Current Conditions

We had an early start at Parkview Dome in Staunton to practice skills and build proficiency leading multi pitch. The cooler weather over the last week has made mornings pleasantly cool, and hear of the day manageable. This is especially true climbing in Staunton with or higher elevation crags. We did a few laps on Chase the Sky with opportunity to mock lead, and working on transitions, and wrapped up the day with a lap on the slightly harder new climb Learn to Fly.

Peter Thomas

Had a great morning in Staunton, touring the East Side of Staunton Rocks. We started out at the Pooka to get warmed up, and some leads in. The easier climbs in Canyon Amphitheater offer a great warmup and early lead, from there we loved west over to Kings Landing for a couple of the harder but shorter climbs, and then to Hemingway Wall to wrap up the day with a couple more climbs, and some ground skills practice. Perfect temps and a beautiful day out today.

Peter Thomas

Hard to beat the convenience climbing in Clear Creek Canyon. We headed out to work on gym to crag skills, building anchors, leading, cleaning anchors and some other skills. Cat Slab Annex offers a nice zone for this, with very approachable climbs and a ground anchor to practice systems. Weather is a little cooler this week which made for pleasant temps even in the sun.

Peter Thomas

We headed out to East Colfax climbing area for a family group climbing for their first time. Early morning felt like fall temps, nice and cool, but warmed up quickly with the sun. The base areas are continuing to erode from use, but the climbs are great, and offer a nice intro area.

Peter Thomas

We had a great day out in the flatirons. Plan was to get out for a lap up the second flatiron for Nutan’s second day on rock. We got an early start to beat the heat, and had a good day. Slightly cooler temps have been nice recently, and the weather held throughout the day with beautiful weather and clear skies.

Peter Thomas

I climbed rewritten today with a party of five. Hal Roberts partnered up with his daughter, and I was with their two friends, two highschoolers from Memphis, Tennessee.

All had climbed before, and knew how to belay. But for some, it was a new experience to do a multi pitch climb. We got together at 7 o’clock in the morning at the trailhead, and successfully beat all other parties to the base. That set us up to climb in two teams.

The climb went without a hitch and though the descent was kind of draining, everyone had a lot of fun and was psyched about climbing. Eldo rocks!.

Tristan Perry

***These pictures are not from this trip, they are from last year doing the Bastille with TG. Sorry, I took no pictures today in the wind and then left it in my pack at the bottom of the second route.

*** Anyway, we met at 7 o’clock. There were already quite a few people, but no one on the Bastille possibly because it was so windy. Lucky as we were we cruised the first pitches of Bastille Crack.

We both thought the first bitch about our space was the harder one. We both did it with no falls. The second pitch went well also, but my client struggled to clean my first cam at the traverse. He was raving about the pitch when he topped out.

We hustled down the descent Trail and I showed him the climbs on the west buttress. We had a snack and a drink at the car and relocated the cars to the visitor center. Then we huffed up the trail.

I had never done over the hill, and we were both blown away by the quality and the difficulty of the crux. The second pitch was amazing as well, with an unlikely, thin nut friendly crack, weaving up a nice face. The down scramble lead to a short rappel to the trail.

Tristan is a bad ass client, and wants more of what we have out here.

Tristan Perry

We headed up to Staunton to beat the heat. With an early start, we had nice cool temps for most of the day, starting around 60, and not getting hot till mid-day. Jess came out to learn to lead, and was able to get three leads, and a bunch of skills practice in. Staunton is a great spot to get a little higher with cooler temps, and lots of great terrain for all skill levels.

Peter Thomas

Great day out in the flatirons as always! it’s summer and an early start makes all the difference surviving the hot temps, and direct sun. We got started at 6:00am, and had summited the 2nd flatiron by 10. Despite getting into mid-day temps, we took a stroll over to the second for a quick run up that, before getting back to the cars just after noon.

Peter Thomas

The Rafters came out for their first day of outdoor climbing. We headed up to Other Critters for a half day with four-climbers. Cool morning temps quickly gave way to high heat on the southerly facing crag but remained cool enough for a fun day of climbing. The approach trail to Other Critters and nearby crags continues to deteriorate making the approach a bit of a chore. Overall great day at a fun little beginner crag.

Peter Thomas

Good day out!

