6/7  Long drive across the country to Colorado.  We manage to get in some bouldering at the rest stop just west of exit 225 in Kansas.  Funny to be bouldering in a rest stop at midnight in the flattest state in the USA.

6/8  Take Ryan to the Denver airport where he catches a flight to California.  Ryan has to find an apartment for next year, so I am on my own for a few days.  I visit Alana who had moved to Boulder a year ago.  She is still at work, so I take a shower and a nap at her house.  Alana returns and we make a delicious dinner together.  Alana is heading off on a backpacking trip to Wyoming, so we say goodbye and I go to visit Tom.  Nice to know lots of people in Boulder.

6/9  Tom and I climb in Eldorado Canyon.  We climb Calypso (5.6) and Wind Ridge (5.6) both fun climbs.  This is the ninth anniversary of my first ever outdoor climb (which was also with Tom) at Peter's Kill.

There are chipmunks swarming at the base of the climb.  So we prudently take all our food up the cliff with us.  Unfortunately, I forget about the emergency Cliff Bar that I keep in the top pocket of my pack.  Argh!  The critters chew right through my pack to get it.  Luckily, it is an ancient pack and a bit of duct tape fixes the hole.  Return to Tom's house to discover that his dog, Brielle, has jumped on the counter and eaten the half dozen bagels I left there.  Double Argh!  Critters 2, Jeff 0.

Make a quick stop to meet Tom's girlfriend Beth and her daughter Erica.  Then we drive up Flagstaff Mountain to look at some of the boulders and short top rope routes. 

6/10  Wake relatively early to hike in Roosevelt National Forest.  We do a 10 mile round trip from Moffat Tunnel (9211') to Roger's Pass Lake near the Continental Divide (11200').  There is snow for about half the distance and we are up to our thighs in places.  After that hike we have a nice dinner with Beth and Erika.

6/11  I mean to take a rest day but end up taking a "less active than average" day.  Tom and I hike at Chautauqua park, the base of the Flatirons.  We hike the Royal Arch trail past the Flatirons to an overlook.  It is a mellow hike, maybe 3 or 4 miles round trip.  And no snow.  After the hike we eat a nice dinner and relax in the hot tub in Tom's condo complex.  Hot tubs are an integral part of any rest day.  Or any less active than average day.

6/12  Spend some time gathering beta for climbing and camping in Rocky Mountain National Park.  Ryan returns from California and I pick him up at the Denver airport.

6/13  Ryan and I climb Yellow Spur (direct start, 5.10a) in Eldorado Canyon.  We get an early start to avoid the heat and manage to stay in the shade all day.  We start climbing Yellow Spur at 7:45am and reach the summit around 11am.  Ryan leads the first pitch which is quite strenuous and difficult to protect.  P2, a scary dihedral, is mine.  Ryan gets p3 which has an annoying bulge.  I am lucky to get p4 which is an awesome hand traverse.  P5 is a really sweet pitch, but at 5.9R I am glad to let Ryan lead it.  Then I finish the climb leading a final pitch up a gorgeous arete.  Yellow Spur reminds me of Rewritten (which is my favorite Eldo climb) with a cool hand traverse and a final arete pitch.  At the top of Yellow Spur we hang out for a bit taking pictures and enjoying the view.  It takes us a bit longer than expected to reach the ground because the second rappel anchor is hard to spot.  We are in the right area, but still walk around for a while before we look over the correct bulge.

The timing ends up being perfect because Bastille Crack (5.7) is just in the shade as we reach it.  This climb is super, super polished.  Very slippery.  Ryan links the first two pitches.  Then I take the next two or three pitches in a full rope length.  Run out of rope about 20' below the top.  We haven't discussed simulclimbing, so I build an anchor and bring Ryan up, then he finishes the climb.

After those two climbs we take a quick splash in the canyon's creek.  Then drive north to where I hope to find camping outside Rocky Mountain National Park.  The directions I have are good.  We take 7N to Meeker Park.  About 100 yards north of Meeker, we turn east into the National Forest.  Staying right at each fork, we drive about 5 miles to find a perfect area to spend the night.

