Colorado: Eldorado Canyon, the Rockies, and more...

Two great weeks in Colorado hanging out with Michiel's brother Sebastiaan and his girlfriend Jamie really kick-started our climbing trip. We drove down after a fun wedding weekend in Bozeman (thanks and congrats to Hannes and Laura!) over the 4th of July. After a full day's drive we arrived at the doorstep of their little house that sits next to the creek in Eldorado Canyon, a world class climbing site. Being in Colorado, we had to get used to how dicey it can be to climb with the possibility of storms in the afternoons. Being halfway up a tall spire with a lot of metal dangling from your body during a lightening storm is not such a good idea. So that made early morning alpine starts a must.

Thankfully, with Sebastiaan and Jamie's doorstep only 10 minutes by foot from the sandstone climbing of Eldorado Canyon, we were still able to, some days, enjoy both a lazy coffee-filled morning and quality climbing. Eldorado Canyon has sandbagged ratings, fairly polished though solid sandstone, and some finnicky gear. Large towers in the colors of warm sunsets rise up on either side of the creek, and are covered with florescent yellow lichens. Quality multipitch cragging routes are bomber here.


We hit some great routes in Eldo, the favorite being the 7-pitch Yellow Spur a Grade III 5.10b (Michiel's second time on the route, Sebastiaans's 5th), where we forgot to take a camera and document Kelly's onsight on the highly exposed crux pitch 800 feet up. And the 5-pitch 5.10a Handcracker Direct.



We also got into Rocky Mountain National Park for a few alpine climbs. Started with the Petit Grepon, heading in with two parties of two--Michiel and Kelly on the South Face, one of the most popular alpine climbs in the country and immortalized in the 50 Classics of North America, and Sebastiaan and his buddy Chris beside us on the Southwest Corner. Amazingly, the four of us had the mountain to ourselves that day, and did not have to leapfrog around other parties. That's when climbing in the alpine is at its best. The South Face was a fun route, pretty low-key and enjoyable.


The boys gearing up on the Petit Grepon at dawn.


The crazy profile of the Petit Grepon from the base. The face steadily narrows into a tiny blade of a summit.




Climbing up easy chimney sections.

Kelly attaining the summit.




Our next main alpine climb was on Hallett Peak. We headed up there with Chris Taylor to tackle this imposing 1100 foot face via the Culp-Bousier route, Grade IV 5.9.

Leaving Boulder at 2 in the morning and the car at 3:45 we got an early alpine start and were greeted with a beautiful sunrise before hopping on the climb. Although not much higher by grade than the Petit Grepon, it is a much more committing climb. Fun, but mostly full length (200 foot), pitches combined with two ropes added up to a lot of rope drag. We enjoyed the quality of climbing on this one for sure though. Luckily, we narrowly missed a thunderstorm complete with hail and driving rain which came in as we were descending down the gullies and boulder field.




Michiel leading the crux pitch of the route.

Chris bringing us up to the summit in a rope-stretching pitch with some wet sections.

Our last Colorado climb was probably the best for both rock quality and challenge presented to all of us. Michiel, Sebastiaan and Kelly headed out to the park one last time to tackle the Barb on Spearhead, an 8-pitch 5.10c. The approach was gorgeous, especially once we got to Black Lake (below).

Spearhead sits in a beautiful cirque of peaks at the backside of the Diamond. It is the pyramid-shaped mountain behind Michiel and Kelly as we make sandwiches for the next day's climb. Soon after, we called it a day and crawled into our awesome little cave of a bivy spot protected from the strong winds of the day.






Mac started us out on the climb on a fun little section although fingers were still a little numb.

Kelly leading her first 5.9 alpine pitch, a fun traversing fingers crack.

Sebastiaan on the fun 5.9+ hand traverse before the roof on pitch 5. This long sustained rattly hands pitch that brings us up to the crux. The belay spot is about the size of a postage stamp and we are all hanging on gear as we shift climbers.

Then Michiel takes us on the 5.10c crux pitch with a fixed piton in it. Starting out with a 5.9 section of off-fingers to a hard section just barely large enough to fit fingertips in, the crux, and then easing off to a fun 5.9 crack that brings us around to the North Ridge. From here we belay to the summit.

The Colorado trip was a blast. We would spend our evenings eating meals at the house, having nice dinners in Boulder (hooray for happy hours) or seeing Jamie at work at the bar. Two weeks was not long enough, but the Cascades and a couple of engagements were calling....