Pat Schmalix

Clients signed up for Swanson’s Arete. Questionnaire said they climbed Bakers way last year. They called the office Monday with questions. I returned their phone call and turns out they didn’t summit the 1st, they bailed at the top of Bakers. They said Thomas was their guide, so I consulted with him and agreed the West Chimney start to Bakers probably wasn’t a good idea.

I recommended Heads High, and they agreed. Glad we didn’t do Swanson’s! They were beat after Heads High and called it a day.

Pat Schmalix

In our private SPI prep session, we aim to comprehensively cover rock protection/anchoring, static rope set-ups, technical systems, and rope/stance management guidelines.

Joey Thompson

Travis and Sara were visiting from Michigan to climb their first Colorado 13er. We got an early start, and set a good pace on trail to reach Herman Lake. Here, we put on our microspikes and skirted up the side of a gully which was half snow half rock, but not too much trouble. Above treeline, we aimed for a saddle, hit the ridge, and made the summit around 10am. The weather was looking great, and we took our time to enjoy the scenery on the descent.

Doug Simpson

Rough day. Kid didn’t want to climb and refused to go more than 6 feet up. Gave up on him and set up ropes for the mom.

Pat Schmalix

A group of three visiting from Iowa crushed 15 pitches (collectively) for a half day of climbing at East Colfax today. We climbed all the sport routes at the Warner Brother Pinnacle and enjoyed the relatively flat (and new!) belay stations!

The group learned to tie-in (and all three were tying well-dressed knots by the end of the day), and we worked on footwork and some movement skills throughout the day, with the clients becoming increasingly more comfortable on some of the slabby sections of the routes.

We lucked out as it was shady and cool at 8am and the crag stayed in the shade until 10:30am or so. The river was high and fast.

Sadie Sullivan

5yo and dad that climbed at Staunton last year. Kid couldn’t make it very high on either children or grandchildren and was getting frustrated. I built an anchor from a bolt and a .1 cam at the steep part of fill in the blanks and the kid loved the lower ramp

Pat Schmalix

After Javier and I’s trip up Bancroft last month, I knew he had caught the mountaineering bug. Sure enough! He called me and said he wanted to get out into the mountains. I suggested Dead Dog Couloir on the way up and Kelso Ridge on the way down. This turned out to be an amazing 4000 feet of climbing up and down a classic Colorado 14er.

We had the typical pre-dawn start and encountered firm snow in this east facing couloir. By 7:45am, the snow had began to soften and the surrounding walls began to shed rocks. Thankfully, we were 40 meters from the top at this point. We dispatched the last steep snow on the headwall and summited at 8:07am. It was surprisingly windy on the summit, and we only stayed for 30 minutes before descending the Kelso Ridge.

There was still a good amount of snow protecting the knife edge section of the ridge. This made the otherwise “crux” relatively straight forward. Crampons were not necessary. We downclimbed the entire ridge and got back to the parking lot after a fun 11-hour day in the mountains.

Ben Coryell

Ravi has been climbing with us for years, but today was the first time I had the chance to climb with him. What an absolute pleasure! He had already been out with Joe in Eldo for a day, so we decided on Staunton State Park. Parkview Dome didn’t dissapoint!

Over the course of a half day, Ravi cranked out 8 pitches on two different multipitch routes. The views were great, and the climbing was really fun. It even held off raining until we got back to the cars. Great day in Staunton!

Ben Coryell

We had a great day two building on rock rescue skills. Supremacy slabs offer a great fine for ground skills practice, and going live with multi pitch rescue systems. Building on day-1, we recapped some of those skills, and then went live, practicing multipitch rescue systems.

Peter Thomas

Today was our third and final day climbing together. Rather than head back up into the mountains to suffer on hot snow, we decided on Quartzite Ridge in Eldorado Canyon State Park. This exposed ridge climb is truly a classic and takes lots of ropework to navigate it safely.

Jack and I met at 7am and the temps were quite pleasant. We geared up, talked about the plan for the approach pitches to the ridge, and Jack set off. He kept the pitches short so we could get lots of practice on managing the rope, and swapping from leader to follower. After 5 short pitches, we gained the ridge.

Lots of learning occurred while we navigated the ups and downs of this dramatic ridge. Jack at one point made the comment that he “learned more from this than every other educational climbing class he’d ever taken combined.” It’s so cool to hear students say that! We made it to the final rap off the ridge and touched down on terra firma. Excellent day out with excellent company!

