for me, as I tossed and turned all night.

The next morning we got off to a late start and arrived at the base of the cliff around 9:30 a.m. after lots of bushwhacking through trees and bushes. It was hard for me to find my way around with all the overgrowth of trees. The last time I had been out there was during the late winter, so finding my way around was easy.

Upon arriving at the wall a couple of climbers were already on their way out but had a rope on a climb I had established earlier that year, so Kristy and I decided to make this our first climb of the day. Kristy made it up the route without a problem – not bad for a girl who hasn’t climbed in over two years. After finishing the route I jumped on and had another fellow climber give Kristy a lesson on belaying, seeing as how we will be climbing a lot more in the future.

The climb was slightly different than I remember, but the crux move was a layback with a toe jam into the crack. After making this move you sling a tree growing out of the rock, grab the tree, layback and pull a tiny roof. After this, the route is pretty much over, only two moves left to the anchors. The fist ascent was a ground up establishment though, so the anchors ended up being in a slightly different place than where the route actually finished.

After finishing this route, we move into the shade and watched others take turns climbing Natural Ice, a 5.8 dihedral with a V0 start. The climb got its name last January when we attempted to ice climb. The dihedral was iced over very well, but nobody was able to make it to the top. But, that is the reason for the climb’s name, “Natural Ice.” After the other climbers finished I had my turn and grunted my way up the sustained 5.8 climb. It’s definitely not something I would have wanted to lead that weekend. I’m just glad I was able to make it up and not be humiliated by a climb that is well under the grade I am capable of.

After finishing up Natural Ice it was time to head home, so Kristy and I made our way back to camp and broke everything down. Before leaving I took a “hobo shower” from the well pump next to camp. I always try to do this before leaving sense the rock here is so dirty; I always finish up with my arms and face covered in dirt and lichen. Cleaning up before leaving makes for a more enjoyable drive home.

The drive home seemed to take a lot longer, but perhaps that was because half the drive was after dark. It feels good to be back home in Austin though and getting back to work. Well, working on getting work is a better way to put it, but I’m really enjoying live here and I’m glad I can call Austin home now. Really, the only down side to living here is that I’m further away from some of my favorite climbing areas, but I’m sure I will grow to love the climbing areas around here, not to mention the great cycling routes, and greenbelt access

Climbing, Trip Reports by OrganicClimber
arkansas, camping, ozark national forest, rock climbing, sport, trad
5 comments

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Note: I apologize for the long delay in getting this post up. I have had it half way written for about three weeks now. Due to the length of this post I also decided to break up the trip report into three parts, so this will now be part two of three.

Also, I am pleased to announce I am now an engaged man. If you want to know more about the wonderful lady, read this post that I wrote a couple months ago. Anyway, enjoy the trip report.

Climbing Fandango (5.5 II) last year was perhaps the highlight of my climbing career. It was 7 pitches of enjoyable run-out climbing. So, it would only make sense that I would be psyched about climbing the Direct East Face (5.6 III). The climb pretty much goes directly up the middle of the First Flatiron (in Boulder, CO) and then traverses the ridge, west, to the summit block. It’s 10 pitches of pure enjoyment on easy terrain.  The climb this year did not disappoint.

We woke up at 5 a.m. with the goal of being at the base of the climb at 6 a.m., but due to a slow start leaving the Hostel in Boulder and making a wrong turn off the trail we didn’t make it to the base until about 7:15 a.m. There was also another couple getting started at the base of the climb, so after waiting on them we probably got started close to 7:45 a.m.

Naren lead the first 5.6 pitch, which actually ended up being two pitches rolled into one. Naren ran out a full rope length to a good ledge. I actually had to take him off belay and stop down from my belay ledge to give him enough rope to put me on belay from above. The first pitch was the hardest pitch of the day, and I was thankful Naren had taken the lead. The first pich had two bolts on it due to the inability to place protection, but that was very surprising considering the only other bolt on the entire 1,000ft face was at the top of the second pitch for an anchor.

After arriving at the belay ledge with Naren I took a short rest, took the rack and began the second pitch. My first piece of protection was about 10-15 feet from the belay ledge. After that I didn’t get another piece in for at least 20 feet. At this point I began to wander off route towards what I thought was the path of least resistance. As it turns out, I was getting myself into 5.9 terrain, and Caleb doesn’t do well in run-out terrain like that. After much contemplating about continuing on my path of destruction, down-climbing, and then climbing back up again, I decided to completely down climb all the way down to my last piece of protection and then traverse left to meet back up with the route I was supposed to be on. I gave Naren a good scare too, he thought we ware going to have to bail off the route and call it a day, but I managed to collect my cool and proceed with the route.

Naren then lead the third pitch without any problems, other than passing a good belay stance, which required a bit of down climbing to return to the proper belay. I was up for the fourth pitch, which turned out to be a really run out 5.4 – 5.5, and was the headwall pitch. I didn’t find any gear right off the bealy, and was a good 30-40 feet above the belay before slinging a large horn. My second protection point was another slung horn – my only two places of protection on the entire pitch. The top of the fourth pitch had a nice large ledge that we decided to rest on. At this point a guide and his two clients caught up to us. They were moving very fast. The guide would solo the pitch, just hauling up twin ropes and would bring both clients up at the same time. What an efficient way to lead a part up 1,000+ feet of rock.

Naren lead pitch five, but ended up far right of the correct belay, thus adding an extra short pitch for us, which ended up being a short traverse that I lead. I contemplated connecting the entire pitch, but the guide that ended up passing as at this point had conjured up some mental blocks in my head my telling me a certain way was easier than going up the obvious gulley. I wavered back and forth for about ten minutes then decided to break up the pitches and bring Naren over. The anchor here was also pretty sketchy, so upon Naren arriving at the belay I made sure he didn’t put any weight on it. Since we had created an extra pitch here, Naren took the lead what became the seventh pitch. Since we ended up combining the first two, this put us at the correct number of pitches to reach the summit ridge.

