Between Colorado and Wyoming - Rawah and Zirkel Bouldering

The previous summer was my first for spending the entire summer in Laramie, Wyoming. Stoked at first to climb in my home town in good weather, I was slowed by an early heat wave in the late spring. Vedauwoo was out for most of the hot days as was any old rock in the area. I wanted new problems on new rock in the cool mountain air. The entire reason I leave laramie in the summer. As previously mentioned in this blog I had discovered new bouldering all over the Snowy Range. That however was not enough, only being satisfied when I go completely crazy with too much rock to possibly climb in my life time. So, naturally from the southern Snowy Range I headed to the next peaks on the sky line to the south. The Zirkel Mountains were first and very hard to explore from the eastern side. I spent three full days driving and hiking the Zirkels on the their eastern side. After 4 mile (thought it was 2) hike Austin Jensen, Bryan Vansickle, and my self arrived at our first discovery of rock for our Zirkel explorations.

Boulders at Lake Katherine, Zirkel Wilderness, Colorado

We walked around Lake Katherine to the obvious large boulders and found some very good rock. It was all high quality black and gold gneiss. There is a bunch more rock out of the picture, but at an 8 mile round trip, you would have to be crazy. I hiked to several other lakes in the Zirkel Wilderness over the past summer and found similar rock, but similar walks. If you want a beautiful day hike without the bouldering pad, Lake Katherine and the eastern side of the Zirkels are well worth it!

With my wife Marla and our dog Amiee we went to check out some boulders only a mile up the from a trail head. The road to the trail head is marked on a map as a jeep trail, but that doesn't even come close to describing the rock gully, hell hole, mud pit it was. I have a jeep, the Boulder Recon Vehicle that I built bare bones for severe abuse on the worst jeep trails (A topic for another post). That was the first trail that has ever turned me back. We spent an hour on a 1/8 mile section just to find a place to turn around. Loose boulders the size of my engine had to be delt with along with deep water holes and boulder fields covered in water and mud. All in the comfy closeness of huge trees, some across the road. With another jeep to help I would love to go back and finish the road to the boulders. Anyone?

Marla and The Boulder Recon Vehicle on a recon mission a few years back.

The Roads in the Zirkels were, as a rule, really bad unless they were the gravel variety. Looking for and climbing on the rock in the eastern Zirkels takes time and energy. Not the best place if you just want bouldering. The western side of the Zirkels is a question that in spring will be known.

After the Zirkels almost broke me and the jeep I moved on to the Rawah Mountains between Fort Collins, Colorado and Walden, Colorado. The Poudre canyon area gives access to Cameron Pass on the southern extent of the range. Obviously there is good bouldering there, so I focused on the northern end, closer to Wyoming. I forgot the Zirckels fast, as rock was just off the road on the very first trip. The trouble was the maze of public vs. private land to figure out. Once the puzzle was solved I spent several good days exploring and putting up problems with Guili Zavaschi and Bryan Vansickle. The rock just off the road can been seen in the pictures below.

The best rock we found was a 2 mile hike in and over a thousand feet of vertical to help us warm up. I actualy found the good rock with my wife Marla. She is a magnet for good rock and almost all the rock I have developed was found with her. Again, she helped find a good area! The rock was good enough to warrant the hike despite good rock just off the road, lower in the valley. I wish I could have done more bouldering in the area, but a finger injury took me out of climbing at the end of the season. I only had a single day in the best boulders we had found. No more trips to the Rawahs or the Zirkels took place after that. Now it is full winter and the rock south of Laramie will have to wait. What I can say is that the climbing was very good and the scenery too. The huge boulders of granite are hidden deep in the forest on a north facing slope. We had perfect conditions in the middle of summer! It is completely worth the 2 mile hike into the boulders and the deep forest.

We had a deer watch us the entire day we were in the woods. It walked around us within 30 or 40 feet at times to see what a few of us might be doing in the boulders and massive trees. It was clearly at home and we were it's guests for the day. On occasion it would stop by our packs to smell the lunches we had packed in. It finaly tipped over Guili's pack and got into mine, taking some of my granola bar in the process. We viewed the deer as the forest's queen and let it eat what was left of the granola. I redirected the deer before it had my peanut butter and banana sandwich.

Marla in the deep forest on discovery day. The boulders are huge and close together. One after another can be seen looming through the dark woods.

Guili Zavaschi on Duende V3/4 in the Rawah, Colorado.

Guili Zavaschi on the first ascent of Toucheded V7 in the Rawah, Colorado. Just left of Guili behind the tree is Forest Queen V0 a beautiful warmup and right of Guili on the steeper stone is Kablooey V7/8.

