The Return of the Kalymnian Wall Wrastlers

Meet the Kalymnian Wall Wrastling Heroes (Di, K-love, Wonder Womb'n, Eric the Great, Me, WAG)

Our mission, to successfully conquer sector after sector of endless tufa laden walls, to recklessly scooter rally around the island with frequent stops at mythos watering holes, to bravely sight-see in Turkey and consume fried cheese in between the consumption of countless Gyro's.

During our 3-week stay on the Greek island of Kalymnos we choose to fuel our super hero rock wrastling skills by local Kalymnian favorites such as:

Kaly Thyme Honey

Staples - Breakfast, Lunch and/or Dinner

Dalmades

He (WAG) could of ate them every day The Feta Stuffed Squid Shoe Tree A Fatolitis memorial to those attempting to conquer the TUFA

Over-head X-ray Vision a superpower we first discovered in 2010 - A belayer's dream come true

WAG discovers his Kryptonite falling tufa at the Secret Garden

Di's Secret Weapon The Celebratory Kung Fu Kick after Crushing Lucky Strike 5.12b

K-Love Conquers the TUFA Pipes of Carpe Diem 5.10c

Me Barely Smiling on the Popular Polished Pockets of Atena 5.10d

Di Defying Gravity on Dirlanda 5.12c

WAG Methodically Battles through the TUFA Forest of Priapos for 45 Minutes Priapos 5.12d

Me Planning the Asault on the TUFA Curtains of Steps Ahead 5.12a

After the departure of Wonder Womb'n and Eric the Great the rest of us were left with an secondary yet very important mission...The recovery of Wonder Womb n's hat.  It was believed that some of the locals had taken the hat and were seen around town posing for pictures with the infamous hat.

The Longtime Protector of the Afternoon Sector: Billy Goat Gruff Pulled the WW hat from a climbing pack

A local Sponge Exporter:  Sponge Bob Grey Pants offered facial sponges to the ladies in an attempt to keep the WW hat

The Talkative Corner Shop Dude K-love exchanges a hug and her ear for the return of the WW hat

K-Love recovers Wonder Womb'ns Prized Position Me on a Victory Lap After our Recovery of WW's hat WAG's best Impression of the Kalymnian Crime Thugs who tried to take WW's hat

Till Next Time Kaly

Telendos Island from Poets Wall

Me Storming the Kastelli Castle

K-Love Peacefully Posing on Kastelli Castle

Old Climbering Grounds & Brotherly / Motherly Surprises

Yup that's right, old stomping grounds: the crazy conglomerate of El Rito, New Mexico.  Little ol El Rito was anything but quiet this past week.  I remember coming here to climb on weekends and nearly having the whole crag to ourselves, perhaps it was the recent feature in Climbing magazine.  Kinda cool to see the area getting some recognition.  El Rito rocks! and don't forget to visit the nearby Ojo Caliente mineral springs and spa on that rest day:)    

In between climbing / camping stints at El Rito Kristin and I traveled a little further south on 5/13 to Santa Fe for a special surprise.  We orchestrated a perfect UN-discoverable surprise...or we thought:)  See, May 13 is my brothers birthday, which also happened to be Mother's day this year:)  Dad was to convince the two of them it was a simple trip to Santa Fe to celebrate the joint b-day / m-day.  It almost worked.  It turned out mom had a slight tip off to the surprise (Dad discussing the surprise with me over the tele....with mom sitting right next to him)  Sean had no idea so we batted a 0.500 on 5/13.

Dad took them both to the Marble brewery taproom overlooking the Santa Fe plaza for a midday brew-ski. At this time we called them on their cell phones to wish them a happy days, after a few words we then walked into room to two really BIG smiles:)         

The Cathedral Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi

Our Lady of Guadalupe

If only she was this surprised when we walked in

Sean n Ol Johnny Cash (his favorite musician)

My Darling Smile

Pops @ Marble

Second Street Brewery - Next visit , McQuade's to CO

Staying dry during an El Rito hail storm

The Scoop - ya thats right the only down skirt being worn in NM....EVER?

2 in the Snow, 2 on the Rock - RMNP, Cameron Pass & Shelf Road

As most of you snow snobs probably know all to well by now, our winter playground has stunk this season! Kristin and I have only been out two times:(  At this point last year, we had countless tours under our boards.  Its been kinda of rough... well except one bright side to the warmer temps has been the continuation of climbing.