From here we had several ridge line pitches until we reached the summit block. Since I had lead all but one pitch on this ridge I let Naren lead most of them. They were all very easy, with one 5.5 crux section, which was really the only place we needed to be roped up.  The exposure on the ridge was quite nice, but the terrain was so easy it never became an issue.

After reaching the summit we made the rappel down the backside of the Flatiron, that took almost a full 30 meters.  Other than having to pull the rope off a ledge on the way down, the rappel went perfectly smooth. Upon riving back at the car we had spent close to a full 12 hours. Not too bad considering we got slightly lost on the way in and ended up having to wait on two different parties during our climb; not to mention my wayward route finding skills.  The journey was a blast, and I look forward to doing more Flatiron routes in the future. Hopefully one of them will be with my wife to be!

Climbing, Trip Reports by OrganicClimber
Boulder, Colorado, Direct East Face, Direct Route, First Flatiron, Flatirons, rock climbing, trad
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After driving about 11 hours straight, we arrived in the Garden of the God’s Visitor’s Center parking lot. After taking a quick restroom break and picking up our climbing permits we drove into the park and headed straight for Red and White Spire. It’s been my tradition for the last three years now to climb Potholes (5.7 PG13) upon arriving to Colorado. Usually, it stops here and he head on into camp, but we had plenty of daylight left so we wandered around a bit and found ourselves at the base of Cowboy Boot Crack (5.7), a climb I had been told numerous times I should do. However somebody had already occupied the climb. We stuck around a bit and talked to the guy that was belaying his daughter up the climb. He worked high angle rescue in the park and gave us some beta about the place. His beta was basically, don’t place cams and don’t trust the old pins. That wasn’t exactly what I wanted to hear, but he told us of people placing cams behind flakes and falling. The falls generate enough force to explode the flake, sending the person falling, and the flake on top of them.

After that bit of information we headed over to The Drug Wall to climb Mighty Thor, a 5.10b that didn’t look too bad, but the first piton was pretty run out so I opted to lead Crescent Corner instead, a 5.9+/5.10a. This one was fairly run out too, but I managed to make it to the first piton with one piece of sketchy gear placed before that. The next move was pretty committing and the feet were horrible, nothing but flat, downward sloping dirty sandstone. I ended up hanging on the piton to rest, along with several others along the route. From a distance the climb looked like an amazing crack with deep jams, but there was nothing but laybacks on a thin seam, just large enough for fingers. After much grunting and hang dogging I made it up the 80-90ft route. Naren seconded and finished the route with only one take that I recall. After this we decided to call it a day and headed to camp in the National Forest just above Woodland Park. To our dismay we were far from solitude. While setting up camp at least four cars drove past our camp and set up nearby and played loud music late into the night. We apparently chose a campsite, probably the one they actually wanted, that the local kids in Woodland Park come up to party at.

The next morning, after a surprisingly good sleep (ear plugs work wonders). We headed back to Garden of the God’s to climb Cowboy Boot Crack and Montezuma’s Tower. But, once again Cowboy Boot Crack was occupied by other climbers. We contemplated waiting for the climb to free up, but I was antsy to climb and they didn’t look like they would finish anytime soon, so we headed over to Montezuma’s Tower, a two pitch classic 5.7 climb. This ended up being one of the most fun climbs I have ever done.

Naren lead the first 5.7 crux pitch without much of a problem. Committing to the first bolt was the hardest part, but placing a large number five Black Diamond cam a few feet below the bolt gave him the confidence needed to make the move. After the first of four bolts on the entire climb, things eased out a bit (in terms of grade), but was very mentally committing. The moves were easy, but protection on the climb was sparse. It made for a challenging climb as the second too. After moving above the crux you start traversing out right and then up a narrow spine. Moving up the spine was the scariest part, even going up as the second, a fall would result in a huge and dangerous swing. While making this move, your only protection is a sling running through a sandstone pot hole.  But, I moved up the spine with confidence despite the potential fall factor. I find it pretty amazing when I actually collect myself and move through the hardest part of climbs with the greatest of ease! It’s when I start freaking out that I slow down, begin doubting myself, and risk injury.

Upon reaching the belay perch I took a quick rest before starting the short second pitch. It was about 40 feet straight up, slightly overhanging and only protected by 1 piton about 12 feet from the belay. I did manage to place a couple more piece of gear up higher though before reaching the rappel anchors. One of the funnest parts of the climb was just sitting on the belay perch while bringing up Naren and watching the tourists take pictures of us from the sidewalks. Anytime a climber gets on the rock out there it draws a crowd. I’m pretty sure there were people that watched us climb the entire thing, from start to rappel.

After finishing up this classic fin, we headed across the street to Red Rocks Canyon open space, a city owned open space. We brought the guidebook with us, but pretty much settled for the first climb we found. I don’t remember the name of the wall we were on since we didn’t even open the guide book, but the pair that had just climbed it before us let us know it was a 5.7+. It was a fun slab climb with the crux occurring before you even reached the first bolt about 20 feet up. The rest of the climb was fairly easy and toped out above a hand-sized crack. The area is fairly popular and easily accessible so a lot of the climbs end up with polished rock, especially at the base. I recall working on one 5.8 climb a couple years ago that was likely more like a 5.10 now because of a super polished foot hold that was key to completing the crux.

After we finished this route we decided to go ahead and call it a day so we could make the drive into boulder and get settled into our room at the Boulder International Hostel. The stay there ended up being somewhat unpleasant due to not having any AC, and being stuck on the third floor in the far outside corner. This left us having to sleep with windows open and having to deal with all sorts of rowdiness outside, from firecrackers to gun shots. It was quite an experience.

The next day we climbed the Direct East Face of the First Flatiron, but you will just have to stay tuned for that portion of the trip report. I will be posting that sometime within the next week. Also, and a side note I have started working on a business plan to start selling my raw energy bars and other snacks I have made. I will be based out of Austin and will likely start locally with online orders available, so be sure to keep checking back for more information about that as well.