6/14  We drive to Lumpy Ridge, north of Estes Park.  Finding the trailhead is tricky.  The road goes right through the McGregor Ranch.  Currently the road is public, but next year the road will be private.  Not sure what access will be like once that happens.  We hike to Sundance Buttress and climb Kor's Flake (5.7+).  There is a long section of 5.7R which annoyingly isn't mentioned in the guide book.  Still a fun climb.  Very windy.  One rappel and a 4th class downclimb gets us back to the base.  The trailhead is at 7900' and Kor's Flake goes from 9000' to 10000' at the summit, so we are getting some altitude for the first time this trip.  After a week in Boulder, we are well enough acclimated that we don't notice any effects even at 10000'.  The hike out takes about 80 minutes.  We drive to the RMNP visitor's center to get water and use the bathrooms (which are open 24x7).  The soap here smells like pina coladas.  From there we go back to our National Forest to spend the night.

6/15  Another day at Lumpy Ridge.  We wake early and are dive bombed by hummingbirds while we eat breakfast.  I have no idea what made them so spunky this morning.  We plan to climb Petit Grepon tomorrow, so today is going to be a rest day... or at least a "less active than average" day... or actually a "more active than average" day.  We aren't very good at resting.  That skill will come later in the trip.

We head to Pear Buttress and climb J Crack.  I lead p1 which is fairly easy.  Ryan takes p2 which is a very sustained, flaring 5.9 crack.  Superb.  I was supposed to get p3.  The book said 5.8+.  The book forgot to mention that there is no pro for the entire pitch.  60' of X rated climbing.  We are roundly unimpressed by the book.  Instead of leading the factor 2 fall pitch, Ryan continues up the flaring crack.  It becomes overhanging and goes at 5.11c, but at least it is G rated.  Climbing piece to piece gets Ryan to the top of the pitch.  I take the 60m 5.easy pitch which finishes J Crack.  From there we climb Hurley Traverse (5.7+) to the top of the ridge. The weather is somewhat foreboding all day, but the two thunderstorms that move through the area while we climb manage to miss us.  Lucky.

6/16  We wake at 4am to climb Petit Grepon.  This classic 9 pitch 5.8 sits in a relatively remote section of RMNP.  The base of the climb is at 11,500' and it will be our first serious alpine rock climb.  Skies are overcast and there is continuous drizzle as we hike in.  After 4.5 miles, the rain stops.  Turns to snow actually.  By the time we reach the Petit there is a blizzard raging around us.  Whiteout conditions and nearly and inch of fresh snow.  Ryan and I retreat.  We get back to the car around 11:30am.  I call Tom to check on our chances of getting good weather tomorrow.  He checks some raw data on the NOAA computers and tells me 90% chance of good weather.  "Want to join us?" I ask.  Tom doesn't hesitate long.  He is in.  Next I call Alana.  She is just back from backpacking and very busy at work and has to move that weekend.  She is in too.  We all gather at Tom's house and get to bed as early as possible.

6/17  We wake at 3am.  We are at the trailhead and hiking by headlamp long before dawn.  It is a beautiful morning.  We go through that phase where I notice the sky going from black, to a less dark black.  Then slowly the sky turns light.  We meet a solo ice climber, Patrick, who shows us a short cut to the base of the climb.  We reach the Petit at 7:15am, just as the sun begins to warm the rock.  Tom and I climb the right side of the first pitch at the same time as Ryan and Alana climb the left side.  Tom leads the second pitch and I get to lead the exciting third pitch.  Then we wait.  There is a crowd on the Petit.  It is listed in Classic Climbs in North America (or "Crowded Climbs in North America" as some call it), and we are attempting the climb on a weekend day with a nice weather forecast.  At least three parties had bivied at the base and are ahead of us.  And they are all stopped by the party of three ahead of them.  This group had apparently started hiking at midnight and was the first team on the rock that day.  I never see them, but I'm told they have no business being on multipitch, alpine rock.  They are slowwwww.  Crowds are compounded by the fact that another route on the Petit merges with this one for the last two pitches.  At least it is sunny, not terribly cold and we have a nice ledge.  A ledge where we wait for three hours.