Ben Coryell

For intro to trad day 2 we went up to Staunton State Park. I threw a rope up on trad school and the 3 took turns moc-leading it. Then in the afternoon I moved us over to a steeper route, and we did the same thing. This time with the guests taking lead falls onto their gear with a top-rope back up. We got chased out a little early by thunderstorms and rain.

Doug Simpson

Great day for a rescue skills clinic. Quartzite offered nice morning shade, and evaporative cooling from the creek kept the temps pleasant throughout the day. Some afternoon thunderstorms brought a little afternoon rain, but a successful day practicing lots of rock rescue systems.

Peter Thomas

Today was intro to trad day 1, which is a ground school focused on technical skills. We quickly approached a pleasant meadow near the Dome in Boulder Canyon and covered the basics. Then, we learned about gear placements and got some practice. Next up was anchor basics, followed but a lunch break. Then we got into more technical systems for the rest of the afternoon, and finished with some anchor building challenges.

Doug Simpson

Great conditions at tiers. Lots of people out.

Thomas Gilmore

Jack and I met at 6am for a day covering snow anchors, swapping from leader to follower, and other mountaineering rope skills. The goal of the day was to build on the technical skills we worked on the day before in Eldo.

There was no freeze overnight and the snow was soft starting off the day. By 7:45, boot pen was half boot. By 8:45 snow was soft and wet with noticeable water in the top few cm’s. Boot pen increased to full boot. 9:05 we observed a cornice calve off. This was a large cornice that collapsed. Temps continued to rise, and we observed another cornice fall at approximately 11:35. No new observed wet avalanches.

Jack made great headway on his mountaineering skills today. We hiked back to the car to get ready for a third day out.

Ben Coryell

Jack and I met up at 6am to beat the forecasted heat. We made our way to the Supremacy Slab in Eldo which was a great choice due to the shade. After a few hours of ground school, we launched off on an obstacle course with lots of ropework and critical thinking. It was fun getting to see Jack’s wheel’s turning as he thought about the best rope technique for the given scenario.

We beat the heat and wrapped up the day at 2pm. Supremacy Slab was a great shady choice for a hot day!

Ben Coryell

Ravi wanted a warm-up day and wanted a few pitches of 5.7. Because of the unstable weather forecast in the afternoon, we started earlier and met in the RTD park & ride to carpool into the park. We started the day with short pitching to start the climb, Recon. We moved over to the start of the second pitch of the West overhang. What a sweet pitch, steep and full of great holds.

To stay out of the sun we traversed into the upper Calypso route then made our way over to the last pitch of the Wind Ridge. We topped out the Wind Tower and short-roped the descent and made it to the rappels. I set up a pre-rig and we rappelled to the trail and walked to the car.

Joey Thompson

It had been quite some time since John and his son Jake had climbed with me. We had done many routes in Clear Creek Canyon and I suggested a new venue. Staunton State Park delivered the goods! The day was supposed to be very hot, and I decided that finding shade was a priority. We went to the Dines Cliff and had the place all to ourselves. There was even a nice big shade tree at the base to keep the sun off us!

John and Jake cranked through the pitches today and even climbed a 5.8 roof route. Excellent work gents! The rock was great and was clean. The bolted lines consisted of bolts that were very close together. This would be a great place for some first outdoor leads.

As the sun kept getting higher in the sky and the temperature kept getting hotter, we decided to call it a day and hike back to the parking lot. A great day out with some great people!

Ben Coryell

We headed out to Other Critters for a half day of sport climbing. With the summer temps, this area is getting HOT by mid day, 8-10 was pretty pleasant with cool rock. The approach/descent trail has become increasingly bifurcated and eroded in recent years, and is likely the sketchiest part of climbing at this crag. Connie crashed it today doing about a dozen pitches!

Peter Thomas

Claudia and I agreed on an early start to the beat the heat as we were eyeballing the First or Second Flatiron. We met up early, geared up, and started the hike up the hill. My original plan was to climb the Second Flatiron as Claudia had limited outdoor climbing experience. About halfway up the trail, I called an audible and decided to go for the First Flatiron based on how she was moving and navigating the rocky trail.

Twenty-five minutes later, we landed at the base of Baker’s Way. After a quick snack and some water, we put on our harnesses, chatted about trad gear, and I launched up the first pitch. The rock was already starting to get warm, but Claudia did a great job of moving and keeping spirits high. We interested the North Arete maybe an hour later and cruised up and down the beautiful summit ridge. There is also a brand-new rap anchor at the top of Baker’s Way, 15 feet uphill from where the old webbing/cable used to be.

