making the most of the rainy season, part III

Wow, it has been a long time since I have updated here... If I remember correctly, there is still much to tell about the rainy season, so here goes.

In late May I took an Intermediate Snow course through CMC Boulder, which was a continuation of last year's Beginner Snow course. In Intermediate we learned how to use snow pro, roped travel, setup anchors, and self arrest with crampons. It built on Basic Snow and the Basic Rock School from earlier in the spring, and was a nice culmination to likely end my classes for a while. I now feel well equipped to safely travel up couloirs (for ski descents, of course). I really like the idea of snow travel as a means of ascent (avoiding the crowds and extending the climbing season), especially when combined with a ski descent (hence the Avy 1 class also). The next class I take will probably be Avy 2 and then eventually leading trad rock. After that, I think I am schooled out.

In early June I bouldered a bit on Mt. Sanitas right outside of Boulder. It was the first time I had really spent much time on Sanitas, and I have to say it surprised me. Maybe I wasn't in the beginner area, but I definitely thought the climbing would be easier. I've heard about tons of V0/V1 problems but didn't find too many when I was there. It was really busy but the rock was much kinder on my hands than Flagstaff is though, so it's a nice little outing in its own right.

A few weeks after Sanitas, I took a spur of the moment long weekend to the Telluride Bluegrass Festival. I went with the same friend I took up to Sanitas. We left Boulder on Wednesday after work and had what basically equates to 5 days of ridiculous debauchery in one of the most incredible settings on the planet. Let's just say that if there ever was a weekend where I put on a good Hunter S. Thompson impersonation, this, dear friends, was one of a select few, hence the leaving out of several details here. Before leaving Boulder we stopped at Liquor Mart for provisions, leaving town with a handful of bottles of beer, a 1.75L bottle of wine, a bottle of vodka, and two 12 packs of canned beer. Wednesday night we drove as far as we could before I started to get spooked of driving with all the deer on the side of the road. We got to Monarch Pass, where it was still very cold and snow was in our campsight. (Nothing like a little alcohol to take the chill out of the air...) We took our time getting going and got into Telluride around noon on Thursday. I hadn't been back to Telluride since I was a boy (middle school?) so this was a very nice reunion. The San Juans were simply stunning, with tons (tons!) of snow still on them. Most of the first day was spent drinking and unloading the Jeep while we set up our camp, finally seeing a few shows, and then head back to camp only to fall asleep and ultimately miss David Byrne's headline of the night. We made friends anyways, and ultimately did not go back to bed until the sun was coming up over the mountains. We slept under the dawn/stars and woke up to begin drinking again. We had a few beers for breakfast (which became the norm of the weekend) before we headed into town for the shows. We danced all day and I got a pretty good sunburn on my feet. That night Béla Fleck & Toumani Diabaté were definitely the highlight show of the weekend for me.

Every act we saw was fantastic though... it got to the point where I would stop checking the schedule, because it simply did not matter who was playing. Every band I knew put on a great show, and every band I didn't know encouraged me to check them out when I got home.

Saturday we woke to a completely different cold and rainy setting, so we headed into town for shelter... not to mention we had run out of beer. We reloaded at a nearby gas station and then headed to the bars. Most of the bars in town were packed, but we managed to find a corner where we watched an incredible dance-off by two of the drunkest people I've seen in recent memory. Ex:

We made our way back to the stage for Yonder Mountain, who were terrific as always, and during which I ran into another Boulderite... small world. The rest of the lineup that night was incredible, with Gaelic Storm capping roughly 10 hours of dancing. My legs were tired, and I was bummed going to bed because Sunday meant a long drive home back to responsibility. The 3am quesadillas helped ease the pain though :) Sunday we caught the first two shows, packed up our tent and headed back to Boulder. I was bummed we had to leave before Emmylou Harris played, but I knew we had to. We went home via I-70 instead of 285, and that made a truly wonderful Tour de Colorado. Photos of the weekend can be found at http://www.flickr.com/photos/brett_burch/sets/72157620431813195.

The weekend after Telluride Ryan, Allison, Brian and I hiked up La Plata via the Southwest Ridge. Ryan and I got our revenge after last year's Jeep-sinking 4th of July incident. It was our first new 14er of the year, and a lot of fun, although (this is the rainy season, after all) we did get rained on and had some nearby lightning. We actually ended up removing our packs to run quickly to the summit and claim our prize before a quick descent. I was happy to have made it down fairly dry, but will try to not cut it so close with the weather in the future. Photos of the outing are at http://www.flickr.com/photos/brett_burch/sets/72157620702598064/.