Finally the traffic clears.  The slow party of three apparently takes a total of 12 hours to reach the summit.  By way of comparison, Ryan and I would later climb Crimson Chrysalis, similar in length and difficulty, in 3.5 hours.  Most of the parties ahead of us bail.  In fact, I believe we are the only other party to summit this day.  Tom leads p4 which sets me up to lead p5, the crux pitch.  There is a somewhat unprotected section just before the crux.  Ryan and Alana are ahead of us and Ryan leaves a cordalette dangling from a high nut so I have some protection on the run out section.  I'm quite grateful.  Not to worry about Ryan missing his cordalette.  We bootied two cordalettes, a nut, a nalgene bottle, three non-locking carabiners and one locking carabiner today.  Mostly gear left by retreating parties.  With plenty of gear, I move through the crux pitch quickly.  Alana is leading p6 when I arrive and bring up Tom.  There is enough room on the pitch for two climbers, so I head up right behind her.  Tom and Ryan follow the pitch simultaneously.

We are now on the east face of the Petit and in the shade.  So we are cold, hungry and tired.  Eager to be done, we come up with a strategy to climb faster as a party of four.  As always, Ryan gets the hard job.  He leads two long pitches to the summit.  When he establishes a belay, I tie in short to his rope.  Alana and I simul the pitch on toprope, reclipping the rope I trail for Tom who then cleans the pitch.  It works well and soon I hear Ryan yell, "It is warm and sunny up here!" as he reaches the summit.  We are all on the summit by 5:45pm.  We take a few photos and begin to rappel as quickly as possible.  There are six double rope rappels to the base of the Petit.  Most of the rappels are close to 200'.  In fact, the fifth rappel is a bit longer.  We have to rap off the ends of our rope and drop on to a wide ledge.  At 8:45pm, just as the sun sets, we all are at the base of the climb.  We treat some water (bring iodine or chlorine dioxide if you do this climb, there is plenty of water along the way, no need to carry more than a liter or two at a time) and begin the hike out.

By this point in the trip I have trained my body to go without food while climbing.  The training works well.  During the entire day on the Petit I eat only two power bars and one plain bagel.  I have no food for the hike out, but I feel fine.  It is a clear night and the stars are beautiful.  We enjoy some boot glissades down the snow fields and are even shadowed by a fox for a few hundred yards.  Perhaps he hoped that we would scare up a mouse or two.  Yum!  During the hike out we develop our (somewhat sanctimonious) theory of hiker strata.  Our theory is that you can tell how far you are from the trailhead by the sort of people you encounter.  The strata looks something like this:

Distance from Trailhead	Hiker Description
100 yards	Expensive clothing.  Look like they belong in the lounge of an expensive hotel.  Which is where they would rather be.
1/4 mile	Overweight.  No water.
1 mile	Fit and friendly elderly people with huge smiles.  Grandparent strata.
2 miles	Brand new North Face and Mountain Hardware clothing.  Brand new expedition pack filled with every possible gadget a person could use on a day hike.  Which is what they are doing.
4 miles	Big guy who looks like he lifts weights regularly about 10 steps ahead of his girlfriend who is trotting to keep up.  A decade ago he was a boy scout for three months.  He has convinced his girlfriend that he is a serious outdoorsman.  They don't have sleeping pads and will suffer a cold, sleepless night.  She will break up with him within a month.
10 miles	Beat up pack filled with high quality gear.  At least one article of clothing from Salvation Army.
>100 miles	Thru hiker on epic journey of self discovery.  Sunburn.  Weird name.  All gear is made from silicon coated nylon.  No underwear.  Odd mascot clipped to pack.  Reaches end of epic journey after five months, but forgot to do the self discovery part.  Turns around and hikes back the other direction.

