Usually April is a time to transition from skiing to climbing. Jim Gilchrist and I wanted to start off the climbing season with a big climb in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. This year's none stop snow in early April made the transition a bit of a challenge. Cold spring temperatures and continual low elevation precipitation were making if difficult to get a spring Black Canyon climb in. It's pleasant to get to the Black in early spring before it is over grown with poison ivy and scorched with intense solar radiation.
A few Wednesdays ago Jim and I got the break in the winter like spring weather we were looking for. Well kind of. It was the first time in weeks that I had a day off that wasn't raining or snowing. It was looking like the the rock would be dry but the day time temperatures would be fridget. In my 05:00 am daze of restless pre-climbing trip sleep I fired up the coffee drip and turned on NPR. Aspen public radio reported the current Aspen temperature was 17 degrees Fahrenheit. Brrrrr.
Seventeen degrees, my heart sank, I thought for sure Jim would think it was to cold. I desperately searched for my cell phone to see if there was a message from Jim saying it was too cold, go back to bed, lets go to Rifle later instead. I swipped my finger across the phone's screen. No new messages on the display. "Sweet," I thought the adventure is on. I had had wild dreams of pulling on pink loose rotten pegmatite all night long 15 feet griped above my gear on never ending 200 foot pitches. As I sipped my morning colon wrenching black sludge Jim was driving his hybrid my way. Like a stealth ninja his battery powered car silently pulled up to the curb. Stepping outside the air was crisp but the two hour drive and 1 hour hike down into the canyon would give conditions some time to warm up.
This was our 2013 inaugural multi pitch trad climb. To warm up for the year we chose to do the Russian Arete. Not to shabby a way to kick off the season with well over a thousand feet of vertical climbing. The route requires descending the SOB Gully trail all the way to the Gunnison River. A couple pitches of scrambling get you to the base of the climb. The route is about eight 200 foot pitches. Plan on running out of rope and gear on several pitches. The steep climbing eases into a few hundred feet of block scrambling to reach the North Rim.
 |
| mountinproject.com |
The climb would be Jim's third ascent of the route The last time he climbed the Russian Arete was was over 20 years ago! I didn't even look at the guide books because Jim's brain is caked with climbing topos kinda like Neptune downloaded their entire climbing library into his cerebral cortex. Not to mention the climb is pretty straight forward. Find the starting funky crack and go strait up for 200 feet. Repeat until you top out on easy 5th class terrain that can be simultaneously climbed or soloed. The climbing isn't difficult just a little stressful due to the likelihood of chunky pieces of rock coming off in your hands. The stress can be easily managed by periodically looking over your shoulder at one of the most stunning views Colorado has to offer.
Jim has got a few tricks up his sleeve. One being he knows a triple secret back way into the North Rim of the Black Canyon. It's a beautiful country road with farms and ranches chalk full of fields of horses, mule deer and the occasional elk.
The triple secret access route takes one by the tantalizing Skooterz Shooterz bar and grill. The street side sign is brilliant, a large hand painted sign. The S of both words is painted in gray and the body of each word red so at first glance the sign reads very comically. We passed the closed bar at about 8am in the morning. When I looked at the sign with sleep filled eyes I read " Kooter Hooter." This is going to be a very memorable post climb dive I though to myself. My day dream was filled with excitement of post climb rehydration and angus stuffed grub. Throughout the day thoughts of a triumphant celebration of our accent of the Russian Arete at the Skooterz Shooterz drove me to climb on.
The Skooterz Shooterz sign is my second favorite sign in Colorado. My first favorite sign is a sign my wife and I pass frequently as we drive to Colorado Springs to visit the in-laws. I'm usually oblivious to grammatical blunders but my wife is always pointing them out lightening quick. There is a series of signs along the drive that read "Horseback Rides." Someone made an opps painting one of the signs and painted it "Hores Back Rides." I'll leave the rest to your imagination.
 | |||
 |
| How badass would Jim's Prius look stacked up to some road hogs? |
No comments:
Post a Comment