Lastly, Ryan and I tried to climb on 4th of July weekend in Boulder Canyon and got rained out. As soon as we reached the crag after some trailhead-finding troubles the clouds let rip with rain and lightning nearby. It looked something like:

I was happy just to head into town for some time at The Spot. The 4th of July truly seems cursed for us.

Thus concludes the rainy season. Bring on the snow season!!

bouldering outside in January

Even though I've lived in Boulder almost 2 years, I'm still having a hard time understanding how winter works here. Although I had hoped to be skiing this morning, I ended up in town watching Coal Miner's Daughter* while waiting for my new dining table/chairs to be delivered. (This plays into accomplishing "goodbye to hand-me-down furniture" as mentioned in a previous post about goals for the year.) As luck would have it, it was 70 degrees here! With the table assembled and in place by noon, so I had a nice little Saturday freed up. I took the liberty of working on another of my 2009 goals and headed up to Flagstaff for some outdoor bouldering. By the time I got up there, the afternoon clouds had rolled in, so it was a bit chilly, but the climbing was still enjoyable. I headed up towards the Upper Great Ridge, near the First Overhang Ridge, where I spent an afternoon in November. There was still snow on the ground, but the rock felt good in the cold. I walked right up and onsighted Southwest Layback (V1... my first) on King Conquer boulder (#11 in this photo). After messing around a bit more, I walked downhill to the Upper Y wall. I onsighted Y-Right (V0, #14 in this photo). At the very top of Y-Right, I started to get a bit of fear because a guy working on the Y Traverse below me fell, cutting his hand and elbow, causing the ol' blood to get a-flowin'. His friend's scream scared the crap out of me, and from there on I couldn't shake the fear, so I decided to call it a day quickly... maybe the setting sun and wind also played into this. Either way, it was a reminder that climbing outside is not like climbing inside in the least. (The flakes at the top of Y-Right are a little thin, so the stories about flakes breaking off by the folks below me didn't help my cause...) I'm still very much a beginner when it comes to bouldering outside, so we'll see how my improvement goes this year. On a positive note, at least I've already logged a day and we're nowhere near spring!

*I hadn't seen that movie in a long time. Sissy Spacek and Tommy Lee Jones do a wonderful job in it. I haven't lived in Kentucky for about 13 years, but you couldn't mistake the scenery for anywhere else... seealso Elizabethtown. Loretta Lynn's story, in my opinion, is one of the more interesting threads of the Americana web.

Vacation in the Yucatan

I just got back from Mexico. In my head I'm still there. Right about....

there. No seriously, I'm about ready to trade some winter coats for a one-way flight to Cancun. Anyone?

Anybody that knows me knows that I can't tell a story without at least one back story, which inevitably leads me down another back story, which... it's pretty bad. Used to be worse. I honestly try to keep it to a minimum, but sometimes context is just necessary, you know? Ok, so the story is that the company I work for gave everyone (+ guest) who had been there at least 1 year a free (yep, free, as in no paying for food, flight, lodging, alcohol, etc) trip to southern Mexico. We thought last year was the last year this trip would be offered, but we got surprised, ergo Thursday morning me, coworkers, and guest Erica (high school friend that visited Colorado earlier this year) leave the ground from DIA and touch down a few hours later in warm, humid Cancun.

The resort we stayed at was about 30 minutes south of Cancun between Puerto Morelos and Playa del Carmen, right on the beach. And speaking of, immediately after checking in, Erica and I headed to the beach to discover water so warm you could just about bathe in it. That would have to wait until tomorrow though. We had some (still free) drinks, ate at the buffet with the entire group, and then made our way to a bizarre Star Wars themed disco for some dancing. After dancing and (apparently one too many) drinks, Erica and I somehow turned a 10 minute walk back to our room into a 30 minute trek... all the resorts looked the same, not to mention we found a wooden horse to climb. Ahh well.