We reach the trailhead at 11:20pm.  I eat a cliff shot with caffeine (which I had found near the base of the cliff at Lumpy Ridge) and that perks me up for the drive back to Tom's house.  It is a 22 hour day door-to-door.  One of the more exhausting days of my life.  Do I write that too often?

6/18  Happy Father's Day!  We all sleep rather late, then call our fathers.  By early in the afternoon we have enough energy for lunch.  We meet Porscha (who is now living in Boulder) and Alana downtown and eat some food.  Then we head to The Spot, a bouldering gym where Porscha hangs out with Beau.  From there we are off to visit with Amy and Charles and their new puppy, Luna.  When Amy and Charles have to head to a wedding, we go to Alana's new apartment and sort gear from the previous day's adventure.  We eat an excellent dinner and hang out waiting for Becky and Burk to arrive.  Becky is moving in with Alana and she arrives tonight.  We quickly clear all our climbing gear out of her room and help unload her trailer.

6/19  After nearly two weeks in Boulder, Ryan and I head west across Colorado to Rifle.  We drive through Rifle Mountain Park to the White River National Forest where we hike a short distance down the Three Forks trail and spend the night.  Bugs are as dense as anywhere we have been.  And at least one larger animal.  Ryan receives a visit from something large in the middle of the night.  It sniffs my bug bivy where Ryan is sleeping.

6/20  Rifle is a narrow limestone canyon with severely overhung walls.  It contains some of the hardest climbing in the United States.  All sport routes, all within minutes of a parking lot.  We first head to Nappy Dugout where we climb PMS and PMT, both 5.10c climbs and some of the few climbs graded below 5.11 in the park.  We both onsight both climbs.  Next we walk about 100 yards to Wasteland where Ryan has a bunch of tries at Ruckus (5.12b).  After that we take the 30 second walk back to Nappy Dugout where I lead Ivory Tower (5.11a) and very nearly onsight the climb just slipping off a pinch near the top.  Back to Ruckus for Ryan to give it a few more burns.  We finish the day with my attempt at Purple and Green (5.10d) at the Anti-Phil Wall.  This climb is very polished and I struggle quite a bit, but do finally get to the top.

We have beta on a better location to camp in the forest.  Drive into the forest, take the first left, drive up the hill, take a left at the t-intersection.  Then drive to the big meadow.  Cooler evenings and not many bugs.  Great location for car camping.

6/21  Lots of people at Rifle are training for the upcoming Junior Nationals in Tigard, OR.  Gabor and Andrea, who we saw in Red River Gorge and who I knew back when they were kids in Virginia, are working hard climbs.  At nationals, Gabor would place third in his division and Andrea fourth in hers.  We also meet Alex, Natalie and Sierra who are all pulling 13s and 14s in preparation for nationals.  I believe Alex and Sierra both placed second in their divisions and went on to compete in the UIAA World Youth Championship which was held in Austria in August.  It is fun to be climbing with elite athletes who are extremely friendly and willing to take time to share their knowledge of Rifle with us.  Alex is sponsored by Mamut, and I was envious of all his brand new, ultralight gear.  Mmmm... new ultralight gear!  Topping off my opportunity to rub elbows with the stars, I get some good pictures of Chelsea, another world class climber, who I think was just having fun in Rifle and not preparing for a competition.

We start the day back at Ruckus.  Ryan gives it a few more tries and finally wires the route to get the pinkpoint (all the hard routes at Rife have preplaced draws).  We watch Alex climb Lung Fish a hard 13 which has recently had a hold break off, making it harder.  Ryan gives it a try on toprope and reaches the second bolt.  Next we head to Ruckman Cave where I lead most of the way up Choss Family Robinson (5.11d).  But I can't finish the climb, so I lower and make Ryan lead it.  Then I give it another go on toprope to clean the draws and manage to reach the anchors.  Finally we head to Feline (5.11b) a Rifle classic.  This is a great route which we both lead, though neither of us manages an onsight.  It is a long route and generally well protected.  Which sort of makes me wonder why there are drops of blood all over the climb.

Done climbing, we take a quick splash in the creek.  Then hop in the car and drive to Moab, Utah.