It was a great day out with Claudia summiting the First Flatiron, and in her words, “an incredible experience!”

Ben Coryell

Chose ruper to try and stay shaded. Shade until around noon. Traverse stays in shade until maybe 1. Windy at the summit but comfortable conditions on the way down.

Poison ivy is starting to grow into the trail.

Thomas Gilmore

We had a great day practicing trad and crack climbing skills up at lookout mountain. This little crag offers a variety of sizes and difficulties of cracks. We got lots of laps in practicing jams, and as the day progressed, we’re able to build in some trad skills placing gear, mock leading, and testing gear.

Peter Thomas

Today we had a group of 5 for the BCC Backyard Climbing Festival clinic, learn to lead sport climbing. We hiked up to the Safari in the Tunnel 5 zone of Clear Creek Canyon. We started the morning with learn to lead skills, including a lead climbing demo, discussion of techniques, gear, and leading considerations. I set up two top ropes on two routes to facilitate moc leading. Guests were able to climb the routes and get feedback on lead belay techniques and lead climbing, while under the safety of a top rope.

We took lunch, and then I ran through anchors. I kept it straightforward and taught a quickdraw anchor, lockerdraw, and the quad. We then went over how to clean an anchor, and everyone individually ran through the demo.

To fill the afternoon, we did more moc-leads on new routes. We also covered how to bail and how to use a stick clip. Descent back to the car was slick and chossy.

Doug Simpson

Fun day

Pat Schmalix

In the morning, we had warm and windy weather. We climbed all day on dry rock without any threat of light rain, which had been forecasted for the afternoon. After the Instructor Meeting, we gathered the necessary gear and headed to the climbing crag. We met with the clients, reviewed the day, presented a risk management discussion, and checked the clients’ gear. The group then hiked to the climbing area, led the climbing routes, and set up additional climbs for the guests.

During the candidate’s training, they received instruction on a range of important skills. These included learning how to clean a sport climbing anchor using bolts, receiving a traditional protection placement clinic, and practicing belaying with an assisted belay device. Following the training, the climbing volunteers provided positive feedback, noting that they had a great time and were thankful for the opportunity to learn valuable new techniques.

Around 2 p.m., we carefully packed up our belongings and made our way down to the parking area. After concluding the day with mock clients, the SPI team returned to the GMG office for a thorough course close and debrief to reflect on the day’s activities and outcomes.

Joey Thompson

Good day! 0715 departure from parking lot. Was surprised to see 4 parties on durance and two on Miesner. Clients did well though they pulled on gear. Their goal was to summit not free it. Spent long time on summit and uneventful rap.

Pat Schmalix

Tara came out to learn skills to go climbing with her teenage son who has fallen in love with climbing, and especially multi-pitch. We headed out to cat slab annex, to work on skills development including general safety checks, belaying, and systems. After a few practice laps in single pitch terrain, we capped the day by going up Tara’s first ever multi-pitch!

Peter Thomas

Met clients at 8:15 discussed options. Hiked to base and a super slow looking party was on Durance so we did the Bowling Alley and first pitch of Miesner

Pat Schmalix

Having been stormed on for the entire first day, Hal and I had to get all of our fun in just one day. We discussed options, and all seemed to have potential problems of one sort or another; some routes were long and hard, some were easier but looser and lower quality, some had shade, which seemed unappealing after a dark day that didn’t crack the 50 degree mark. So we chose Journey Home, a stretch goal, but one that had the advantages of being sunny (warmth!) relatively clean, steep, and of the highest quality. The risks were that it would be too long or too hard, with every pitch hovering around 10a.

We got started from the campground at 6:45. The raps down the Cruise gully went smoothly and though the static fixed ropes were stiff and worn in places, we weren’t troubled.

Finally, we got a good look at the route, and oh boy, it was big and very vertical. I set the pace by leading the approach pitch, but had to stop under Ament’s Chimney. My client led sideways to the base of the route; except he didn’t go far enough so I had to reset the belay further to the left. After a bit of psyching and buffing my shoes, I led the first scary pitch. It is R/X as far as I am concerned, truly dangerous. But that got us to the only pin on the route at the belay. The rock was not inspiring here. I then settled in to a long belay while Hal led us into and through an intimidating chimney slot with a hand rack roof! He managed it quite well, and climbed strongly, but he fell at the roof onto a well placed #3 camalot with another 3 just below. He dusted himself off and continued to the belay.

