Leon's Last Fling
Leon was moving to Mexico. As in Mexico City. He needed to cut loose and have some fun before returning to work and his impending doom^H^H^H^H marriage.
We had no plan at all. We had originally thought of driving Denver to Phoenix and climbing along the way but the weather in Colorado was good and I became less excited about 30 hours of driving around.
So Colorado it was. After meeting Leon in Denver, we headed for Colorado's warmest crag: Shelf Road. My plan in life had been to avoid this place at all cost. I had heard many bad things: loose rock, hard routes, and (the worst one) the limestone. I hate limestone - it represents all the things I can't do on a rock: climbing overhanging faces, stuff my big toe in tiny holes, or pull up on two fingers. I want fist cracks, stems, offwidths, chimneys, long reaches, low angle slabs - all the things I'm OK at. But Shelf Road it was.
Shelf Road
Colorado Limestone
We peeked just a bit in ClimbingBoulder for directions and an idea of what crag to hit but when we arrived we couldn't really relate what we had seen online to the rocks. We scouted around a long time and finally found the side road up to the climbers parking lot. Unfortunately the snow on the road kept my car from climbing the hill and we had to walk from the main road.
As we scoped the crag, Cactus Cliff, a route jumped out at me. I told Leon it was "MINE". This route was just what I was looking for: crack. Dihedral. Rests. Easy. So off I went up a 5.7 with bolts every 10 feet. I have no ethics - I clipped the damn things and felt good about it. Even though I could have thrown in a nut just about anywhere the bolts were OK by me.
Now Leon needed a route. We worked right and saw lots of climbs. Really hard climbs. We were getting discouraged when suddenly things got easy. We saw a low angle rib with bolts all over it so Leon jumped on the rock.
Turns out it's a kiddie route - 5.5 for your 10 yr old to lead. But we had no pride - we did it. Leon tried to TR a 5.10 off the anchor but was shut down - we definitely needed more of these kiddie routes.
We eventually reached the end of the rock and moved to the next section of cliff. Here's what we were looking for - some reasonable routes. We saw a small crack in a vertical face and a dihedral. Leon jumped on the crack (bolted, as was everything around here) and it turned out to be really, really cool. 5.9 or so with every move being easier than it looked. Even I was able to climb it clean.
We weren't sure about the dihedral but it turned out to be OK. I chickened out because I didn't like the old bolts so Leon bailed me out. Not too bad - a 5.8 for our trouble.
Our routes:
Not bad for not having a guidebook or a clue.We buzzed over Monarch and landed in Gunnison. Snow. Cold. No climbing here!
Snowplay
I forced poor Leon to spend a day with snowplay. But at least we skied to a climbing area. We went up behind my house and skied past all the classic Hartmans rocks: Buddas, Tiger Wall, Groove Rock, and an unmentionable phallic pillar.
Leon was suitably impressed by my local climbing area but not being able to climb was a bummer. In the afternoon Marti joined us for a short ski tour in Taylor Canyon. This was really an excuse to show Leon how much rock I have to play on in Gunnison.
Buddha's Belly
A phallic summit at Hartman's
Skiing in Taylor Canyon
Escalante Canyon
Cliffs in Escalante Canyon
Escalante is about 2 hours from Gunnison and is relatively unknown. Aside from a brief mention in Desert Rock, there's no real information available. I had done just one route - the crack to the right of the "Cave Route" (about the only thing I could locate - my other visit we ran into a NOLS group that showed us a few routes). This time we spent a long time walking the cliff to see what was available. The biggest concentration of wimpy routes seemed to be by the cave so that was it.
I started with a 5.6 left of the cave. Unusually easy for this sort of area! No problem at all.
Then Leon jumped on the route I had done last time. It starts with a balls-out layback up a 10' crack. I threw in a BigBro for Leon (mostly psychological) and soon Leon was up. It's a lot easier to follow laybacks than to lead so I had no trouble at all. It's hard to rate these desert routes but we thought 5.9 or so was right.
Next it was my turn. I picked an ever widening layback that started at #1 and finished with #5. Good for a non-desert rack! I didn't make Leon proud. Lots and lots of hanging on the rope. Maybe another 5.9 or so.