Climbing, Trip Reports by OrganicClimber
crack climbing, crack potholes, crescent corner, Garden of the Gods, gear, montezuma's tower, piton, rock climbing, trad
2 comments

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I was itching to get back out on the rock. Even though I had already been climbing outside three times this year before this trip, I was still antsy to get some lead climbing in on long run-out slab. Enchanted Rock is well known for its quality bouldering, stellar crack climbs and long slab climbs on the backside of the dome. E-Rock as climbers often call it is by far my favorite place to climb in Texas. Located just west of Austin in the Texas Hill Country, this giant mound of granite sort of pops out of nowhere and begs to be climbed.

As the weekend got closer I became inspired to register for another half-marathon, so getting a long run in that weekend was going to be important. I had worked in long runs on climbing trips before, last one I had done was about 10 miles, requiring me to wake up at 6 a.m. so that I could run, eat breakfast and still meet the group in time to head out to the climbing area. I really didn’t like waking up that early on the camping trip and I figured this time was going to be even harder since the weather was calling for temperatures in the low thirties. But on the way there, I got a bright idea – why not run that night. There was going to be a clear sky, which meant a night run would be really enjoyable.

So, upon arriving I quickly threw up my tent, grabbed my bag got into my tent, threw on my running cloths and grabbed my headlamp and iPhone. I thought about running the trails, but figured running along the road outside the park might be safer. As I began my run, I realized it was going to be a tougher run than I thought. There were hills – lots of them. I didn’t remember it being quite as bad driving in.

But, not to long into the run I stopped noticing the hills and I even decided to turn off my headphones. I thought to myself, why in the world am I listening to music when I’m out in nature under a gorgeous star lit sky? After turning off the music I could hear the sounds of animals moving in the woods on both sides of me, I could hear the crickets chirping, the bullfrogs groaning and the sound of my feet against the pavement.

My goal was to run about nine miles with a pace of at least 8:30, so I was still paying pretty close attention to my RunKeeper app, but around mile four the data all went to zeros except for the distance. I briefly stopped, hoping the data would return so I could force myself to run a good pace, but nothing was returning. This was a blessing though – I shoved the iPhone into my pocket and just kept running, enjoying it for all that it was.

I found myself staring up into the night sky for most of the run after that. I actually had a sore neck the next morning from it. The sky was also so bright I ran almost the entire run with my headlamp turned off. The only time I turned it on was to alert oncoming cars of my presence. Before I hit the 4.5 mile mark I was probably passed by a total of five or six cars, but on the return trip, I was all alone; just me, the road, nature and the sound of my breathing. It was euphoric! A couple times I even teared up just because I was so in love with the moment God was allowing me to enjoy; it was beautiful.

Once I arrived back into the campground all the data in my RunKeeper had returned. I didn’t run the 8:30 minute mile I had hoped, but I knew I hadn’t. I didn’t care either I had just experienced the most enjoyable run yet. I’m sure there will be more, but this one has been the best thus far.

The Climbs

The next morning I was really thankful I had decided to run that evening. As I began waking up I could just feel the cold air outside and was glad I could just lay there in my sleeping bag and wait until I heard other people outside the tent getting ready to head out to the climbs.

After waking up it took everybody a couple hours to get their stuff together, eat, warm up by the fire and be ready to go. Everybody took their time, which often irritates my because I am always so anxious to get as much climbing in as possible, but it wasn’t bothering me at all that day. Myself and my climbing partner for the day along with a group that was bouldering were there first to leave camp.  Thai and I arrived at Turkey Peak and had the climbing all to ourselves.

The first climb of the day as Butterball, a 5.8 sport climb on the far end of a granite slope. The first moves getting onto the climb are the scariest, because if you fall you are likely to slide down the granite slope if your belayer isn’t doing a really good job. I took the lead on the climb and was about half way up the route when the rest of the group showed up. By the time I had finished Stan had scrambled up an easy 5.4 ramp to set up the other two climbs on top-rope. After lowering off Thai went up the route next and then we enjoyed watching others climb on top-rope for a while. We waited until about half of the group had a chance to climb before we jumped on the routes. After finishing Turkey Hooks (5.8) and Butter Fingers (5.9) we decided to head to the Backside Cheap Wine Wall for some multi-pitch slab climbing.

Once at the bottom of the climb Thai and I inspected a couple of different lines. I was excited to climb 5.7 Boston, but the run out to the first piece of protection was pretty far so I thought about doing another climb just to the right that had a bolt half way up the slab before an overhanging lip you have to surmount to obtain the upper portion of the slab. Seeing as how the upper portion of the second pitch contained a long run out I might as well stick to the route I had planned on climbing.

After moving past my first piece of protection I put in a couple piece of gear in a notch on an overhang and pulled up onto the upper slab. Once here I found myself in an interesting situation. I knew the line I was supposed to be climbing was protected with a couple of bolts, but I couldn’t find the line at all, so rather than wander off into the unknown I stepped right and joined up with Kracken, another 5.7 climb that joins the same belay as Boston. From this point on up to the belay station was fairly easy. I only placed one supplemental piece of protection between bolts to reduce the run out.

Once I had my anchor set up I belayed Thai up to the belay station known as Beer Can Alley. Appropriately named too, as there was an empty Lone Star beer can lying next to a boulder. This seems to be the typical beer choice of Austin climbers that frequent Enchanted Rock.  The second pitch of the climb followed a large flake up and right to meet up with easy 5.6 slab that runs to the top anchors. Once here I thought I would easily romp up to the top, but I lost my nerve. Just one year ago I was one climb over and made the long run out romp to the top, but this time I wasn’t feeling it. At first I ignored that voice in my head and just told myself I need to get it done. I began slowly making my way up the slab but stopped about 10-15 feet from the top of the flake.

It was then that caution kicked in and I began down climbing back to the top of the flake and then back down to the belay station.  At this point we decided to just return to the base of the climb and move on to the next climb. However, we had one small problem. Thai had forgot to bring the second rope up with him. So not knowing if our rope was going to reach the ground we began making our decent, Thai going first. Soon after leaving the perch I hear Thai yell, “off rappel”.  Our rope just barely reached the base of the climb; thankfully Thai’s rope was a 70-meter rather than the typical 60-meter rop most climbers carry.