I had one scary experience when I followed; a baseball sized rock kept in place a rugby ball sized block and I accidentally moved the smaller one meaning both had to come down. I held the bigger block on my shoulder while I chucked the baseball into the void. Then I carefully used both hands and pitched the bigger block over my shoulder and watched as it smashed the belay where I had just been moments ago. If my client had budged it while leading and I was below, it might have been very bad as there isn’t a lot of room to move around on the first belay. In the plus side, that is one less loose block on the route.

After resetting the anchor and reordering the ropes, I then led the next three pitches, which were all hard, but probably not as hard as the pitch that he led. Hal fell once while following, on the crux 4th pitch. We were all grins as he finally rejoined me at the base of the last pitch, on a great small tiered ledge with views and shade and lots room to organize everything. (It was the only ledge on the route, besides the top of the first pitch. All others were stances). Hal a short 5.9 pitch to easy choss, and graciously and delicately belayed me so as not to disturb the teetering chunks of rock. I led us along the walk off tot he summit at the guardrails of the Chasm view lookout.

A few notes: I brought a second thinner half rope which we used as a tagline; we hauled our packs on every pitch other than the approach and the last exit pitch because of the lower angle and amount of loose rock perched upon them. This worked very well, and the packs pulled cleanly every time. We probably brought too many layers, but it was nice knowing they were there in case of emergency. I also had an Inreach just in case. It should be mandatory for guides to have one there, as there is no cellphone service anywhere near the canyon. You have to drive out to the nearest paved road (5ish miles away) to get service.

Tristan Perry

The weather wasn’t good enough to climb, so we took a rest day and worked on anchor building on the rim of the canyon at a lookout with a wooden railing. I critiqued my client’s gear placements individually, in general calling for more attention to limitations of gear and how the protection can move during rope or anchor actions. Then we looked at the anchor systems more holistically, in terms of how to incorporate each piece in service of the overall scheme. We covered quads and girth hitches (underutilized for him) and other tying arrangements using the rope or slings in lieu of hardware.

Tristan Perry

I met my client Howell at 7 AM. We rocked up at the car, and headed to the West Ridge, did a little third class short roping to get to the backside. My client took the first lead, and was very solid, I strung the second, two pitches together and we were at the big ledge below the final pitch of hand cracker. Hal led the crux with aplomb, and belayed me from the top.

We then went down the other side to the base of the Green spur. We both wanted the first pitch lead, but how was paying so he got to do it. He led strongly but fell when a foot popped at the crux. He was unscathed, fortunately, and carried on to the belay. I then took us through the tunnel, and over the next loose blocky 5.9 pitch. How then did the rebuffat arete to the top. Throughout the day, I was looking critically at Hal’s gear placements.

Tristan Perry

Was expecting to take a couple new people out. Turns out they were crushers. One did the 11a clean twice

Pat Schmalix

Javier and I met up at 2:30am and planned to be moving by 3am for an attempt at the East Ridge of Mt. Bancroft. We parked, donned our packs and boots, and were off hiking by 3:15am. Approach below 11,000 consisted of patches of postholing intermixed with dry trail/road. Boot penetration max of a few inches. We made the approach in great time and were gearing up at the base of the east headwall by 6:30am. We climbed one of the east facing couloirs and stepped back onto the headwall for a few shorter pitches. There wasn’t much pro on the headwall, but the climbing was easy. Above 11,000 the snow became firmer and colder and made for good cramponing intermixed with some variable snow. The ridge consisted of some knife edge snow intermixed with rock gendarmes. Above 12,000 on the ridge, there was cold snow that was fist hardness and progressively harder as you went down in depth. No signs of instability. We navigated the ridge to the rappel and replaced the tat anchor. After climbing back out of the notch, we took our crampons off and climbed very nice 3rd and 4th class dry rock to just shy of the summit. The snow had begun to warm and boot penetration was variable – sometimes up to 10+ inches. We descended the shoulder to avoid the warm snow and made it back to the cars. What a great day out in the mountains!

