Tourists meandering to Boulder Falls beyond us seemed to move with a distinct lack of purpose. Sarah yelling for slack cut me away from the dull overwhelming lull of noise emanating from Boulder Creek below. For a second I was almost relaxed enough to nap, even despite the slight hanging position I was sitting in at the second belay on our way up Tonnere Tower in Boulder Canyon. We had considered climbing this jutting formation within BoCan many times before, as each time we’d whizz by on our way to Nip and Tuck, Sports Park, anywhere else, the dominating position it took above the hustle and bustle of the Boulder Falls lot cut through the normality of stopping your car simply to gander at water falling down. Each time we’d considered it though, as if guided by fate, weather moved in, or there was someone on the route we’d wished to do already. This time was different. The summit was clear. The sky was a nice hue of deep blue in the mid-May sun. It was a Monday. There was no spec...
Looming above Boulder, Colorado lies one of the best alpine training grounds the intermountain west has to offer. Seeing as the secret’s already out, and some of the best climbers in the country call Boulder home, I figured I’d throw in my 2 cents. Here goes my top 5 favorite Flatiron scrambles I've done so far. They are as follows: Second Flatiron via/Dodge Block (5.0 II) Second Flatiron via/Freeway (4th II) The Regency via/El Camino Royale (5.2 II) The Amoeboid via/Buckets (5.0) Der Zerkle via/Sunnyside Two (4th)-West Face (5.0) Honorable Mentions: Nebel Horn Via (5.0 II), Anomaly via/E Face (5.0), and Royal Arch via/E Face (5.0 II) 1. Dodge Block (5.0 II) Second Flatiron This one took the cake as my favorite scramble so far for three key reasons. First is the length. Nothing beats going the full stretch of one of the significant Flatiron formations. For being able to get this route done in less than a couple hours it really makes you feel like you’re climbing something much...
I blew a snot rocket into the surrounding sagebrush as I continued to huff my way up the sandy streambed that doubled as the trail. Silently, I regarded the tattered pile of deer bits and fur in the bushes next to me as I passed. “Another cat kill,” I breathed out to no one in particular. I was alone, after all, Sarah and I were traveling at different paces around the giant lollipop in the south Arkansas River Valley bush. I was over half way through the Catkin Gulch Loop, a more than ample tour of the newly-minted Browns Canyon National Monument. Browns Canyon sits right outside of the small town of Nathrop, directly south of Buena Vista and no more than 15 miles north of Salida. Hosting an interesting array of high desert scrub, river fauna, and needle-like rock formations slightly recognizable to the rest of the Ark River Valley, the National Monument protects a large swath of wilderness from the seemingly unending onslaught of human damage occurring to similar areas. With a...