Another viw of Toucheded and Forest Queen (behind Guili). Two studs Bryan Vansickle and Guili Zavaschi look at the top crux.

Bryan Vansickle putting up Foo Foo V4 an amazing sloper problem. Notice Guili's down coat in the middle of August!

Guili Zavaschi putting up a V5 that he was too tired to name. The slopers were amazing and the day was perfect!

We climbed from 9:30 in the morning until the sun went down. Our sessions are always long and we do a lot of climbing in those sessions. The difference with this one was the hike out. We stumbled down a "short cut" to get back to our car. Descending 1000 vertical feet through deep forest and marshes, then crossing a fast flowing river all before the final mile was hard, but it was no short cut. It was a long end to a very good day.

The finger is 110% now and I think about the boulders in the forest a lot. I will be so happy to load up the jeep and pads to head back to the Rawah. We left a lot of rock with no chalk on it. We left a lot to do.

 Bryan Vansickle trying an amazing project in the Rawah, Colorado.

Nathan Manley A Wyoming Legend

Yesterday, Laramie was graced by the presence of an old friend. Nathan Manley was here and it was great to see him! Originally from Cody, Wyoming, Nathan has been a huge contributor and influence in Wyoming Climbing. It has been some years since his last visit to Laramie and the wait for his return was a long one.
Back in the day, when we were both younger, we met at the University if Wyoming climbing wall. I noticed his strength first then his motivation. In Cody, through the high school years he had contributed many new boulder problems, routes, and some ice. Nathan's early bouldering was done on the sandstone of Cedar Mountain with the early Cody crew and in the Lander area with a few young guns there. His determination was evident when he explanied he often spent lunch in his freezing car eating a power bar and reading a climbing mag. All to get ready for a "physical test". Alpine climbing was his dream.
At the time we met in the college years, I did not know his contributions to Wyoming Bouldering and Wyoming climbing in general. He wanted to go bouldering and I needed someone to boulder with. At that time Vedauwoo was ripe for the picking and entire virgin areas were everywhere. For several years we drove up and developed rock all over the place. We climbed ice a few times together and quickly realized, had we met back in high school
the big mountains of the world would have probably killed us. Two excited and glory blinded alpinists that never found a partner to do the crazy with and we only lived a bit apart. Must have been ment to be. We were ment to go bouldering after the crazy years had passed us by. However, to this very day he still lives by the N.F.L. (Ninja for Life) creed. Actions speak louder than words, Dream big dreams, Live those dreams, Whatever blows your hair back, and Eye of the Tiger...
After a few beers last night Nathan gave us the good news. Nathan Manley will be back in Wyoming for a while. It is very exciting to have an old climbing partner back in the area. So many boulders to climb on and one of the best in the business is back in town. If you go bouldering in the Cody, Lander or laramie areas you can thank Nathan for many of  problems that you struggle on. You can thank him in person with a $5 bill. Money is time and time is money. The more cash he gets back in Wyoming the more time to climb he will have. Many more boulders to thank Mr. Manley for are coming soon.

Nathan Manley working on what would become The Manley Bulge V8, Vedauwoo, Wyoming.

Mathew Williams Photography

Nathan Manley (farthest back) and Myself waiting for our turns on Thorn Back V6/7, Vedauwoo, Wyoming. Nathan would often climb long after his fingers were bleeding and all is tape was used. Always to get full value out of the day. On this very good day, Nathan's fingers had started bleeding about two hours prior to the picture being taken. He walked the problem! Tony Gleason climbing.

Mathew Williams Photography

Nathan Manley on the first ascent of Myths and Heroes V6, Torrey Valley, Wyoming.

On Nathan's last visit to Laramie back in 2004 or 2005 we had a great day of bouldering, The School Yard, Wyoming.

Nathan Manley is a natural on the stone. Similar to Johnny Dawes in style and focus!

 

Nathan Manley in 2004, back on his home turf and looking really strong (as usual) on The Plague V10. at the Sphinx Boulders, Cody Wyoming. This problem consumed him as his motivations always do. A proud line and one of the best in Wyoming!