The two tours this season have been:

1. "Terrain Park Area" near Hallett Peak, RMNP

• Cant wait to go back to RMNP, there are some awesome terrain opps: a favorite being Little AK near Knobtop peak.  
• GPS Tracks (google maps)

Dragon Tail Couloir w tracks click to enlarge

1. Montgomery Bowl, Cameron Pass

• This past Sunday Kristin, Drew and I cruised up to Cameron Pass after a much needed storm, for what we where hoping would be some good turns.  Not bad at all!  Finally 
• GPS Tracks (google maps)

Montgomery Bowls highlighted w tracks click to enlarge

Hallett Peak on left and Dragontail couloir on right: RMNP a line for the early spring if  we ever get snow

1 of 4 huge bucs seen in Estes Park after our tour in RMNP

Cameron Pass Sector: from top of Montgomery Bowl near Diamond Peak

After getting some much needed turns in on Sunday we returned to Golden to switch out splitty's for climbing gear.  We then spent Monday and Tuesday climbing Shelf in 60 degree weather.  Ha I even returned with a farmers tan!

Kristin on Once Upon A Time 5.11a

K on Gen X ation 5.11a

Pre rock wrestling concentration

Noteworthy Sends:

Gen X ation 5.11a

• OS

Next posts will include the following adventures: Costa Rica, followed by AK, then climbing somewhere, then a yurt trip in the San Juans of CO, then AK again:)

Season Lasts - Shelf Road, Buffalo Creek

We kicked off the last week of November with some catch phrase and sour cream apple pie at the Lansing's for what was an amazing Thanksgiving dinner.  A few days later we crushed some stone down at Shelf Road for a few days in what turned out to be the falls best weather for climbing, low 60's and nothing but sun.  We left shelf wondering if it was the final climbing trip of the year, especially with the snow starting to accumulate.  The final day of our off week we went up to Buffalo Creek for some amazing singletrack.  I love Buffalo Creek!

Buffalo Creek:

Remnants of High Meadows Fire of 2000 - Does make for some awesome singletrack

 

Granite Moab - Buffalo Creek area offers a lot of rock features and sections of trail strictly on rock

Survivors

Camo - Where's Kristin?

Shelf Road:

Muscle Beach 5.11a/b - A Vaino Kodas, Bob D'Antonio masterpiece 2001

Noteworthy Sends:

Morpheus 5.11b

• OS

Muscle Beach 5.11a/b

• OS

Shelf Road ' N

A campsite filling group of us traveled down south for 4 days of climbing on Shelf's always impressive limestone.

The crew - Jerm, Lisa, Ryan'o, J-Rock, mua, Kster

Shelf Road: Nearing 1000 vertical pocketed routes on bulletproof limestone.  Shelf probably sits #3 on my list of favorite limestone crags visited this year.  (Spearfish, Ten Sleep, Shelf)  One great attribute of Shelf is however the possibility for winter climbing.

Newly released Shelf guidebook: Bob D. Antonio (2010).  I believe this is book #3 or #4 published for the area. This new release is the first to contain all shelf crags and to utilize color photos. Warning: There have been a few reported errors in the guide. One such example exists on the Spiney Ridge section of the guide book and involves two classic routes: Toxxxic Entertainment (5.10a) and Purple Toe Nails (5.11c).  The route tracing drawn/transposed over the color photo are shifted.  Making Purple Toe Nails look like its neighbor Toxxxic Entertainment.  The error caused me to jump on Purple Toe Tails instead of Toxxxic Entrainment as warm up number two for the morning.  In fear of not on-sighting a 5.10a as the flash pump reached painful levels I thankfully reached the anchors.  After reaching the ground and grasping my forearms in embarrassment, I was greeted by another couple saying "Nicely done, that's a hard route"  I responded "that's the hardest fn 10a I have ever done"!  "NO NO You just on-sighted Purple Toe Nails a classic 5.11c"  Thank goodness I was just about to go back to camp and drink beers.  Anyway heads up with the new guidebook:)
        

Cactus Cliff - A popular colder weather crag

K on Urban Fringe (5.10d)

Ryan on LaCholla Jackson (5.9)

Me on Funkdemental (5.11b)

Ryan on Ga-Stoned Again (5.9)

Noteworthy Sends:

Funkdemental 5.11b

• FL

Purple Toe Nails 5.11c

• OS

Hormone of Darkness and Limestone Gripping - Spearfish Canyon, SD

N-acetyl-5-methoxytryptamine (Melatonin): levels of the hormone melatonin vary in a daily cycle, thereby allowing the entrainment of the circadian rhythms of several biological functions.

