Posts tagged Mountaineering
High Altitude Adventures
Battle in the Bubble: Boulder Colorado pro bouldering invitational
Another weekend, another big bouldering comp on the schedule. Just a couple of weeks after the 2010 Earth Treks Roc Comp and 3 weeks before the World Cup event at the Teva Mountain Games is this weekend’s Battle In The Bubble in Boulder, CO. After a semi-finals round at The Spot that will include 20 “Wild Cards” and a handful of select “Pro-Invitees” the finals will pit the remaining 10 climbers of each gender against each other in an innovative ”elimination/1st ascent” style finals outdoors at the Boulder Reservoir.
Following in the footsteps of recent comps the finals for Battle In The Bubble will be broadcast live online at The Spot’s website beginning at 7:15 MDT Saturday night. The live stream will be produced by Sender Films.
The preliminary running order for semi-finals has been posted here with the Wild Card slots to be filled in after a qualifying round tomorrow at The Spot. Paul Robinson (ankle) and Alex Johnson (World Cup in Switzerland) are notably absent from the running order, so it will be interesting to see if anyone can step up and challenge clear favorites Daniel Woods and Alex Puccio.
This information is a re-post from ClimbingNarc.com check out this site there is lots of good info here
Dragon Tail Couloir
I got invited to go climb the Dragon Tail Couloir this past weekend with a group of 3 other people. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to get up close and personal with one of the best couloirs in Rocky Mountain National Park and an opportunity to check out the conditions for skiing and snowboarding.
With the variable conditions in the higher altitudes in RMNP we decided that we should make it an early morning push and get as far up the couloir as we could before the sun hit it and started to warm things up.
We left the Bear lake trailhead at 6:00am and made really good time getting up to Emerald Lake. As the sun was just peaking up on the east side of the lake at about 6:30 we had our crampons on and ice axes in hand as we started our 1800’ ascent.
The snow in the lower section was somewhat soft and you could see the left overs of a few sluff slides or possibly some really small wet slides but the debris was not very deep and did not leed to any concern.
As we made our way up the into the couloir onto the 45 degree slope we hung to the south side were the snow was packed firm and you could get a really good perch the whole way up. Also in the gut of the couloir the snow looked really good and as the snow hit it, it was perfect spring snow for skiing.
We went up the left side where the dragon tail splits into two different chutes because the cornice on the top of the right side was looking very large and unstable. At the 55 degree narrow section the snow was softening up a little bit but still giving great holds for both feet ad axes. Where the normal 5.3 rock section is we actually ended up just being able to walk onto the rock, which was covered with about 2” of really soft snow. This made travel a little interesting but certainly easier than having to climb it. From here it was just an easy walk up out of the top where you meet the Flat Top Mountain trail.
The descent back down Flat Top Mountain was packed nicely and we had no trouble getting down quickly without the snowshoes that we decided to leave in the car. We reached the Bear Lake parking lot around 10:00am just as the normal Sunday morning crowds that are so prominent to the area were showing up.
The conditions in the Dragon Tail were so good that I think I will have to go back in the next few days and drop in from the top snowboard. So keep your eyes open for my posting on snowboarding this great 55* couloir.
Cheers!
Mountaineering Safety
Earlier this week I was out with some climbing friends talking about climbs when mountaineering came up and we started to discuss safety. I was really shocked to find out from a few climbers that I had just recently met that they did not carry avalanche equipment, beacons, shovel, & probes. The points that they made had me considering the facts on this issue and if the methods of travel for winter mountaineering were so much different than that of backcountry skiing and splitboarding that avi equipment was obsolete. I was so torn on the issue that I had to post it up on the popular climbing forum Mountain Projects to poll more of the publics opinion. While I do not think that this got to the bottom of the matter entirely I do think that some good points were made here. Please check it at this link and ad your thoughts on the matter, or leave me some input on my twitter and I can pass it along.
As for myself I do not think that I am convinced that avalanche gear is a necessity for traveling in the backcountry in the winter. I do think that there are some instances where it is not necessary but with all of the available information on how much the snow pack changes day to day and even foot to foot just having knowledge of route finding is not enough. I think that this is especially true for Colorado and other places that have the continental snow pack, especially when traveling in the middle of the winter. But please ad your thoughts and no matter you what they are remember to always practice safe travel in the backcountry, even if for some that means without avalanche equipment.
Cheers!
I would like to take this chance to introduce my blog. I am a Denver local, actually now a college student at the University of Colorado in Boulder studying advertising and photography. I will be using this blog to post trip reports, or more causally my adventures in the mountains. This will include topics such as rock climbing, ice climbing, mountaineering, backcountry snowboarding, camping and any other event that comes up involving the great outdoors. Along with this I will pass on current news involving many of these topics as well as literature that I think could be useful or is just interesting to read. Also I will post small amounts of gear reviews and product recommendations. As this blog grows you will be able to find links to many other helpful sites that are centered around the outdoor world. So tune in often because I will be updating my content multiple times a week.
Cheers!