After this we decided to move on to a swooshing crack climb called Sweat (5.7). Upon reaching the climb we found another group of climbers already on the route, so we decided to wait it out and fuel up on some food. After eating and chatting with the other climbers, they suggested we top out on the backside of the dome and walk off the front instead of walking the long way around. Thai and I both thought this was a good idea, so we packed up our bags, leaving out only the necessary gear to climb.

After we were geared up and ready to go I started making the first moves on the climb, reached up to place my first piece of gear and slipped back to the base of the climb. It was going to be impossible for me to climb this crack in a full pack, so we opted to move one climb over to an easier climb to finish out the day. The other group of climbers we had talked to was finishing up on the climb, so we had to wait a few more minutes.

We didn’t have to wait long though and quickly found ourselves at the top of the climb. We had to make one more short pitch to level ground before we could walk off the backside. It was easy going though and we both made it to the top well before the sun had set. As we walked off the top of the dome, we saw a group of people with sleeping bags that appeared to be making camp for the night. I guess they didn’t know that camping was not allowed on top of the dome, but they could have just ignored it as well. Either way, they were going to be in for a cold windy night.

So, all together it was a great day of climbing. After everybody made it back to camp we all pilled into cars and headed into town to grab some dinner. Now, I am not really one to like going into town to eat; to me it takes a way from the whole experience. I would much prefer to stay in camp and eat dinner, but when the entire group heads to town I go as well so I’m not the only one in camp, because the flip side of this is that part of the climbing experience is bonding with fellow climbers, and that is something I don’t want to miss out on.

The second day of climbing was really pretty chill. I set up a top rope on Texas Tree Treesent a 5.8 crack climb that completely shut me down a year ago. I struggled through it a bit this time too, but finished it on lead. After that I hung out with Ryan and Jackie and helped them practice their trad climbing and watched them build an anchor to double check the set-up. The second day of climbing is usually always relaxing and laid back, but they can get a bit epic as well, this trip was for the most part epic free. I don’t consider backing down off a route epic. Now, had I made my way half way up and chickened out having to be rescued… that would be epic.

Climbing, Running, Trip Reports by OrganicClimber
bouldering, Climbing, e-rock, Enchanted Rock, rock climbing, Running, slab, sport climbing, trad
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A few weekends ago I spent my Saturday with the Texas Mountaineers helping instruct a beginners climbing clinic. We had a great time teaching them a lot of basics such as belaying, rappelling and simple anchor set up. We set up numerous climbs so they could get accustomed to different styles of climbing. The climbers were able to climb cracks, chimneys, slabs and face climbs. They definitely got a variety of styles in that day.

Every time we put on these beginner’s climbing trips I am reminded of the first time I went climbing. It was on a Jr. High Youth Group lock-in at Stone Works climbing gym. It was my first time to ever climb and was instantly addicted. Soon after that we took another trip to Mineral Wells State Park, this was my first exposure to outdoor climbing. Not to long after that I bought my own harness, carabineer and figure 8 belay-rappel device.

I didn’t get much use out of the harness until years latter though. I only climbed periodically, mostly indoors with the rare outdoor trip; in college I never really meet anybody that climbed, at least not that became consistent climbing partners. It wasn’t until a couple years after I finished college I finally decided to just dive headlong into the sport. I friend of mine had just bought a rope and another one expressed interest in getting into climbing; the latter being John, who went to Colorado with me this past summer to climb the Flatirons and summit Longs Peak. The other friend is now my roommate and although he doesn’t climb as much as I do he still graces me with his presence from time-to-time.

My intro into climbing was not as formal as the new members we recently trained. I wasn’t given formal instruction on how to set up a top-rope. I simply remembered a few things from watching people set up top-ropes on my first outdoor trip and things I read online and in books. Needless to say I made a few mistakes in my formative years of climbing, but for the most part I think I knew what I was doing.

Being the “self-taught” kind of guy I pretty much taught myself how to sport climb as well. Aside from the quick gym course on leading I learned how to clean an anchor on my own, perfected my belay technique, learned not to let the rope go behind my leg and many other essential skills required to stay safe. But with trad it was a different story!

Once I finally decided to start trad climbing, I sought out formal training. I knew how a cam functioned, I even knew how to place them for the most part, but didn’t feel safe pursuing it on my own. There was A LOT I didn’t know and sought out formal training needed to stay safe. I had already been involved in the Texas Mountaineers for about a year at that point so attended their intermediate climbers clinic where climbers learn to “second” a route, clean gear, work on gear placements and anchor building.

I still remember the first climb I did with my trainer Carl. After arriving at the second pitch of the climb we pulled the rope through so he could lead the second pitch, but as I looked at it I saw how easy it was and told Carl I wanted to lead it. So my second pitch of formal training was my first trad lead. It was an easy climb, but still lots of fun. The second climb I did after that day was even better. It was a long deep crack up a slab on Elk Mountain in the Wichita Mountains. I had somewhat of a hard time because I was nervous, having to stop and place gear, being unsure if my placements were good and fiddling with them over and over until I was happy with them. But I finished the route without falling and even set up the belay station successfully.

Since then I have become quite an avid trad climber. Most of the time I would rather spend my days on long easy trad climbs getting high rather than working hard 40-80ft sport climbs.  It’s kind of funny because when I first started climbing I told myself I would never sport climb, once I started that I said I would never trad climb and now I catch myself saying I will never ice climb, but I guess we know what that means!

To any readers out there considering getting into climbing I would recommend getting involved with a local climbing club. It will be your best resource for real training. I also highly recommend the book How to Rock Climb. It was a book I read when I first started climbing and it helped tremendously. For those of you wanting something more focused on training and improving your climbing abilities I suggest The Self Coached Climber – This book really helped me a lot with my form and was essential in helping me improve and break out of my rut of not being able to climb anything over 5.9.

