ALPINE FEVER -- Bouldering Video from Colorado

Alpine Fever is a series of short videos that Ivo Penchev and myself shot in the summer of 2011. Set in the Colorado Rockies, it will include scenery and climbing from both Rocky Mountain National Park and Mt. Evans.

 

 

Here is the first part from RMNP ...

Keep an eye out for the next two parts:

http://www.lovechclimbing.com

http://vimeo.com/ivopenchev

http://vimeo.com/johngass

- JG

Hueco video

Here's a short clip from the trip down to Hueco...

- JG

Hueco 4

Last photo update of the 2011-2012 Hueco trip...

 Brion Voges working out the moves on Daniel Woods' House of Doom v13, unrepeated

This break has been amazing. I've got a lot of footage from the trip and will be releasing a few videos in the coming weeks.

Now it is time to return to the daily grind. Excited to get back to the kitchen and back out into the Colorado mountains....

- John G

Hueco 3

A couple more pictures from the Hueco trip...

Waiting to get into Hueco Tanks.. the daily routine for climbers without reservations to North Mtn

Giovanni Traversi on Crown of Aragorn v13 (East Spur)

Brion Voges working on Yellow Diamonds v13 (East Mtn)

Brad Weaver sending Full Throttle v13 (East Mtn)

Hueco 2

Quick photo update of the trip so far..

Enjoyin' time spent in the desert outside of El Paso, with good people and fun rock climbs.

A few more pictures over at Brion's page (http://brionvoges.tumblr.com)

Sunrise over West Mtn, Hueco Tanks

Sunset from the Hueco Rock Ranch

Nate Drolet, Hueco guide, climbing on Jigsaw Puzzle (East Spur)

 Brion Voges and Sam Davis working out the moves on Crook by the Book - -

 
 Brad Weaver climbing Coeur de Leon at the East Spur - -

Screen shot of Frogger at the East Spur

Keep the psyche !!

Hueco 1

  Finally escaped work for a few weeks.

The kitchen at The Corner Office Restaurant and Martini Bar in Denver, CO is my new home away from home. At least for around 40 hours a week. Serving global comfort food, I get the chance to work first hand with a lot of great food and chefs who have been in the industry for a long time..

Enough kitchen talk for now though.

On Tuesday I met up with Brion Voges and we began the 20+ hour drive from Chattanooga, TN to Hueco Tanks. Driving for a long period of time is something I have gotten used to over the last few years, and it's not so bad once you just get in the car and go..

View of Juarez, Mexico from I-10; driving through El Paso, TX

After driving through the night we pulled up to the gate at Hueco around 8am and found ourselves waiting in line for a couple of hours until we got access into the park and to North Mountain!! With only a few hours of sleep in the last 30, needless to say we were both tired. We decided to climb anyway. I'll save the details of our short session, by just saying that not much went down. That didn't matter though; psyche was and is high.

We will be here for another 10 days and both of us have new camera gear.. keep an eye out for plenty of pictures here and at Brion's page (brionvoges.tumblr.com)

Video coming out in the next month or so.

A few screen shots : : :

More on the way..

Alpine Update from CO

Not sure if anyone else noticed, but the weather this past weekend was amazing in the alpine areas. I took advantage of the long weekend and got three days of great climbing in.

Upper Chaos (RMNP) > Area B (Evans) > Lincoln Lake (Evans)

 

Conditions were great all weekend and we took advantage. Had a great session at the Mirkwood cave in Upper Chaos, with a hang-on-for-dear-life last attempt that ended with a successful ascent of Mirkwood v10. Alex Kordick, Ivo Penchev and Mark Avery all put in good efforts with ascents of the stand also and followed with strong climbing on the sit. The sit, I Comb My Hair Like God v11, starts three moves lower than Mirkwood with toe hooks and slaps on bad holds ... very cool rock climb.

Sunday, I headed to Area B with Ivo Penchev to check out some climbs we hadn't seen before. With the weather close to perfect, we headed straight to an amazing CO test piece, Gorillas in the Mist v11. Unlike the infamous Dali boulder, Gorillas is almost perfectly smooth granite, with compression being the main way to unlock the movements. Ivo came stupid close to flashing the boulder, falling at the lip on the first effort. The boulder went unclimbed that day, no doubt we will head back there soon ...

 

Monday was third day on. 3rd day in the alpine!! I think I made it 6 days on at Lincoln once earlier this summer, safe to say not much was going down ... So Lincoln Lake seemed the obvious choice. A slow, relaxed start to the morning got us down to the boulders around 2pm and once again we headed in the direction of a few boulders I hadn't seen before.

We met up with Zack Sticcs and others from B-Town at an amazing boulder, Front Range on Fire v7/8 (FA : Greedy). After some warm-up attempts figuring out the beta, I climbed the boulder to the top. Another awesome boulder at Lincoln that I had known about for a while, but never seen. Connor Griffith added a lower start to the boulder; by starting on the right facing gaston and an undercling before pulling on and doing a move to the right start hold of the boulder. Nice one!

Connor Griffith climbing Front Range on Fire low v8

Ivo Penchev on the first move of F. R. O. F. v7/8

Next was a problem that had recently been established by Justin Jaeger and Ivo. Now dubbed Twisting the Knife, this one is in the upper talus field above Mote in God's Eye.

Twisting the Knife v8

 Starting on two underclings, the problem shoots right immediately with your feet staying near the starting holds the entire problem. After the third move, the body position is more or less horizontal and the last move is a flying, swinging move to a huge jug! Another brilliant line in the boulder field. GO DO IT !!

Although it is awesome beyond belief that I get to go climbing at areas like Mt Evans and RMNP, I am welcoming the cooler weather with open arms. Can't wait to get back to life on the front range. With the changing of seasons, new motivation builds to go to areas I haven't been in months. Just a few on the list are Poudre Canyon, Newlin Creek, EndoValley, Boulder Canyon, etc.... the list continues. Each of these areas are home to countless classic boulder problems with many more to be developed. Looking forward to hiking around in the mountains this fall / winter.... hopefully to find some nice new boulders !!

Until then ...
KEEP THE SYKE