Ben Coryell

It’s spring, and weather is a little unpredictable. In boulder canyon today, practicing anchor skills, we got sun, rain, heat cold and wind. Even so we had a really successful day working on a variety of climbing anchors, in Elephant buttes.

Peter Thomas

Busy afternoon at tiers, scouting from the parking lot with bino’s I could see almost all moderates being climbed, and hard routes too. Parking was tight but we made it work. Slow hike to approach lower tiers and see if we can squeeze in. Paused guests at base of lower tiers, screened the crag to look for a way in, as busy as I have ever seen and the obscure 5.6 zone to the west’s trail was closed. Redirected clients, who did not care at all and were so excited to be outside on a beautiful day. Squeezed in at jerchio, climbing a quick 5.6 slab to hang a rope. Clients got to climbing and belaying as I hung a second rope. We each person got 2 laps per rope (4 laps each) at this zone, then we transferred to the upper tier as the crowds left. I sprinted up the 5.8 three little roofs, and we spent extra time having everyone get a lap in, making it back to the cars late but everyone was tuckered out and stoked.

Doug Simpson

Leo came out for his third day with Golden Guides, excited to continue building proficiency with multi-pitch sport climbs. Staunton offers the perfect venue with several 2-4 pitch routes in close concentration. Leo led me up a couple of the multi-pitch climbs, and was able to knock out 11 pitches in a half day of climbing.

Peter Thomas

We had a great half day in Eldo today. It’s finally starting to feel like summer, and with that hot temp especially in the sun. Jacob came out to work on trad climbing skills. We spent the day at Wind Tower, climbing Recon and The Bomb, discussing gear placements, rack management, anchoring and route finding while climbing on gear. After a couple mock leads, Jacob capped the day leading his first all gear route.

Peter Thomas

Simple hike up the mountain.

Peter Schmalix

I met my client Oakley at Chautauqua Park at 6:30 sharp. We chatted as we hiked up, and took frequent breaks as she got quite winded. We shifted the objective from the 1st Flatiron to the 2nd Flatiron, she climbed fluidly and confidently on the stone, with no fear of heights, and seemed to regain her aerobic capacity as well. We avoided the jump, and topped out without incident.

Tristan Perry

With some ominous weather in the forecast, we had an early start for the flatirons. Cool morning temps and broken clouds made for a pleasant and beautiful walk up to the climb. We completed the first pitch but due to some fatigue from travel, and anxiety about the climb, the guests decided pushing on wasn’t what they wanted, and to come down. We were able to enjoy a nice hike around the flatirons with our remaining time, getting back to the cars just as the rain came in.

Peter Thomas

My client wanted to lead routes outside, and also wanted to learn to do multi-pitch systems. We accomplished both aims by taking a run up Playin’ Hooky, and then worked on movement at the doghouse on some harder, overhanging pitches that required more strength and technique.

Tristan Perry

My client wanted to lead routes outside, and also wanted to learn to do multi-pitch systems. We accomplished both aims by taking a run up Playin’ Hooky, and then worked on movement at the doghouse on some harder, overhanging pitches that required more strength and technique.

Tristan Perry

Straightforward day doing ground school for intro to trad skills

Doug Simpson

Cold day!! But we met early to avoid the crowds we met on the way down (5 parties)

Pat Schmalix

For our final day of the intro to mountaineering course, we went live with many of the skills taught earlier in the course. We short roped and short pitched Quartzite ridge, diving deeper into “alpine” style anchors, terrain features and belays, and risk management for navigating 4th and easy 5th class rock. We finished out the course with practicing resume skills. Despite more rain forecast across the front range, we had beautiful weather in the afternoon, and were able to have a nice close to the course

Peter Thomas

The morning started off cold with high winds at Saint Mary’s. We were able to find some protection in the trees where we talked about snow anchors, rope systems for moving over snow, and to practice walking in snow with and without crampons.

Mid day the wind died down and the sun came out allowing us to venture more into the snow. Steeper slopes quickly became sun effected, which provided good opportunities to discuss risk assessment, and basic avalanche awareness. snow conditions kept us to lower angle slopes, but we were still able to get in lots of skills development, and practice.

Peter Thomas

For our first day of Intro to Mountaineering we used Quartzite ridge in Eldo to practice rope systems, and moving through the mountains in semi-technical terrain. Quartzite ridge offers great terrain to practice both movement and technical skills to work on moving efficiently while maintaining good security.

Peter Thomas