Climbing, Trip Reports by OrganicClimber
beginner, Flatirons, gym climbing, instruction, Longs Peak, Mineral Wells, n00b, noob, rock climbing, Stone Works, trad
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One of the things I like best about living in Denton, Texas is the relatively easy access to some of the best climbing in North America. Just 2.5 hours away from my door step are mounds of pristine granite. I started off my blog with a post about Quartz Mountain in Oklahoma, which is actually a part of the same mountain range.  The Wichita Mountains offers everything from easy 5.6 trad climbs to hardman 5.14 sport climbs, there is even a plethora of bouldering to be had and plenty of FA’s still up for grabs.

The Wichita Mountains is actually the only National Wildlife Refuge in the United States that allows climbing, so climbers in this area consider themselves very privileged to have great access to such pristine climbing and not have to make long treks out west.  Most of the climbing here is traditional, but there are a hand full of bolted routes, most of which are bolted ground up. Once of the classic bolted lines is an 80 foot tall Dr. Coolhead, a 5.10b with only two bolts.  However, if less run-out sport climbs are your thing Half Dome is your crag, offering a hand full of routes ranging from 5.8 – 5.10+.

This weekend I will be heading out to my stomping grounds to help teach a beginners climbing clinic with the Texas Mountaineers. We offer the course a couple times a year. The follow up to the class is a weekend of climbing at Robers’ Cave in Oklahoma were the students will put into practice everything they learned in the clinic this weekend.

The photos you see here were taken back in April with photographer Andy Chasteen who was generous enough to let me tag along on a photo shoot with him. It was awesome to go on a trip and focus mostly on shooting because I am typically too focused on climbing, yet love shooting climbing. For more photos from the trip, view the slide show on my photography web site.

View more photos from the trip here!

Climbing, Trip Reports by OrganicClimber
andrew tower, bouldering, emily harrington, oklahoma, photography, rock climbing, trad, Wichita Mountains
4 comments

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Lumpy ate my rope
Late night under the moon light
Indeed, epic fail

It started out as a lazy day… our rest day. We slept in until about 7 p.m. Typical wake up time earlier in the week was 5-6 a.m., so sleeping until 7 was quite enjoyable but near impossible to sleep any latter. After waking up and milling around the campground a bit we decided to head over to The Stanley in Estes Park for breakfast. One of the girls from the group we helped out at Longs Peak the day before worked there; she ended up hooking us up with some great food at an amazing price. I had an awesome vegan burrito with the most meat-like “sausage” I have tasted since becoming vegetarian – it was delicious.  After filling our bellies with food we made a trip to Starbucks in hopes of seeing an acquaintance from the Dallas area that worked there, we didn’t see him so walked around downtown a bit and then headed back to the campground.

Since this was our rest day I began spending some time reading, writing in my journal, reflecting on the trip and on things going on in my life. It wasn’t too long before we realized that it wasn’t going to be easy to take a rest day. So we brought out the guidebook for Lumpy Ridge and started searching for a climb we could do that was close to the parking lot since it was already around lunchtime at that point. After selecting a climb we hopped in the Subaru (in the land of Subaru’s might I add) and headed to the crag.

The parking lot was surprisingly empty for such a beautiful day, but this never bothers me, it just means we will have more solitude while climbing. As we made our way down the trail we saw that the number one climb on my tick list for that week, Batman and Robin (5.6) an awesome climb that follows cracks, slab and ends by spiraling up a juggy pinnacle was only .10 miles down the trail, so we shifted gears and blazed our way to the climb, but we soon discovered the .10 mile sign we saw merely referred to the distance to the trial head leading up to the climb – despite realizing our mistake we pressed on to what would eventually be our own demise.

After much difficulty, scrambling around and changing directions multiple times we finally found the base of our climb. John the first there and already had the rope flaked out by the time I got there. So I quickly got into my climbing shoes, racked up my gear and was ready to get my climb on. I was quickly slowed down though, for some reason my lead head wasn’t quite there. I timidly made my way up the rock, frantically searching for places to put gear, but wasn’t finding any. Eventually I got up just enough nerve to advance up the rock to a place offering a good gear placement which at this point was about 15 feet off the ground. Getting that first piece in gave me just a bit more security and finished the first pitch of the climb not to long after that.

However, I was still a bit intimidated by the Lumpy Ridge rock. I’m not sure why though, I had climbed with confidence the whole week up until that point, maybe it was the late start that got to me, but whatever it was it never left me the rest of the week. After advancing up the second pitch I came to a thin finger crack that for some reason scared the piss out of me. It’s not that the crack was that hard to climb, after all it was slab, and an easy 5.6 slab at that. But no matter how much I talked myself up I was hesitant! I even practically built an anchor to protect the start of the crack, which quickly came in handy.

During this whole process of trying to advance up the thin crack a storm was rolling in off Longs Peak. I knew we either had to finish the pitch and wait it out at the next belay or lower off. I wanted to finish so kept at it, but was still unable to move more than a few moves off the ledge at the start of the crack. Eventually I decided to lower off and rap down to the base of the route to wait out the storm. Just about the time we hit solid ground the storm had passed. It was all for not. Being frustrated I wanted to just leave and come back the next day for my gear, but with the encouragement of my partner John we pressed on. I tied myself into the rope and self belayed myself back up to the first belay station and brought John back up so we could continue the climb.

This time around I brought John up to the ledge under the crack I was having trouble at so I could receive motivation from John. During our first attempt we were trying to combine pitches to save time so bringing him up to the ledge was actually the way the climb was intended to be done. With John closer by I was able to press through and finish the crack section of the climb, but not without a lot of frustration and feeling like I was going to fall, especially during the run out section above the crack to the next belay station.

At this point I was so thankful our climb was nearing and end, but I began to get nervous as the sun was starting to get low in the sky. Neither one of us had a watch with us so we had no idea what time we started our climb, had we known the time of day we might have come back the next day, but we were already on the rock and had to finish our climb. After John reached the belay we had one pitch left before reaching the summit of Batman Rock. The final pitch was an easy 5.4 climb, but was overhanging in parts so it was a bit of a head-trip.

