Fighting the Pump: Stoking the Psyche

You can climb on either side of the road.

After about a month off from climbing Nadya and I found ourselves on the road to Rifle, CO. We wanted to try something different this summer and knew that Rifle would be a great place for that. We have heard from many friends that Rifle was the anti- Red River Gorge. The routes there are very cryptic and super beta-intensive as opposed to the mainly straight forward climbing at the Red. And KNEE BARS! Lots and lots of knee bars at Rifle. For those non-climbers reading this, a knee bar is when you cam your knee into the rock in order to take weight off of your arms or so that you can position your body to do certain moves. I am terrible at using knee bars (I can think of two routes at the Red where I've used a knee bar). In addition, we have never climbed on limestone before, always sandstone. In contrast to sandstone, limestone seems to have less friction than sandstone and it also has a tendency to become glassy and polished. This was going to be a new adventure for us and we were hoping that this trip to Rifle would be a great learning experience and help us improve in our climbing.

After about 20 hours on the road we started to approach Denver. Then we headed north to Boulder. We have heard that people either hate it or love it there and we wanted to check it out for ourselves. We arrived just before lunch and headed to the Pearl Street Mall. After walking around for a bit we decided to have brunch at a place called Snooze, an A.M. Eatery. The place was hoppin' and we had to wait about 15-20 minutes for a table, but it was definitely worth it. Everything sounded good on their menu, but I settled for the Pancake Flight (a trio of different pancakes) and Nadya went with the Early Harvest Benny. The menu items were reasonably priced (similar to what you would find in Columbus) and it was delicious! Wish we had one here!

Pancake Flight: blueberry, red-eye velvet, and sweet potato pancakes

Early Harvest Benny

After brunch we walked around a little bit more, checked out all the outdoor retail stores in the mall, searched for some knee bar pads with no success, then headed out for a little 1.5-2 hour hike to the Royal Arch. I guess a lot of the smoke from the Fort Collins wild fires headed south to Boulder and Denver, which is why we couldn't see the mountains during our drive in. Apparently it was so bad in the morning that it smelled like campfire everywhere and some people couldn't even see their neghbors' houses. Crazy! Fortunately for us, by the time we arrived, a lot of the smoke had cleared.

View of Boulder from the Royal Arch

After the hike we went back to Pearl Street to grab some dinner. This time we went to Centro Latin Kitchen and Refreshment Palace. We ordered some guacamole with roasted chillis and goat cheese for appetizer. I can't remember exactly what we ordered for our main courses, but Nadya ordered the salad special for the evening and I ordered something with fish. Another great place for delicious grub!

Some salad special from Centro

Something tasty with fish from Centro

During dinner we decided that we wanted to drive that evening to Rifle. We didn't really know what else to do in town since our friends in the area were either already at Rifle or out of town. We also kind of wanted to have a relaxing first full day in the canyon. So we drove through the night, arriving around 1am. We set up our camp and went to bed, excited to finally be here.

We woke up the next morning to the delight of seeing our friends Chris and Heather, the sweetest people on Earth. They gave us some pretty good tips, showed us some pretty sweet climbs, Chris lent me his knee pads (thank you so much!), and they let us spoil Grammie Dog. They were a blast to hang out with and we were both glad that we were able to hang out with them for a week before they headed back to Boulder.

You guys are awesome! Glad we got to hang out for a little bit!

Before going to Rifle we were informed that we would want to pick a morning project and an evening project since climbing in the summer sun is a bad idea. The canyon runs north-south, so the western facing walls have morning shade, while the eastern facing walls have evening shade. We were advised to not get on any of the easier stuff since they see way too much traffic and will actually feel harder, especially to us Rifle newbies. Lastly, we were also told that it is hard to climb two days in a row because the climbing is so different than the Red and our bodies will take a beating.

Rifle Mountain National Park, CO

We were hoping to use our first several days of climbing as our adjustment period. The last time we sport climbed was a little over a month ago so we needed to get back into climbing shape. We also needed to figure out how to climb in this new place since everything was so different. We quickly realized how cryptic Rifle is. Climbing here is HARD! We definitely struggled during our first few days. We stuggled so much that we lowered our expectations. I originally wanted to come out of the trip with a 13b/c and Nadya with a 12b/c. We started thinking that maybe a hard 12 and hard 11 seemed more reasonable. Climbing here was definitely a humbling experience.

After our first few days we started to realized how much harder the easier stuff seemed because of the abundance of chalk, glassy feet, and lack of beta. We were both frustrated with our poor climbing and what we thought was an inability to adapt. With some convincing from our friends, we decided to just get on the harder stuff. Although still glassy, the harder climbs definitely seemed more straightforward. We should have listened earlier.

Evenings in the canyon

Campfires were banned throughout Colorado during our trip. What do you do when you can't have a campfire? You play with flashlights!