Friday morning we ventured outside the still-in-America resort south to Tulum for some Mayan ruins discovery. [We ventured twice, and in my opinion, these were the hidden gems of the trip.] Darren, Jenny, Chuck, Erica and I decided to take the bus/shuttle instead of a taxi for the added authenticity (and the drastic cost difference), so we found ourselves playing the classic Mexican sport of "run across the highway" which I couldn't stop laughing about. The fact that high-speed car dodging was completely normal for everyone else around us caught me off guard. We paid $2 for the ride to Playa del Carmen and then paid $3 for the ride to Tulum. For those of you not paying attention, only $5 for a 100km shuttle ride is amazing. The Tulum ruins were very interesting, and if I go back I'll get a Mayan guide to give me the full story. We decided instead to take the quick tour and hit the beach. The Tulum beach was fantastic with perfect white sand, coconut trees, turquoise water so clear you could see your feet in 4 feet of water. I had also read that the limestone cliffs offered decent bouldering, so I brought my shoes and enjoyed a little climbing. After we had our fill, we caught the shuttle back north to Playa del Carmen. We walked around in Playa del for a while and found ourselves intentionally avoiding the ultra-touristy tienda-bloated areas, ultimately deciding to eat a late lunch at a restaurant where (I was accused of being Italian for the second time that day, and) the omnipresence of English thinned out. I sat at the head of the table and was more or less the spokesperson for the table, so it was fun to practice my broken Spanish with Mexicans whose English was just as broken. The salsa was spicy, both the people-watching and food were good, and both the immense relaxation and cultural charm of Mexico were unavoidable. Tired from the day's adventure, we made our way back to the resort for dinner (sushi / habachi grill) , drinks, and a bit of dancing. Sleep that night came easy.

Saturday after another buffet breakfast we headed towards the beach where high winds denied us the opportunity to get in some sea kayaking or sailing. We played basketball in the chilly pool instead, then did as close to nothing as was possible until having an early dinner. Skipping the company dinner at 8:30, Darren, Jenny, Erica and I made our way via bus back to Playa del. This time we stayed close to 5th Avenue and did a bit of shopping. Erica seemed to come out best, bargaining her way from $120 to $55 for a handmade depiction of the Piedra del Sol. We sat for a while in front of a coffee shop with drinks watching people pass by. By this point I think I had actually forgotten the definition of "worry." On our way back to the bus, we stopped in an art studio called Sacbe, where we spoke with the gallery's director for about 45 minutes. He couldn't have been nicer, describing some of the artwork, telling of his experiences collecting the art for the gallery, and conveying a great love of his country's culture which I simply couldn't relate to. [Don't get me wrong; I love bluegrass, football, microbrews and the occasional hamburger, but this was different.] He recommended 4 cities near Mexico City to visit which I'll hopefully get to sometime in the future. I was awestruck by the peyote-inspired bead sculptures and yarn paintings of the Huicholes. When we got back on the bus (side story: a guy in line for the bus laughed at us like we were crazy when we our response to his asking why we didn't take a cab was that the bus was more fun), I began to realize that tomorrow I'd be back in Denver with bills to pay and work to do... just as I was starting to get the hang of vacation.

Sunday we woke to our first sunny morning. Given that we had little time left, we ate a quick breakfast and headed to the beach for some body surfing in 3 foot waves. Carmen, our towel distributor, remembered Erica and I from the yesterday and welcomed us for our last day. 2 hours later we had packed up and checked out. Erica and I nearly missed the bus, which I honestly would have preferred, since our plane was delayed anyways. It was sunny and 85*F as we watched Cancun disappear. When we landed in Denver it was -15*F. While that sinks in, I'll just say that a 100 degree change is a very rude awakening, and I hope to God that I never have that happen to me again. As the engine cut out on the Jeep while I brushed the windshield, I found myself very jealous of Carmen. I honestly went through withdrawal and depression on my first day back to work. It was a weird feeling because I'm usually so happy to be back in Colorado, no matter where I'm coming from, but this was tough.

The entire Riviera Maya coastline seems like a place where you could just sort of disappear into and wake up one day realizing it was 3 years later and you'd never left. Maybe I'll do that if I get the cojones to... This trip felt like my first vacation in years, and really was if you think of vacation as more than just taking a couple days off work and staying close to home. I haven't traveled much since I moved to Texas in 2004 except for work or to be home for the holidays, so this trip was short but very sweet. It reminded me how much I love travel. Note to self: update mental bride search criteria to include "love of travel" as a high-priority must-have.

Evidence: http://flickr.com/photos/brett_burch/sets/72157611313529820/

skiing and bouldering (both in November)

It has been a few weeks, so here's some catching up...

Potpourri:

• If I had a good enough excuse to wear Patagonia Capilene every day, I would.
• This week I had my first physical exam in a decade. I got a Tetanus shot, had blood drawn, and scheduled an appointment with a cardiologist. I've never had a cardio stress test, but I'm kind of excited to see how my heart performs and be able to put together some goals for improving it.
• I thought for a very long time that using the word "microclimate" when talking about clothing was bogus, but over the past couple of months I feel like I've been able to dial that in really well and truly recognize and appreciate getting it right. It really does make a big difference.
  