I wish I could have said the final pitch went smoothly. After placing my first piece of gear I realized I needed to go further left, so I placed my longest sling possible on the piece of gear to eliminate rope drag. Soon after clipping in I was above that piece of gear and about 15 feet to the left of it and was unable to advance. My rope was stuck. So I simply attempted to flake the rope out and pull it out from whatever it was stuck on, but the rope didn’t move. The cool, calm and collect climber would simply down climb at this point and get the rope unstuck, but I was tired and frustrated and far from calm and collect. I sat down on the ledge I was on and let out a yell of frustration that could likely be heard in Estes Park.

But after sitting for a moment and catching my breath I re-gained my calm and patiently worked at the rope until it was unstuck. Once that was out of the way I advanced to the summit without fear, but was greatly worried because at this point the sun was almost down. After belaying John up to the top of the summit we took a brief moment to rejoice, take a couple photos and drink a bit of water while soaking in the setting sun, but time was money so we began our rappel off the pinnacle without much delay. After getting down from the pinnacle we were not safe, in fact we were nowhere near, neither of us had a head lamp on and we still had to make it back to the car.

We received beta from some  other climbers to just follow the cairns to the base, but we never saw these said cairns and we had a bit of a panic moment trying to find a way down. But I had remembered reading something about a decent gully in the guide books and thought I had found it. John and I began our descent and at this point it was almost dark. We eventually got to a point that the gully became too steep to scramble down so I decided to sacrifice a sling, wrap it around a tree and rappel down to the ground from there. This would have been a brilliant idea had the rope been long enough to reach the ground.

As I neared the bottom of the rope I saw another tree in the gully and thought this was just going to be a simple process of having John rappel down and then making another rappel down from the second tree, but I was wrong. The tree was actually a large bush and had a poor root system at that, there was no way we could wrap down by slinging a bush. I could tell at this point John was growing impatient and was worried, after all he was the one watching the sky turn black and the city lights of Estes Park appear right before his eyes. My next solution was to sling a rock horn that I found just a few feet below the tree. I yelled at John that I found our way down, so I stuck a cam between the horn and another rock to secure myself while John rapped down, but after giving the cam a good tug to set it, the rock moved. Another plan foiled.

At this point I knew we only had one option, but didn’t want to take it. It took me another five minutes of trying to think of another solution before finally deciding to rap off using a single line. After getting in a comfortable position in the gully near the tree I had John pull the rope back up to him and tie one end of the rope to the sling at top. Once the rope was secure we had enough rope to reach the ground, with about 20 feet or so to spare. The downside of this of course was my rope was fixed at the top with no way of pulling it down. My new double-dry, bi-color Mammut rope was gone! The bright side is, we still have our lives.

Being back at the base of our climb was an amazing feeling, but we still had to hike back to the car in the dark. Thankfully the moon was pretty bright, although it went in and out of the clouds during our entire hike back. After packing up our gear we slowly made our way back down the trail, but eventually lost the trail and found ourselves bushwhacking for a majority of our trip back. We often times found ourselves back on a trail and found cairns, but would lose them again due to the darkness.

My eyes did become somewhat adjusted to the dark though. I remember at one point making out what I thought was the large field at the base of Lumpy Ridge and a fairly wide trail. At this point we had been zig zagging our way down, partly mandatory due to running into granite bluffs but partly due to just not knowing where the heck we were; so I decided we were just going to head straight down a gully we spotted just to our right that seemed to lead right to the base of this trail. The gully was full of down trees, which deterred John, but being overly confident I spotted the main trail I lead the way and sure enough, we eventually came to the main trail at the base of Lumpy Ridge.

Despite being tired we both kicked it into high gear, hauling full bore across the meadow, eventually losing the trail again, but not caring just continued on towards the parking lot and eventually meet back up with the trail again. We had also been out of water for some time, I had been feeling parched for quite a while at that point and was happy to come across a water fountain along the trail on the way back to the car. I stood there and drank for what seemed like three minutes straight. That drink of water thought gave me the energy boost to pick up the pace even more to get back to the car.

Not too long after our pit stop at the water fountain we arrived back at the parking lot, at this point we were the only car in the lot and it was 11:15 p.m. Our epic had finally come to an end. I think somebody may have even alerted the Rangers of our presence in the Park, just before we were leaving a Ranger rolled through the parking lot and shined his spotlight on our car briefly and then drove away. Not sure what that was all about, but we were happy to be back on solid ground. Needless to saw our plans to meet one of our new friends at the local pub in town didn’t happen. I’m sure we could have still stopped by, but both of us were far too tired to say up a moment longer.

I find it strange how the mind can play such a huge factor in one’s climbing ability. The following day John and I meet a couple friends of mine from Twitter for some climbing, but due to various circumstances it ended up just being a nice hike. I had actually fully geared up for a very aesthetic looking route with called Oregon Pipes, and it looked just like a series of pipes running up the rock, but my mind wasn’t in it, so we packed up and headed back into town. The prideful side of me hates to admit that, but I’m starting to realize that this is just part of climbing, some days your on, some days your not.

For those of you longing for another food related post I won’t let you down. My next post will be about anti-inflammatory foods. What to eat, and why we should eat them

Climbing, Trip Reports by OrganicClimber
batman and robin, batman pinnacle, Climbing, Colorado, epic, fail, gear, lumpy ridge, RMNP, rock climbing, Rocky Mountain National Park, trad, trip report
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Ever since I first laid eyes on the Boulder Flatirons in the Summer of 2007 I wanted to climb them, but at the time I was nothing more than a mere sport climber and had only been doing that for about a year. The Flatirons are largely (no pun intended) what inspired me to get into trad climbing. I quickly realized that there would be a limit to where I could climb if I didn’t pick up a rack of gear and start climbing traditional style. That next winter I lead my first route in the Wichita Mountains of Oklahoma. A year and a half latter I would return to the Flatirons to climb Fandango (5.5  II) on the first Flatiron.

