We were excited to go climbing today at our favorite local crag, “Eagle Rock” in Boulder Canyon. We decided to sleep in a bit this morning; I woke up at 6:30AM (last week I was up by 4:30AM, so it felt like sleeping in). Jill slept a bit longer while I made coffee and our now legendary breakfast smoothies chalked full of goodness. After gulping down, we hit the road by 8:00AM for our 20 minute commute up the canyon. Living in Boulder is great for this sort of thing.

One thing we LOVE about Eagle Rock is that there is almost never anyone up there because there is a Tyrolean traverse (see picture) that is a bit demanding, a really steep hike to the base of the climb, and the easiest route up there is a 5.10d/5.11a. And while there are loads of hard climbers here, it is rare to see them outside of the gym. We also love that nearly all the route names have the word “Eagle” in them. It’s a bit confusing at first but it all adds to the fun.

When we saw another car in the lot we were a bit surprised and maybe a bit sad that we wouldn’t have this sweet wall all to ourselves this morning. But before we could let that get us down, we had to get up to the climb. First order of business: cross the river w/ Tyrolean traverse. The basic idea is you shimmy across/above the river on a rope that is strung across connected to anchor points (either large rocks or trees). You clip the rope into your harness, lay back, and pull yourself hand over hand until you reach the other side. Now, I realize that this sounds and may look exciting, maybe even extreme, but in truth its not terribly exciting, and more of a pain in the bootius maximus (at least going one way because its more uphill, ie need more muscle power to pull yourself and your heavy pack across).

So we made it over the river and started our steep hike up to the base of the crag. We saw there were two other gentleman climbers already working on the chossy 5.12a that I worked on last week. They didn’t seem overly chatty at first so we respected that and focused on our own efforts of the day. The plan was to warmup on “Eagle Snacks”, a 90-foot continuous 5.10D/5.11A (depending on the route you take) which is a great climb, though not the easiest of warmups.

I lead the first pitch, followed by Jilly, followed by me climbing it again and cleaning the anchors and repelling. Then we headed up “Eagle Eyes”, another 90-foot route, though this time rated a 5.12a that would become Jilly’s project climb to potentially lead. I took the reigns, and lead with a few falls and a few takes, but actually felt pretty good considering it was my first time up the route. Jilly headed up the route and did it in much better form than me (as per usual), though on toprope. The climb is pretty great, though very sharp and VERY strenuous.

We took a little snack break before I headed up again, on lead, to try putting the moves together. I definitely felt tired after my second time up the route, though I was piecing it all together. Then Jilly headed up again, this time one of the guys from the duo climbing next to us actually offered to take pictures while she climbed, which almost NEVER happens. That was pretty cool – so we actually have some shots of the climb. Then I toproped the route for a final time, cleaned the anchors and repelled.

We were going to climb my project next, a whopping 5.13a called “Barely Eagle” (get it?). But after the almost 500 feet of hard climbing, our hands were really raw and the sun was shining down on us (practically), meaning that I wouldn’t be able to give it a good enough go before being cooked off. One thing to note about hard climbing is that conditions need to be perfect in order to attempt them, otherwise it really is not possible to get up the routes. So with the conditions as they were, and the fact that we were exhausted we decided to call it a great day and head back down the steep hike, and across the Tyrolean traverse, back to the car.

It was a fantastic way to spend a Saturday, and can’t wait to get back out there to do it again next week! Jake and Jill out.