• Welcome to the Big Ten Dick Rod!!! Well done, Tress :)
• Austin, ready or not here I come. I expect Rudy's and Chuy's to be fully stocked on all my favorites...
  

Ok, enough of that. Last Saturday I went skiing for the first time this season with my Colorado Pass. I went to Breckenridge with Ryan, Allison and Andrew. Although the 24-hour report had 4" of new snow, due to the lack of storms in CO thus far, the snow was primarily man-made. Ahh well... it was nice to get out and test out my ski legs again. Overall I feel like it was a decent day, leaving plenty of room for improvement this season. Breck is a large resort with a great view in all directions, and I'm sure the terrain will be enjoyable once opened. Ryan and Allison took lessons all day so that left Andrew and I to explore the 2 open lifts. We enjoyed the snow, but eventually decided the early season snow was not worth the lift lines, so we headed for the lawn chairs and bar. I look forward to many days this season with those 3 companions and whoever else ends up joining me/us.

Quick side story: "you might be skiing in the early season if..." Some poor girl gets dragged up to Breck by her boyfriend and is apprehensive to even put her skis on in the lift line. She makes it off the lift ok, but then points her skis downhill on the beginner slope without thinking about gaining speed. Soon enough, she's going way too fast and headed directly for some guy sitting down. Despite observers yelling "FORE" the inevitable occurs and she plows into the guy's back. I hope both that he has fully recovered and that she doesn't put skis on for a while.

Quick commentary: I don't want to sound like a snob here, but I have to point out an observation of the difference in crowds between Breck with the resorts I went to last year (Steamboat, Winter Park, Copper and Loveland). Hopefully I don't sound like a jerk when I say this, but I prefer the crowds in the latter group because of my desire to take skiing seriously. Maybe it's because I'm not a great skier and not content with my skiing yet, but I feel like I should be focused on how my day is going rather than making fun of the guy who just ate it below me. Granted, I've laughed at or felt bad for people before, but not the entire day. I just enjoy a conversation like the following more than pointing and laughing which seemed to be the main objective of the people around me on the lifts (excluding Andrew):

Hi, how's your doing going?
So far so good. Isn't the snow nice this morning?
Yeah, I was just over at __insert name of nice run here__ and it's just starting to soften up nicely over there.
Cool, I'll check it out. Boy, I hope we get more days like today this season.
No kidding. I was up here last week and it is only getting better.
Yep, I hope my skiing keeps getting better as the snow does.
Definitely. Enjoy the powder.

Maybe it's just because it's too early to take this season seriously yet... I hope my first impression turns out to be wrong. Anyways...

Last weekend I also went Christmas shopping for myself, picking up a skiing daypack, an avy shovel and a bouldering crash pad. (When life hands you 20% off at Neptunes, I suggest making lemonade.) Today was such a beautiful day (where the heck is winter?) I decided I had no choice but to put the new crash pad to good use. I used my (apparently controversial but so far meeting my needs) Bouldering Colorado book to find a good boulder nearby with a relatively safe landing zone and beginner problems. Although I consider myself a fairly competent climber indoors despite plenty of room for improvement, bouldering outside (as was reinforced this summer in a morning on Flagstaff) is very different (primarily twofold; a: you have to leave enough stamina to be able to accurately jump to a crashpad or downclimb anything you go up if you get stuck because there are no padded floors below you i.e. the consequences force you to be more conservative especially when alone, and b: the rock chews up your hands much better), so beginner problems were definitely what I needed. I found a good rock on Flagstaff with a range of problems from V0 - V2 called Tombstone Spire which also had good information on the Flagstaff Mtn bouldering blog. There are several other rocks for the same parking area, all described at the previous link.