Our day started out around 6 a.m. but we didn’t arrive at the parking lot of the Flatirons to nearly 9 a.m. – the night before we were unable to finding camping close to Boulder, which lead us 35 miles south of town to find a reasonably priced hotel. Getting a late start on the rocks is my pet peeve. I always like to be out as early as possible, but this time it really didn’t bug me because I was so excited.

On our way up to the route we were not quite sure which direction to go at a fork in the trail but another group of climbers was coming up behind us, we asked which direction to head for the First Flatirons and they pointed us in the right direction, they had actually been planning on climbing the same route, but graciously decided to start on another route just to the left of ours.

After a winded walk up the meadow hill and through the trees we arrived at the base of our climb. My partner John was pretty gassed but recovered fairly quickly and was ready to go by the time I racked up. As I started the route I knew I was going to be in for a challenge that day as the first flake I could see to place gear was about 20-30ft up the route. Once I arrived at the flake I discovered it was hollow. The rumors I had hear were true, the Flatirons hardly took any gear and were full of hollow flakes that would likely shatter if you took a fall them with gear placed under them. But I placed gear anyway, just to help with my mental game and soon I was off, running out the rope further and further between pieces of gear.

I found the climbing pleasing and the rock aesthetic, never did I feel as if I was in a desperate situation after I placed my first piece of gear. I was climbing with the most confidence I have had in a while (if only that held for the Lumpy Ridge portion of our trip). We finished the actual climb in about four pitches, but were held up by the other group next to us around pitch three. Rather than staying on the route they had planned on they ended up doing a variation of the one we were one and crossed our path.

So after chilling at a belay for about 20-30 minutes we were off again and encountered what I considered the crux pitch of the route, “The Quartz Crystal Pitch”. This was the steepest section of rock on the route, hardest to protect and really the only “mental” challenge of the day. But I made it through the rough crystal encrusted section of rock with plenty of grace and soon found myself at the top of the route. After bringing up my partner John we discovered we were not quite through with the route. We still had to “summit” the route. In order to descend the route we had to traverse the ridge of the Flatiron to the far Southwest summit and descent on the rappel anchors. The traverse was easy, but somewhat tedious because of high winds, which made communication with my partner difficult. We ended up breaking up the route into numerous short pitches rather than two or three. It was a pain to keep changing over at the belay station since we were not swapping leads, except for a couple really short pitches that did not require placing protection, but we finally made it to the summit and rappelled down to the back side of the Flatiron.

At this point we were both dying of thirst. I had consumed all three litters of water I brought; John had to drink all of his water around the third pitch while waiting on the other party because he dropped the lid to his Nalgene. Neither one of us knew the best way down, so we asked a hiker that was walking by after our descent. The generous man pointed us down a trail that lead down a valley on the east side of the Flatiron, but little did we know that was not the fastest way down.

Our hike back to the car was slow and sluggish. At one point I saw a small apple tree and remembered I had a large Granny Smith apple in my backpack. Knowing fruits are hydrating I sat down on a small step in the trail and ate half the apple before beginning to hike back down again. The apple provided just enough energy to get my back down the trail and provide me with a boost of speed once I arrived at the meadow.

We arrived back at the car with plenty of daylight left (unlike another part of our trip) and set out to find a place to stay for the night, which ended with us staying in the Boulder International Youth Hostel. The entire day, car to car took about nine hours. I would say that is not too bad for a couple of guys that haven’t climbed more than three consecutive pitches in a row, had to wait on another party of climbers and had a hellish walk back to the car.

The First Flatiron was one of the highlights of the trip for sure. Longs Peak via the North Face Cables Route was likely the second high point, if not the first. Well, it literally was the high point of the trip at 14,259 feet. So, be sure to check back soon for my report on our ascent up Longs Peak.

Climbing, Trip Reports by OrganicClimber
Boulder, Colorado, fandango, Flatirons, rock climbing, trad
9 comments

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I was very hesitant to head to the Wichita Mountains for a day of climbing this past Sunday due to the forecast of 100+ degree heat, but my climbing partner for my upcoming trip to Colorado insisted on going. I decided it would be a good idea since we needed more practice on multi pitch routes together.  I also have wanted to lead Crazy Alice, a 5.8 zigzagging crack – classic trad lead. I had top roped it for only the second time last trip out their and was confident I could lead it. The idea of bagging this lead also had me psyched for the trip.

Our alarm went off at 5:30 a.m. I was in such a daze I didn’t hear one word from the radio announcers voice. We had only put in five hours of sleep, but quickly got moving and were out the door before 6 a.m. About half way to the Wildlife Refuge I realized we could have slept in another 30 minutes and still arrive just as the gate opened. So at that point I slowed down a bit so we could get better gas mileage and we took our time at the only rest stop we made.

About an hour and a half after our stop we arrived at the gates to our climbing area – The Narrows. In the past the gates had always been open early, but today they were not. We arrived about 10 minutes till 9 and ended up waiting until 20 after, during this time about 10 different cars drove up to the gates in hopes of getting in, but we were the only ones that stayed to wait. During our wait we decided to tape up for our climb and organize our packs so we would be ready to roll once the gate opened.

After the Ranger opened the gates we quickly made it to the parking area and hit the trail almost immediately.  As we approached our climb I our fist climb would still have some shade on it, but as we got closer I saw that it was in full sun. At this point the temperatures were already close to 100 degrees and I was feeling exhausted from the two mile hike in.

Once we arrived at the base of the climb I was feeling a little weary so I drank more water, ate a bit of food and took my time gearing up for the climb. After being fully geared up I sat in the only shaded spot we had at the base of the climb (everything else as in direct sunlight). After I felt only slightly better I decided to start the climb and just get it over with so we could move on to a climb in the shade.

As I started the climb I had a bit of trouble with the start, but soon figured out the moves and was on my way up, climbing with great confidence. Although the rock felt like I was touching a hot frying pan I was fairly ok if I jammed my hands deep into the crack. Once I got about 20 feet up I started feeling fatigued, my confidence began to wane and I rested on a marginally placed piece of gear. I became frustrated; my hopes of climbing the route clean on my first lead attempt were shattered. I overcame the frustration though and continued climbing. After placing a couple more pieces of gear I placed a bomber number two Camelot and yelled to my belayer, TAKE. At this point I was starting to feel heat exhaustion kick in so decided to lower down and rest a bit before finishing the route (seeing as how I had already rested on gear and was not going to have a clean ascent).

