Justin leading Big Eagle Feather.

Billings Bouldering Renaissance

When Aaron found this boulder above, now labeled the Golf Ball Boulder, the rims surprised me beyond expectation.  Solid bulbous sandstone on public land!  Buried in a ravine and covered by trees the stone seems to have kept a higher water content and aged nicely with a fine coat of efflorescence. There are at least 3 problems navigating this thing.  cHuck is see above here working the V-hard project.

Aaron topping out a yet unnamed V4? on the Circuit Board Boulder.

Aaron on another yet unnamed V3? on the Circuit Board Boulder.

One Year Later

link from August of 2006
link from April 2011

Greg Seftick (aka Wildcat, El Doctoro Seftickko, Captain Coco Nuts, Gary Sieflick) doing what he loved.  Skiing the Skillet Glacier on Mount Moran.  One of the premier alpine ski descents in the US.  He was always super humble.  He'd say he wasn't that good of a skier because he lived in Minnesota, or West Virginia, or anywhere that didn't have real mountains, but I saw him ski many times and he was strong, smooth, and calculated.  He could ski like a boss!!!

Weekends still feel weird without a phone call from him asking what huge route got climbed.  Funny thing was, whenever he'd call most of the time I'd have to go to the bathroom so I'd have to call him back.  Don't know why, maybe he just had good timing, every time it'd happen he'd just laugh...... miss him.

Boulders in Billings

Doing the move on "Slam Dunk" on the Clubhouse Boulder.

Aaron and I got out Saturday to an area on the rims I've been eying up.  Rims bouldering is quite fickle.  There's millions of boulders, but very few have good quality stone and sit on public land, and rarely do they group together to form an area.  The Country Club area is one of those rare places.  There's much more than these boulders and we're excited to explore some more.

"Push Me Pull Me" an interesting crack stem problem on the Patio Boulder.

Back to Bouldering

Girl Crusherz - Lis sending the classic Arnold Palmer V2 with Angela's ascent soon after.

Last Saturday a big crew (5 people + 3 pads + 1 drooling dog) pilled into the TenHarmsel Suby and zipped down to Cody to join Clint and Kerrek in an effort to get our steel fingers back.  Much was sent but much more remains for later.  I learned I need to drop some weight, work my finger strength, and get used to my new shoes.  Given that I was falling off 5.10s on top rope last July all is not lost, but progress to get back to my pre anemic days has been slow.

Kerrek with a nice "day flash" of Shyza Shyza.  I think cHuck would've gotten the flash if I hadn't given him bad finishing beta.

Sir TenHarmsel sending The Gym, one of the best V3's in Cody.

cHuck flashing Ancient Sea of Fire.  My attempts at this remain thwarted.

A few hard things on the Harley Boulder near the parking lot went down after a full day bouldering elsewhere.

cHuck finishing the day on the Harley Boulder

A few from last fall in Ten Sleep

Tanner on the Cigar

Chuck about to huck.

Aaron on the Arvin Traverse in Billings.

Ice Fest 2012

Anya leading Five Springs Falls.  She's awesome.

The Ice Fest events went as usual.  Good to see some new and old faces.  I took away four significant thoughts from the event.
1. The event is getting big, the valley felt rather crowded on the weekend.  Numerous cars parked at all the main parking spots.
2. The approaches in the South Fork to the inexperienced can be more difficult than the climb.
3. Due to the nature of the valley there are really only a handful of moderates that visitors are comfortable committing to the approach, meaning you can see the route from the car.  This causes crowding issues because......
4. Coloradoans seem to have no issue with starting a 1 hour approach with 4 cars already parked at a route's designated parking spot.  Most routes can only handle a single climber at a time.  This meant parties were stacked on top of each other and big waits at route bases.

Shawn on Five Springs Falls

Andrea on School House

Shawn on School House

Descending back to the car

Hostile Takeover

Well, we tried.  Conditions were too much for us this day.

Sheep in the South Fork

The rarely formed first pitch of Slow Turning.

On the first pitch of Slow Turning.

Anya topping out Stringer.

Hellroaring 2012

Shawn and I went up and ran laps at Hellroaring. He wore khakis that zip off into shorts. Still think he has potential, didn't fall, or drop anyone. I felt stronger than I ever have on ice in the past two years. Think we're ready for bigger things.

Falls Between

January 8th Shawn and I did Falls Between in East Rosebud. He puked on the approach and got a speeding ticket on the way home. I think he has potential.

Turkey and Hellroaring

We spent the day after thanksgiving at Hellroaring Falls with my brother and dad. Two amazing things in these photos 1.) this photo was taken with an iPhone 4s and 2.) my dad climbs WI3 off the couch.

Jeff getting in some kicks and sticks.

Anya refusing to pump out.