• Hows it work: melatonin is secreted into the blood by the pineal gland in the brain. Known as the "hormone of darkness" it is secreted in darkness in both day-active (diurnal) and night-active (nocturnal) animals.
• May explain why one of my night techs is a quiet/sleepy dude.  He tends to work in the IV room in the dark.....hmmm

• Recommended Uses per Chuck and Kristin:  For you night shifters out there, this stuff rocks.  Useful for flip overs, wicked vivid dreams and discovered on this trip to Spearfish: aides in some of the best tent sleep I have ever had:)

Granted we had the whole campground to ourselves:)

Also aiding in tent sleep, Crow Peak IPA: The local brewery in Spearfish. Likely the only microbrew in SD.  We had to resort to the can since the brewery was in the process of filtering the new batch of IPA.

• Melatonin & Dreaming: Some supplemental melatonin users report an increase in vivid dreaming. Extremely high doses of melatonin (50 mg) dramatically increased REM sleep time and dream activity in both people with and without narcolepsy. Many psychoactive drugs, such as cannabis and lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), increase melatonin synthesis.....Know any sleepy pot heads?

• *Note*  50mg doses started above are extremely high doses utilized in a clinical trial assessing dream activity associated with extremely high doses.  The recommended doses are much lower.  We suggest starting with 3mg doses with the potential to increase to 6mg.  We cannot suggest doses above this as we have no experience with doses greater then 6mg.

Spearfish Limestone:

• The Guidebook Spearfish Canyon, The VC, and other Black Hills Limestone Guidebook, by Mike Croni. Buy here

The climbing was absolutely RAD! Prior to this trip I was in love with Ten Sleep Canyon Limestone, now I'm pretty sure I'm cheating on Ten Sleep with Spearfish:)  We climbed 4 days and mountain biked 1 day.  During the 4 days of climbing it wasn't until the last route of the trip that we saw someone, a couple that came down from Canada.  We also took in some live music in Deadwood, SD during a rest day.  

Roughlock Falls, Spearfish Canyon

Dances with Wolves Film Site, Spearfish Canyon

Black Hills Mtn Biking - right from the back door of our tent

The Prow - Sunshine Wall Crag

Astro Pop - The Firsts- Sunshine Wall Crag

The approach to The Dark Side Crag

Rapping after a route above an old mine shaft

Rest Day in Deadwood, SD

Deadwood music festival, the cheapseats (free)

Cant wait to return to the SF

Noteworthy Sends:

Merchants of Death 5.11a

• OS

Courtesy Drip 5.11a

• OS

Astro Pop 5.11b

• OS

RC - A climbing NAT-U-REL

Ya so it must run in the family.  The Casey's appear to be climbing naturals:), first Kristin and now Ryan Casey (RC), who got the crash course last weekend.


Day 1: Little Eiger wall at Clear Creek Canyon.  Ryan is introduced via a 5.10a crack, followed by a 130' 5.10c with a large roof bulge.  To round out the day Ryan took on a 5.9+ dihedral, completing the cycle regarding classic features. 



Ryan on Headline 5.10a





Day 2:  Tyrolean traverses leading to the highly diverse granite greatness.  The Sport Park at Boulder Canyon is where we found ourselves on Sunday.  Again Ryan crushed!  Several days after our weekend of climbing with Ryan, I hear he has been dreaming of rock climbing and waking up with sweaty hands:) 

Ryan crossing Boulder Creek via a "hand tyro" to The Sport Park

Kristin on the "aerial tyro" to Avalon Wall

Ryno on Chicken Hawk 5.9+



Me on-sighting  Big Dipper 5.11a

Crossing in style:)

Noteworthy Sends:

Big Dipper  5.11a
OS

Eldo - A Few of the "Easy" Classics

Our Golden based adventure pad received its first visitors last week.  Friends from NM (Robin and Eowyn) escaped their drought ridden southwestern state for some good ol CO rock love’n.  The sched for each day included early starts to avoid the midday heat which scorches the majority of EldoradoCanyon’s glorious formations.  Upon completion of the AM’s routes, we would drive back to Golden for some Clear Creek action, taking advantage of numerous afternoon shaded crags.  The third stage of each day led to much anticipated visits to one of CO’s five hundred thousand billion micro breweries, for some post climbing brew ha ha’s.