After resting a bit and drinking more water I began to climb again. This time I was tired by the time I got back to my last piece of gear, likely because I climbed so fast and got my heart racing. I again had to rest before proceeding with the climb. After gaining my composure, or so I thought, I began to climb again. Shakily I paced another cam blindly into the crack, which turned out to be bomber, and reached for a draw to put on the cam; while doing this my hand trembled as I pulled off a cam and draw at the same time, dropping a number three Camelot 40 feet. I watched it hit solid rock and then bounce into the dirt. My yells of frustration echoed throughout the canyon walls.

But after the frustration subsided I began to climb again and as I neared the top I placed my last piece of gear and still had about 12-15 feet of climbing to go, so I gathered myself mentally and confidently climbed the last section of the route. Once I reached the top I pulled off my extra locking biners and clipped in to the chains and alerted my belayer I was clipped in.

My plan at this point was to belay him to the top and photograph him coming up the route, but by my this point I felt heat exhaustion had completely kicked in and there was no way I was going to be able to safely belay him to the top without potentially passing out. So, I lowered back down to the ground. At this point I sat there for about 15 minutes sipping on water and pouring it over my head until I felt a bit of energy come back. After that I belayed my partner to the top so he could clean the route. By the time he had come back down to the ground I felt my energy restored and decided we should try to find a climb in the shade.

About this the only other climbers we saw that day were leaving and told us about an area I had not been to yet that would be in full shade. After seeing my next projected climb was in full sun we opted to seek out this coveted shaded area.

After hiking another two miles back to the car I was once again feeling exhausted, but after eating more food and drinking more water I gain re-gained some energy.  Searching for this shaded wall, The Meadows, was slightly more difficult than expected, but after pulling out the compass and realized we were heading in the wrong direction we managed to get back on course and find our destination without much time lost.

Because we were so weary we opted for an “easy” 5.6 bolted route. However as typical in the Wichita Mountains the route was fairly run-out. The first bolt being about 30 feet off the ground (although we realize latter I passed one about 20 feet up) spooked my confidence a bit, likely from the heat exhaustion, but I began the climb anyway and found a supplemental gear placement about 15 feet off the ground, once I pulled onto the ledge above my piece of gear I was able to make one more move up and clip the second bolt. I quickly yelled back down to my belayer, TAKE. My pride was shot, I rested on a 5.6 climb, but in the end it’s always better safe than sorry.

I eventually got to a point on the route that I felt like I couldn’t move any higher, I looked up and it appeared the next bolt was about 20 feet away. The bolt also looked HUGE. I thought it was some sort of weird anchor. In fact, I thought it was the anchor. So I lowered down to get a bail biner to go back up to clean my draws, but my less experienced partner decided he wanted to try finishing the route. I feared he would fall, shattering has ankles on a ledge, making our trip to Colorado a bust. I didn’t want him to go, but he wasn’t going to not let me belay him up.

So, I gave him the gear he needed and told him how he was going to have to clean this strange looking anchor I saw. After that John was quickly off and arrived at the last bolt I had clipped and rested there before proceeding. As he attempted to move up he took a couple of falls. I encouraged him to just leave the bail biner and lower off, but he insisted on proceeding. I prepared myself to run back as far as possible to prevent him from hitting a ledge, but to my dismay he made the moves and reached out clipping the anchor without having to girth hitch it. WHAT THE CRAP, I thought. How did he clip that anchor, it was HUGE. I realized then the heat exhaustion must have made me hallucinate, seeing a regular sized bolt as an oversized horizontally placed bolt.

After some struggle to make the final moves John realized he couldn’t finish and lowered back down. I then jumped back on the rope and climbed back up to the last spot he fell.  It took me a while to spot the anchors because the blazing hot sun was just peering over the top of the cliff, but after several attempts I finally managed to reach the anchors, clipped in and then cleaned the anchor and lowered off, removing gear along the way down.

That climb would conclude our climbing for the day. We were both obviously exhausted, getting our butts kicked on a 5.6 climb when both of us can climb much harder. After a few minutes of resting we headed back to the car and loaded up the gear. The plan after that was to head to a deli we saw in town for sandwiches, but at this point I was SO hungry and wanted more food than just a sandwich, so with the help of my iPhone we managed to find a Chilis that was off the main drag that cut through the town of Lawton, Oklahoma. John enjoyed a juicy burger, medium-well, I inhaled a black bean burger and entire plate of fries, including some of John’s. I regretted eating that much food about 30 minutes down the road, but it was very satisfying at the time of consumption.

The lesson learned this day was simple. Never climb in 100+ degree heat. My car was registering 106 degrees when we left, when I checked the weather on my iPhone in town it gave a temperature of 103 degrees, so no matter how you look at it, it was crazy hot out there and no amount of water helped us to stay hydrated. Between the two of us, we polished off 8+ litters of water.

I can say this though; this trip will make us REALLY appreciate Colorado this summer! I can hardly wait to climb in temperatures below 90 degrees. Hopefully we are lucky and will experience a few 75-degree days. That would be so sublime!

The photos you see here are of Crazy Alice (5.8) that were taken from my first trip out here in April of 2007. It was a magical experience that included crossing a “creek” that was really a river at the time due to recent rains and ended with snow flurries as I toped out Crazy Alice for the first time on top rope. So, it has actually been over two years since I returned to the climb. Despite the heat exhaustion it was well worth it and I am confident I will climb the route clean next time.

And for those of you that might be wondering what the new Subaru Outback looks like, here she is…

Climbing, Trip Reports by OrganicClimber
crazy, crazy alice, fatigue, heat, heat exhaustion, hot, oklahoma, Outback, rock climbing, Subaru, The Narrows, trad, Whichita Mountains, Wichita Mountains
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