The Sawatch Cowpoke

The following are some of my collected thoughts so far while taking part in the Summit 62 Project, where all 62 of the highest points of Summit County, Colorado are reached. “In the summer, I spend a majority of my time running and climbing mountains. In the winters, it’s about the same, just subtract running for skiing. In short, when one is able to take a truly objective look about where I spend a large majority of my time outside of work, it’s doing something in the alpine. I could get technical, talk about how much of that time is truly spent in the alpine, as myself and my partner, Sarah, consider ourselves part-time locals of the desert as well, but in all reality for true honesty’s sake, let’s say I spend nearly as much time as humanly possible out in the middle of some wilderness, whether it be arid or high. Why? Because I can. In the most self-serving and selfish way that I can convey it, because I can. Because I have the freedom to be able to live my life that way. Why? (bu...

     Through the sparse pines I could make out the off white paint of the buildings throughout the historic Twin Lakes Interlaken Inn. I hacked up a ball of phlegm and spat it into the sparse snow of the underbrush on either side of the trail. I was nearly three quarters of the way there, just a few more miles. It was clear at this point I hadn’t eaten enough. I was bonking, bonking fast and my legs felt like they were full of concrete. I huffed, and kept going on the trail across the beach past the main decks of the inn. At least there was only 1500’ elevation change to go. About an hour and a half before, Sarah and I finished our final little preparations for the trail. The route the loop took around the lake was mostly straightforward for the most part, as a majority of the trail traversed across the high desert sagebrush of the northern shore of both lakes. We had been looking forward to doing this loop for weeks, and the surprise early May snow had threatened to ru...

  The air was crisp still with the overnight chill as I shouldered the small pack carrying the rope, our rack, my harness, and my helmet. Through the trees beyond in the eastern sky the sun hovered with a sort of ambient heat. Soon the chill of the earlier morning air would be long gone. Sarah, my significant other and partner, and I finished our last preparations, made sure that Jasper, our dog, had enough water and was comfortable enough to entertain herself for a few hours in the camper, and we were off across the meadow in front of Twin Owls. We were to be climbing on the legendary Lumpy Ridge today, an area of Rocky Mountain National Park lying dead north of Estes Park, and what made up the northern border of the Estes Valley. It had been about three years or so since I last climbed here. Three years too damn long. Sarah had never climbed on Lumpy before, and we had a trip planned for the week following to go up to Vedauwoo, Wyoming, so I figured what better way to kill a co...

We had been climbing at Monitor Rock for years, it’s our home crag. The start of each summer would usually be marked by our first day out at the wall without any snow on the approach. It’s just a wonder that I had never had the idea to do a linkup on the giant hulk of rock before. Sitting on the eastern side of Independence Pass, Monitor Rock rises sharply from the valley floor west of Twin Lakes, Colorado. A striking juxtaposition to the slopes of talus and scree that surround it within the heart of the Sawatch Range, Monitor maintains qualities that are hard to find for the area. With its finely-grained granite washed by many glacial melts, and less than chossy nature, climbers have been finding themselves drawn to its walls for many generations. This includes none other than one of the earliest groups of climbers in Central Colorado, but the United States Army’s original 10th Mountain Division. Formed during World War II to fight the Nazis in Italy and eventually the Alps of sou...

  I watched the sun rise in a slow ark over the lip of the opposing walls. We drove slowly north down River Road north of Moab. The Colorado River was to our left, with miles and miles of featured walls rising high above us on our right. The low hum of our truck was lulling me into a sort of trance as I traced the walls above to an imaginary parallel line with the markings of the road in front of us. I hadn’t slept particularly well the night before, as I had been waiting for today for months over the Rocky Mountain winter. I was excited. Very excited. We passed by the familiar parking area next to Big Bend Boulders, a place that we had sweat many a session out before, and pulled into an inconspicuous pull-off on the side of the road. Through the talus leading up to the walls above I could make out several cairn piles. They would mark the way to today’s objective. We were to be climbing “Terma,” a rim route put up by Paul Bucher, Skyler Penrod, and Taylor Bond in the winter/sprin...

  I like to think that the San Luis Valley is one of the forgotten areas of Colorado. I also like to think that the San Luis Valley will never garner the same attention as many of the other areas of Colorado that have experienced increased growth in the past couple years. One can only hope. Of all the places that we frequent, I’d have to say that the SLV is one of my favorites and one of the most enchanting. Nestled at the northern end of the foothills coming off of the eastern San Juans, Penitente Canyon remains as one of the earliest sport climbing areas in Colorado, or the country for that matter. At around the same time that Smith Rock in Oregon was coming into its own, a few of the brave in our neck of the woods were pushing ethics, and the grades of climbing forward. The unrelenting work of Bob D’Antonio, among many others, has provided one of the best and most technical areas of sport climbing concentration in southern Colorado and the intermountain west. If you’re looking...