Breweries visited:

Golden City Brewery (2^nd largest brewery in Golden)

Tommy Knockers Brewery

Avery Brewery       

Guidebook: 

NEW Eldorado Canyon Guidebook is RAD  

Robin on Calypso's 1st pitch

Kristin and I following...Hey Robin where's my protection on red?

K on the 2nd pitch of Breezy

Love It

Robin on West Chimney

K showing up Robin and climbing The Great Zot's 1st pitch finger crack

Belaying Robin on pitch 3 of Swanson's Arete.  In the background is Rewritten's classic 4th pitch

K on the super exposed 3rd pitch of Swanson's Arete

K the money pitch 4 roof on Swanson's

The crew each with our own variation of squinting to avoid the blazing sun, after topping out Lumpe Tower on Redgarden Wall

Ten Sleep Canyon - Reunion on Limestone

The Trips Itinerary 

1. July 4th: last day of Residency with team Deac.  Gonna miss you guys:
2. July 5th AM: Cram all of our belongings into two vehicles and one 5x8 Uhaul trailer.
3. July 5th PM: In route to Ten Sleep Canyon Wyoming for a climbing reunion between  "The Crew Formally from NM" and "The Crew Currently from NM, AZ"
4. July 10th: Completing the journey and move to our new home in Golden, Colorado

The Guidebook:

Ten Sleep Climbing Guide by Aaron Huey -2011

The Climbing:

Ten sleep Canyon is located in the Bighorn Mountains of north-central Wyoming, offering world-class limestone climbing.  Tommy Caldwell, Jonathan Siegrist among other professional climbers found Ten Sleep a more than worthy destination.  Click HERE for a link to Siegrist's blog and entry for Ten Sleep.

The Crew:

Da Crew - Short on Shot Glasses for Suzanna's B-day thus bowls and PBR cans:) PBR Camp Fire Bomb - WAG Photos

Found in the Little Sleeper town of Ten Sleep Wyoming, about 15 minute drive from the Climbing

Some of the east side crags - including the ARC

The Mondo Beyondo Sector, with Slavery Wall seen at pictures center

Trail Markers - Ten Sleep Style

Helmet :)

Wendy from Santa Fe on Burning Grandma's Bones 5.11b/c

Full Bloom

Me on Crossbow Chaos Theory 5.11a

Noteworthy Sends:


Burning Grandma's Bones 5.11b/c
FL


Crossbow Chaos Theory 5.11a
OS


I Just Do Eyes 5.11b
OS

We have Arrived!  Golden ROCKS :)

The "Origins" & "Headers" - Smith Rock

The Origins of Sport Climbing - or better described as bolted featureless concrete vertical walls.

• 1983 : Alan Watts introduced sport climbing to the US, with Watts Tots, 5.12b at Smith Rock, Oregon 
• 2011: Kristin, Brian, Casey and Me make our first and defiantly not our last trip to Smith 
• 2011: Kristin battles Rock

This place is rad, its the whole enchilada...awesome bivy site with heated water and showers, dirt-bags from all over the globe setting up camp for weeks at a time, thousands of routes sport n trad, the winding crooked creek snaking its way around the countless formations of volcanic tuft, oh ya and snakes...tons of them.  We saw 5 snakes including one of those rattler kinds.

Mt Hood over Asterisk Pass & The Christian Brothers Wall

The Morning Glory Wall - in all its glory

My Casey on The Outsiders 5.9

Brian setting up with the static beta on Toxic 5.11b Me setting up for the dyno beta Nailing the Dyno Kristin On-sighting Carla the Stripper 5.8 Brian's Casey on Hop on Pop 5.8 The "Battle" - K takes a header.   The darn rope behind the foot during an awkward crux maneuver :(  Kristin was on fire leading and red-pointing several routes over the weekend, then the Phoenix wall got the Phoenix wall did the above.  She was two bolts from the on sight when an awkward sequence forced the rope behind her right foot, I yelled watch your right foot, then she popped off. It wasn't til the end of the fall that the rope flipped her upside down, her left elbow and forearm hit first followed by her dome.  The above pic was taken as instructed by the patient / ER nurse extraordinaire.  She then instructed the cleaning and temporary closure of the wound.  I must say for a caveman pharmacist, I did such a great job with the temporary fix, that the ER doc looked at the wound and said Derma-bond (basically glue for you non medical peeps) no stitches.  I said  "Doc lets try spreading the wound a bit its pretty deep"  Oh ya it needs stitches answers the doc...DUH!  10 stitches later K and I are heading back to camp for some pita pizzas made by the amazingly tough girl herself.  If it was me we would of been shacking up in the nearest 5 star hotel :) Lesson learned: helmets when sport climbing will be worn when pushing one's limits on lead. Kristin is one tough cookie, oh ya and she's got a hard head:)        The best pain killers or not narcotics.....but BEER 1 header --> 10 stitches = 10 beers @ Bend Brewery

Skaha - Penticton - British Columbia

Back to back weekends at what some regard as BC's best sport climbing destination.  I probably agree after these 2 weekends. 