Finally, we did the "Cave Route". This is listed on rc.com at 5.9 and looked intimidating from the ground but turned out to be mellow and fun. There were a lot more rests than usual in the desert and just as things got burley the chimney pinched a bit and suddenly you could chimney instead of jam. Way fun.
That was it for Escalante.
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 Laybacking for glory |
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Biking along the Colorado River
Biking
We headed to Grand Junction and then Fruita for a bit of mountain biking. Fun was had by all.
That night we camped at the BLM campground in Fruita and then headed for Moab. The weather looked a bit iffy so we screwed around driving through town. Finally it looked nice and we headed to Fisher Towers to attack climb #1 on my todo list: Ancient Art.
Ancient Art
Ancient Art
Ancient Art is one of the most improbably summits anywhere. The corkscrew shaped summit block is the most bizarre thing I've ever climbed. And it's perched atop a 200' buttress of vertical mud.
We arrived at the parking lot and were glad to see we should have the route to ourselves. The approach is a quick mile on good trail - ready to go! We elected to climb in 5 short pitches so that the crux bolt ladders would get good belays.
The first pitch was short and easy. Looking at the bolt ladder, it looked pretty doable. Leon joined me and then had at the crux of the climb. It turned out to be lots of fun - nice stemming moves up a groove on good crystals with great pro. There was a good belay at the next ledge and I followed with only minimal whining and no falls. No 5.11 here!
The next pitch was a long chimney. It looked dirty and hard to protect but turned out to be way fun. This led to a nice platform where the chimney hits the skyline.
The second bolt ladder followed. This was shorter but Leon found the moves harder. I cheated by reaching through to good holds. Leon is just too short, that's all!
The belay at top of the ridge was really wild. A narrow sidewalk leads to the bizarre summit pillar. I generously offered a chance for Leon to take the glory pitch and he agreed.
Leon contemplates the Pommel Horse
Next was the overhanging summit corkscrew. Obviously impossible. But Leon's not the sort of guy to let that slow him down. After clipping some antique pins, he launched for some big holds and managed to achieve an OK stance. A crack allowed him to throw a nut in and then he swung up and right, out of view. I pondered whether his weight would cause the whole summit to topple. I made mental plans to cut the rope if I saw it crumble. Meanwhile, Leon had found a good drilled angle and made the final move to the top. Ancient Art was ours!
Leon wasn't to keen about doing the "victory dance" on this impossibly small and weird summit so he sort of stood up, I snapped a picture, and then lowered him back to me. My trip up was uneventful - I found the last move to be disgustingly hard for tall people. A sad fact. But a flying leap to a bucket worked and I too teetered precariously at the apex.
I threaded the rope through the anchor and lowered back to Leon. A short rap took us to the nice ledge at the top of the chimney and then one long rap back to the ground. An excellent day all round. We finished off with a hike out a viewpoint for pictures of the climb and the Titan.
Back to Gunnison and then, with the whole gang, off to Denver for Christmas. My present was simple: a final day of climbing in Eldo with Leon.
 The first bolt ladder |
 Looking down the chimney |
 The second bolt ladder |
 Leon on top |
 Looking down from the top |
 Rapping down the route |
The Cobra and Ancient Art |
 Castle Valley |
Leon on Calypso
Eldorado Canyon
We started with a classic: Calypso to Reggea. Warm. Sunny. No problems. Then back down to contemplate something big and beefy. Finally it became obvious: we much climb the Yellow Spur.
The only fly in the ointment was a noticeable lack of daylight remaining. But that never stops real climbers.
Since Leon was far more studly than me, I gave him the first pitch. He led the traverse under the roof on the same ancient pins I had used almost 30 years ago. Not particularly inspiring. Then showtime: the pull through the roof. No problem for Leon! My follow was less than inspiring but I eventually made it.
Next up was the oddball 5.7 pitch. I gave this to Leon and he had a hard time finding the line but eventually we both were at the belay contemplating an acute lack of remaining daylight. We did the only honorable thing and climbed another half pitch to a ledge that led to rap anchors.
So that was it for Eldo. Leon was happy. I was happy. Rocks had been climbed. Leon had been amused. All was well.
On Christmas day I dropped Leon off at the airport and rejoined the family. No more climbing for me for a while! Leon survived a week in Arizona, a flight to Mexico City, and marriage unscathed. I hope.
Leon leading Yellow Spur |
 Leon on the Wind Tower |