I ended up focusing my efforts on the beginner problem called West Side (apparently V0 / VB depending on who you ask) number 22 in the above photo. The first several moves were nice but it then the ground ("call it the deck, brah") gets slightly further away and the problem gets just enough blind and overhung to be interesting. (There is a huge "Thank you Jesus" chip and bucket at the top which you can't see, but keep reaching and you'll find it.) I ended up getting stuck a time or two and having to do some recon work from the top before completing the problem start to finish. It's a somewhat long problem and worked my forearms adequately. It was enough to give me a good workout, but I was able to ascend several times. I wouldn't call it highball by any means, but the tree branches add to the overall aesthetic :) The view from the topout, by the way, is as good as most in the Flatirons area. My photos of Tombstone Spire can be found at http://flickr.com/photos/brett_burch/sets/72157609770257754. I have to say there is something really nice about being on rock instead of plastic and not having colored tape to tell you where to go (even though the white chalk stains give you a pretty good idea). Here's hoping I get more days in when the weather gets warmer (if it ever gets cold enough to stop for the year, that is). Next time I'll go with a spotter (and maybe another crash pad) and test out my endurance on Pinnacle Colada, which looked really good but too high for going alone.

1 mtn lion and a wedding (... thankfully no funerals)

It has, yet again, been a while since I've updated this. This post will hopefully catch us up through May.

The weekend before Ben and Danielle's wedding I went mountain bike riding in Golden Gate Canyon State Park outside of Golden. Joe, his neighbor Dave and I rode the Mountain Lion trail, renowned as one of the best in the area. I felt very good the entire ride and was pleased with my climbing as well as downhilling... my lungs have come a long way since Walker Ranch last fall! At one point I saw what I still believe to be a mountain lion paw print in the mud/snow. It was either a mountain lion or the biggest dog I've ever seen... I'm still not 100% sure, but have a renewed appreciation for my secretive feline neighbors after seeing a print as big as I did. I'm looking forward to getting back on the trail and keeping my lungs and legs in shape this summer!

A few days later I hit the dusty trail eastward for Nashville. I took 3 days off of work (and wished I could have taken 3 more) for what turned out to be a fantastic family reunion/wedding/meet & greet with new friends/etc. To start, I was blown away by how green Tennessee and Kentucky were! I forgot how lush that part of the US is, and found I missed it. The flora and fauna seem somewhat plain in Boulder compared to that of the Appalachian foothills. Secondly, I've always loved traveling and that rejuvenated feeling which hitting the road provides. Solo road trips seem to work wonders in this way, stripping away all the debris that has collected since the last solo road trip, until I feel exactly like myself again. [Is that some sort of a warning sign that I enjoy being alone too much?] The drive from Nashville to Owensboro was no exception. [... except for the lack of bluegrass on the radio. How does one drive past the boyhood home of Bill Monroe and not find a bluegrass song on the radio??? Disappointing... but I got over it.]
I found Owensboro to be a quaint town; an ideal setting for a May wedding. It was almost as if you could see the memories of growing up there, or conjure new ones, when driving through town. Owensboro seemed old but not out of date, simple yet profound in its message to overly-complicated urban America. I also found the time spent with grandparents, siblings, parents, etc to be much needed and well received. These things I was prepared for. What I was not prepared for was the instant camaraderie found between me and the rest of Ben's friends. It was as if they had known me for years. To a certain extent, I suppose they had known a portion of me for years, and that was enough. We had a fun yet clean bachelor party, a smooth rehearsal and a perfect wedding. I can only hope that the support I surround myself with on my wedding weekend is as solid as what Ben had.
It would be impossible for me to summarize the wedding weekend here, but let's just say that I came away from it with a profound appreciation for what I had before misunderstood as my brother's misguided and lax tour through college, and a better appreciation for the way in which Ben and Danielle compliment each other. I was also unprepared for realizing in those few days that my little brother had grown up without me noticing, and discovering that he is in many respects more wise and mature than I am. While on the plane back to Denver I decided to not be the same person as I was before that trip. [Baby steps!]

To close, I'll report on the weekend after the wedding. On Sunday the 25th Tim, Darren and I attempted to boulder on Flagstaff just west of Boulder. Wow... I've climbed outside before (even in Boulder) but never bouldered. This was humbling. V0 problems felt like V∞. Having climbed around Boulder for years in a previous life, Darren gave us the official Flagstaff tour. After a few minutes my fingertips felt like they'd been scraped by a cheese grater. This, friends, was nothing like the Spot. It was humbling, yet definitely motivating. I hope to be able to traverse some of those problems with ease in the future (just don't tell my fingers). Afterwards I felt I hadn't pushed my body enough so I decided to go riding at Walker Ranch. When I got there I decided on the Meyers Homestead trail instead due to rain, since it's much easier to turn around on the Meyers trail. I had a nice ride, and did not see anyone else the entire time. Solitude proved the theme of Memorial Day weekend. All in all, my second May in Boulder was very good to me. Here's hoping June is more of the same!