Skaha Bluffs:   Skaha Bluffs, near Penticton, in southern British Columbia, is a collection of over 50 gneiss cliffs with over 800 climbs ranging from 30 to 160 feet in length. The variety of and styles of climbs here are what makes the place awesome.  Vertical techy edgy climbs to overhanging pump fests. Penticton sits among Okanagan valley wine country, famous for being Canada's greatest concentration of wineries.  We planned on a wine tour the last day on our bikes, however ol mother nature decided to dampen that idea with non stop overnight rain:( 

Guidebook:  Skaha Climbing

Crag Location: google map

Noteworthy Sends: 

Special Forces 5.11a

  Red Point

Banana By-Pass 5.11c

  Flash

1st weekend: Kristin and I made the inaugural visit, breaking the place in and locating the free "abandoned" campground.  The only sign of any recent visitors or actual use as a campground was the #8 sign where we set up shop.  We also found an amazing restaurant:  Theo's Greek , the best greek food ...well since Greece.

K on Spro Dog 5.10b Kristin is getting stronger and putting the top rope aside once again for the sharp end.  Leading a few routes this weekend, next stop RIFLE Colorado:)

2nd weekend: Brian and I arrive Friday night at the "not so abandoned" campground, proceed to get yelled at by an old crabby campground host who apparently lives down the street....then she has the nerve to ask for 56.00.  I should of asked if that 56.00 dollars is what they were planning on using to remove the abandoned car and trailer from the "campground"...or was it to complete the two porta poopers that appeared to be an abandoned project from the 90's?  

The Belfry, one of Skaha's steep crags:)  Good Stuff

Lake Skaha seen from the crags, provides several beach side campgrounds

Mission to get in Climbing Shape - China Bend, WA then Q'Emlin Park, ID

It seems spring skiing has taking a back seat to spring climbing:)  The bug has bitten yet again.  Saturday Brian and I went to one of WA best kept secrets, China Bend.  This gorgeous (yes I just used the word gorgeous) limestone crag sits above the untainted Columbia river, which at this point is fresh Canadian run off.  China bend features maybe around 40 routes, most in the 5.12 range.  The climbing includes some tufas but mainly edges and and rails.  Several 2 pitch routes also exist.  According to Marty Bland's Inland Northwest Rock Climbing Guidebook, Pork Sausage 5.11a is the best 5.11a in the book.  I would have to agree as Pork Sausage was my only send (Onsight) of the day:)  Brilliant route 14 bolts long climbing up a  unique black limestone streak.

Right side of the Main Wall - China Bend

Pork Sausage 5.11a, climbs the black streak then finishes straight on to underneath the bush

On Sunday, Brian , Casey and I went to Q'emlin Park, in Post Falls Idaho for some more.  We decided to play in the sun, thus headed to the sunny Upper Fifth Canyon sector.  Which provides some quality routes on steep highly featured granite.  Below is a nice sequence Casey captured on my favorite route of the day.

Climbing @ the Coulee - Vantage, WA

First multi-day climbing trip of 2011.  Casey, Brian and I headed down to Vantage for 2 days of climbing.  Saturday we climbed at the Millennium, Hen House and Feathers walls.  Sunday we braved the crowds at the popular Sunshine wall, show how scoring two of its classics, Ride' Em Cowboy and Boschido. Followed by two 4 star routes down on the Fat and Skinny Man walls,  the climbing here tends is steeper and more powerful due to the fractured basalt.  Very Deep Creek like:)

Ride' Em Cowboy (5th pillar over from left).  Classic arete, area classic

Ride'Em Cowgirl - Casey

Me on Boschido

Boschido's Crux

Noteworthy Sends:

Thunder Run 5.10b
OS

Monsters Under My Bed 5.10b
RP

Harvest 5.10c
OS

Boschido 5.10c
OS

Fresh Eggs 5.10d
OS

Which Addiction? - Frechman Coulee, WA

We've all had some difficult decisions in our lives; K and I were faced with one of them this past weekend...Head north to British Columbia to rock the splitties or head south to crush some rock.  I cant tell you how many times we went back and forth, we had one room staged with skiing gear and another with  climbing gear.  Being in the sun as opposed to playing in the cold snow, won the dilemma battle... this time.