Saratoga Valley Bouldering

Many years ago, sitting at a summer desk job, a friend of mine called to tell me he had found "some boulders".
Joe Johnson was a fly fishing guide in the Saratoga valley and not being a boulderer had called me to check out his find in case it was "worth bouldering". I drove over the pass that is the Snowy Range and easily found the boulders by 2pm the same day Joe called. Instantly Bennett Peak became a favorite bouldering destination for me and several other climbers. I put up a few first ascents that first day and went back to Laramie to recruit help to develop the area. Bennett Peak became one of several very good bouldering areas in the Saratoga Valley. Needle Peak and Silver Spur gained popularity with the myself and the few I brouht over the pass to climb with, and have slowly become the core areas of the valley.
Initialy a few "guided" toures of the Bennett Peak are by some poeple besides myself had led to the idea that the bouldering was just not that good. the tour guides did not know the area, hence the limited tours that completely missed the mark. So, with the reputation on the Front Range that Saratoga Valley was not a place to go, I climbed mostly alone for several years there. Later,  I was able to motivate a small crew to develop the area alone with. A small, highly devoted group has put in the work. Bryan Vansickle, Ethan McMahan, more recently Guili Zavaschi all helped me realize that bouldering alone was slow work. Over several years we have put in hundreds of boulder problems of every possible angle and grade. Twenty foot warmups on jugs and V11 roof problems sit side by side. What Saratoga Valley holds is some of the very best bouldering I've put up or been on anywhere! It has consumed me and will always be my home. The Saratoga crew, beat down after a long day (sometimes 10 hours!) of bouldering often joke that we will be back in the autumns of our lives to run laps on the old favorites. I hope so.
So, after sneaking out of Laramie day after day, for years, a few people started to think that maybe we were onto something. Strangly, the call and question "can I have a tour of Saratoga Valley?" did not come from anyone in Laramie, but from Scott Blunk in Fort Collins, Co. After a freezing spring day in a snow storm that was sure to scare him away, he mentioned that Needle Peak might be the best bouldering in the northern Front Range. He came back with Steve Mallard and later the Lloyd Family. What I thought was the shot to start the races was infact a pop and fizz. Outside of Needle Peaks busiest weekend, last spring, that had a grand total of 9 people, no one has shown. Needle Peak has been the busy mountain, but several other places to boulder are out in the valley. They are very lonely, only hosting a few climbers a year.
With several hundred boulder problems on amazing gneiss and granite, often close to the road, it is a wonder how the place is so lonely. My only request if you go is to respect the place as if it were a spiritual center of great importance. For a few of us it is. A truelly legendary place!

 Ashley Lloyd on the Square Tower, Needle Peak, Wyoming.

 John Sherman coming down after a first ascent of a "boulder" problem (i.e. solo), The Axe Boulder, Needle Peak, Wyoming. The Lloyds working The Axe V7/8 below.

 Ethan McMahan heading for the top of Habit of Neglect V6/7, Needle Peak, Wyoming.

 Bryan Vansickle trying to link the New Cactus Project, Needle Peak, Wyoming.

 Bryan Vansickle on Plus Size Cobra Pinch V1, Needle Peak, Wyoming.

David Lloyd on the crux huck of Sweet Things To Do When You're Old V6, Needle Peak, Wyoming.

 Guili Zavaschi working for the second send of Claudius V10, Needle Peak, Wyoming.

Steve Mallard juicing Upside Down Foot V7 while Scott Blunk looks good, Needle Peak, Wyoming.

 Ethan McMahan on the first ascent of Royal Oats V5/6, Needle Peak, Wyoming.

Last sun of the day on the Bonanza Boulder and the Bunny Slope Boulder, Needle Peak, Wyoming.

Just beyond the mountain of Needle Peak is a horrible drive down a two track for a mile or two. At the end of the road is Silver Spur a rarely visited, smaller version of Needle Peak. It is home to a few very good problems and many things that have not been done. Perhaps the best V3 in the Valley is at Silver Spur. It is a 25 foot roof on jugs with a crux exit and is called Silver Spur.

 Myself on The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly V9?, Silver Spur, Wyoming.

The White Spike Project at Silver Spur, Wyoming.

Bennett Peak is the original area in Saratoga Valley that Joe Johnson found so many years ago. It is still a favorite and the only place to go for camping in style. Bennett Peak is a mountain of granite  boulders cut by the North Platte River. It is an amazing place to be on cool spring mornings when the sun first cuts through the river mist and the birds start to fill the air. It is also the local for one of America's Blue Ribbon Trout areas. The fishing is world famous and the scenery likely the same.

 Discovery of Noon Rocks with Bevan Frost at Bennett Peak, Wyoming.

Bryan Vansickle on Red, White and Rock V7, Bennett Peak, Wyoming.

My wife Marla under a boulder she found hiding in the juniper, Bennett Peak, Wyoming.

 Bennett Peak, Wyoming in the early spring.