September 24th, 2011
Just got off a trip with fellow Michiganders Jen and Charlie. They were on a two week trip to climb and check out locations in Ouray for their upcoming wedding. I got them for four days near the end of their trip.
Day 1:
Climbed Ancient Art, Lizard Rock and two routes at Wall Street.
- Jen on Lizard Rock with the Fisher Towers in the background.
Day 2:
Chased shade in Indian Creek.
Day 3:
Maiden Voyage in the Black Canyon.
- Charlie leading the last pitch of Maiden Voyage.
Day 4:
Casually Off-Route in the Black.
- Jen and Charlie on Casually Off-Route.
It was great climbing with you Jen and Charlie, I hope to see you this winter in Ouray!
BK
Posted in Rock Climbing | No Comments »
September 4th, 2011
Tim has wanted to climb Pigeon and Turret since he first saw them years ago, but Pigeon and Turret are big peaks deep in the Weminuche. Just getting into Ruby Creek at the base of the peaks is a big day. The weather didn’t look great but looked like it would offer us a window to climb the peaks. Sure enough we got rained on hiking in and out of Ruby Creek but were blessed with only sun on the climbing day. Hiking out we figured we ascended around 9,800′ in the three days.
Great trip Tim!
Below are some photos of our trip.
BK
Posted in Alpine Climbing, San Juan 13'ers | No Comments »
September 4th, 2011
Gary had been into Chicago Basin back in the 70’s, and had left with unfinished business. He had climbed Jupiter and Windom but bad weather denied them Eolus and Sunlight. Since the 70’s Gary has climbed peaks all over the North Cascades. When he decided to return to the Weminuche to finish the peaks in Chicago Basin, he wanted to make it a combo trip and visit Vestal Basin as well.
We started out the 7 day trip with a day of rock climbing at East Animas in Durango, finishing day one with a two pitch climb called Angel Dust. Day two we took the train into Elk Park and hiked into Vestal Basin where we were greeted with a great show from two moose. The next morning we woke early and climbed the amazing Wham Ridge on Vestal Peak. On the way down from Vestal we decided it was early enough in the day to climb Arrow Peak as well. The next two days were spent hiking over to Chicago Basin for the second part of the trip. We decided that it was most efficent to climb all the 14,000′ Chicago basin peaks in one day so again we woke early and climbed Eolus then Sunlight and were at 13,800′ on Windom when the weather started coming in and forced us down. Not bad for one day! The final day of this great trip was spent hiking out of Chicago Basin and catching the train to Durango.
Check out some photos below!
BK
- Climbing ‘Yellow Pages’ at East Animas.
- On the hike in. Vestal and Arrow in the background.
- Climbing Arrow Peak with Wham Ridge in the background.
- Hiking on the train tracks through the mud slide.
Posted in Alpine Climbing, Rock Climbing, San Juan 13'ers, San Juan 14ers | No Comments »