Thus we headed down to Frenchman Coulee aka Vantage.  This unique area overlooks the Columbia River Gorge, an area carved by glacier migration many many years ago.  The majority of the crags face south, thus converting Vantage into a popular winter destination...especially for all those Seattle-ites, who flee Seattle in hopes of finding something other then rain.

The setting and climbing at Vantage reminds me of one of my favorite New Mexico crags Diablo Canyon .
Vantage offers around 700+ routes both sport and traditionally protected crack climbs between vertical pillars/columns.  Below is a pic of one of the sectors at Vantage, which is then broken up into 8-10 differently named crags.      

The highest concentration of Vantage routes are seen here, including Sunshine Wall, RiverView Park, Millenium, Fat Man, Skinny Man, M&M walls.  Climbing exists on both the upper and lower cliff bands.

Kristin on Aeolachrymation 5.8 at the Riverview Columns

This ones for you Grandma Aloys (GG)

What an awesome first weekend back on the rock...first day climbing since last December:)  Defiantly took it easy, finding out I'm only a 5.10 climber off the couch.  Kristin on the other hand looked like she picked up right where she left off...she seems to improve on every route, she is gonna be strong with some training:)

Noteworthy Sends:
A Genius Bruing 5.10a
OS
Mortal Prying in the V Shaped Realm  5.10b
OS
Hakuna Matata 5.10b
OS

LA ROCKS ? - Riverside Quarry

A day after skiing in the Southern Selkirks of northern Idaho, K and I broke out the climbing gear for the last climbing trip of 2010.  I was attending a conference for work in Anaheim, CA of all places :(  A bit to far for Taquitz, Yosemite, Or Joshua Tree.  Leaving us with trying to find some worldclass rock in  the LA area....?  Impossible right?  Actually.... Riverside, CA, one of LA's many neighboring cities is home to what is called Riverside Quarry.  

An abandoned massive hunk of granite left by Lime miners once they cleaned all the Lime out.  The result superb steep climbing on featured granite.  The huge cliff band is 200-300ft tall in spots.  With over 200+ routes.  All quality!  Cant wait to go back, if only it wasn't in LA area!  However being in the LA means warm temps almost year around.  The crag mainly faces west, making winter afternoons perfect.  

Guidebook:  Climbers' Guide Riverside Quarry 

Crag Location: google map

Noteworthy Sends: 

Trundle Trophy 5.10d

  OS

Conundrum 5.10d

  OS

Tangerine Dream 5.11a

  RP 2nd go.

The massive granite cliff of Riverside Quarry

Close up of the featured granite, many of the routes here require a 70m rope

A look at Tangerine Dream, one of the more classic moderate lines at the crag

Brian, prepping for the crux on "Conundrum"

Brian at the base Trundle Trophy a crag classic, 100ft in length

K on "Power Play"

Brian, contemplating the business on "Tangerine Dream"

In the business, trying to beat the setting sun

The steep finish of "Tangerine Dream"... 13 bolts later

K on "Whammy"

Chimney Rock - West Face - Selkirks of Idaho

This "fantabulous" adventure marked Kristin's  first multi-pitch alpine climb....what a magical place to tackle your first "trad" climb!  Granite of this quality is usually spattered with climbers.  Not the case with Chimney Rock of northern Idaho's Selkirk mountains.  We had the entire area to are self.

Chimney Rock:  is a unique granite tower that sits atop of a prominent ridge and has adopted the name "lightning rod" of North Idaho. The West Face was first climbed in 1934 by John Carey, Mart Chamberlain, Fred Theime, and Byron Ward.  This "west face direct route" is the easest way to the formations summit and goes at about 5.5.  The formation today features roughly 50 routes on its west and east faces.  

Kristin and I choose to climb the slightly more challenging Rappel Chimney (5.7) route.  What a brilliant little route this was.  Some excellent pitches and movement packed into this classic route.  (For detailed information on the route see my write up posted on Mountain Project...click link above)

First view of Chimney's west face

Rappel Chimney follows the obvious right facing corner system seen near the left edge of the formation

Trying to show her profile here.  The summit was an awesome place...only about 20' wide

Nearing the end of pitch 1

Kristin coming through the perfect pitch 3 corner

1st Alpine route in the books:)....."not the last"

bye chimney....until we come ski you this winter:)