Things clicked a little faster for me as I was able to do In Your Face (12d) on my third day. I followed that up with Le Specimen (12d) on our fifth day while Nadya finally did her first Rifle 5.12, Cardinal Sin (12a). It was a pretty impressive send as she struggled to figure out the beta at first, but once she did, hung three times on her first redpoint burn, then sent it on her next. Later that evening I did Pump-O-Rama (13a). What a relief! I guess maybe we should try something harder!

Nadya's next project that she picked out was Ruckus (12b) - very short, but very bouldery at the bottom, especially for shorter ones. The crux of the route was a pretty big move that was just barely within Nadya's reach. After a few tries Nadya was able to nail the move down and soon figured out the rest of the route. However, during one of her redpoint attempts, she ripped a huge flapper off her left hand middle finger. She was bummed. After taping the finger, she tried the move again, but couldn't hold it. She just couldn't get enough friction with the tape on to stick the move. So she decided to give it a break, let her skin heal, and try another day. A couple days later she got back on it and ripped the flapper open again. So she came down a little bit frustrated and we had a talk. If she really wanted to do this route, she would just have to do it with tape around her finger. So she did the move over and over until she could finally hold it. The next morning she did it.

Meanwhile, with fantastic beta from our friend Neely, I was able to do Vision Thing (13b) after a few tries. Thanks for the beta Neely!

Nadya on the bouldery start of Ruckus, 12b

We pretty much spent most of our rest days getting rid of our filth, getting fat, and exploring the nearby towns. We mostly stayed in Glenwood Springs (maybe 30 minutes away), but checked out a few other towns as well. In Glenwood, there is a really nice rec center for taking showers that cost us $4 + $1 for a towel per person. Plus they have free wi-fi, which was nice. For really good coffee (way better than Starbucks) we went over to Bluebird Cafe, which is adjacent to the gear shop in town. For smoothies we went to Sacred Grounds Coffeehouse and Deli , although a bit pricey. Nadya and I had some really juicy and delicious bison and lamb burgers over at the Grind (Half a pound of meat in each! YES!). You have to check that place out if you are in the mood for burgers! Soooo good! (My mouth is watering as I type this.) Russo's Pizza definitely satisfied our pizza cravings when we were there and is reasonably priced too! Across from Russo's is the Roaring Fork Bakery, which I highly recommend. Her croissants are the perfect combination of doughy and flaky and are to die for! Maybe the best croissants that we have ever eaten! We had them plain, with spinach/feta/tomatoes, and with ham/cheese. They were all so tasty. She had so many other baked goods but we didn't have the chance to taste them all. Maybe next time. Carbondale is another cool little town 10-15 miles south of Glenwood. I will have to recommend another burger joint called Fatbelly Burgers. Also juicy and delicious and at a pretty reasonable price! Their burgers are good, their chicken sandwiches are good, and their milkshakes are yummy. Then there is a Thai restaurant called Phat Thai that was also really delicious and not too heavy and provided some good energy for next day sending. We also went to Aspen and the Maroon Bells (pictured below). We didn't care much for Aspen because of all the ridiculously rich people parading around. However, the Maroon Bells were amazing and so pretty! Definitely a sight worth checking out.

In front of the Maroon Bells on a cloudy and chilly day

Us being goofy with the Bells in the background

I think this is Maroon Lake

Some pretty aspen trees

I ended my trip by doing The Beast With Two Backs (13a) and onsighting my first Rifle 5.12 with Pretty Hate Machine (12c). Nadya wanted to do one more and decided to give Defenseless Betty (12a) a try. With Seth's beta, Nadya was able to make it to the top no problem with enough time in the day to give it a few redpoint burns. She soon discovered that she would have to do one section a little bit differently, but it would have to wait until the morning.

So the morning that we were leaving, we got up early so that Nadya could get on the route one more time. After warming up she gave the route one redpoint burn, but fell at the sequence that was proving difficult for her. After looking at it for a few minutes she figured out another way to do it. That was it! Next attempt and she sent! She later told me that she almost fell at the top, but wasn't going to let go. Good work!

The Beast With Two Backs, 13a

We ended up loving Rifle. We thought that we wouldn't like it as much because the climbing is so different than the Red, but our early frustrations turned into delight and Rifle is now one of our favorite places to climb. I'd say it is on the top of the list with the Red. My only regret is that I didn't get on anything that was super challenging for me. Next time! But not only was the climbing awesome, the people were awesome as well. Our experience would not have been the same without all the friends that we met there.

Nadya's Ticklist:
Cardinal Sin, 12a
Defenseless Betty, 12a
Ruckus, 12b

Brian's Ticklist:
Cardinal Sin, 12a
Pinch Fest, 12b
Ruckus, 12b
Pretty Hate Machine, 12c (Onsight)
In Your Face, 12d
Le Specimen, 12d
Pump-O-Rama, 13a (3 tries - 2 RP)
Vision Thing, 13b (4 tries - 3 RP)
The Beast With Two Backs, 13a (3 tries - 2 RP)

Not too shabby for 9 days of climbing ;) Now time to get on the harder stuff! Looking forward to this Fall season at the Red! Time to train!