Chalk, Tape and A Smoking Engine

Spring climbing in Wyoming has finally come to an end and I no longer have to deal with the ordeals of climbing in a blizzard, freezing my nuts off or using Quickdraws as improvised Ice Tools to remove anchors which are covered in a solid layer of ice.

Andrew taking advantage of  amazing Spring conditions in Vedauwoo

The summer in Wyoming has started and here are some stories....

Vedauwoo

Vedauwoo

During the week, I try to go out to Vedauwoo as often as possible and work on my goal of climbing as many classic cracks as possible. Why would I want to do that? The answer is very simple and got mainly placed in my head by two people. One is Todd Skinner, one of my all time climbing hero's and a University of Wyoming Graduate. The other person is Davin Bagdonas, who developed and still develops bouldering areas all across the state. While Skinner is one of my idols and climbed a lot at the Voo, Davin said the wise words: 

"While climbing in Vedauwoo is certainly not the most pleasurable experience, it is a world class area and people from all over the US and World come here to climb. You might as well use your time in Laramie, to climb here as much as you can, otherwise you will regret it!"

Johnny Sauerkraut on Max Factor 5.11. Photo by Jon K.

Inspired by those words, I started my quest at the beginning of June and made my way up at least twice a week to repeat five star crack climbs. While the start was hard, considering not having climbed trad for a couple of months I quickly made short process with classics like:

Jon on the infamous Desiderata, Vedauwoo

-Flying Buttress 5.10b
-Finally 5.7
-Fallout 5.9R
-Intimidation 5.10b OW
-Jogging to Vedauwoo 5.10a OW
-Max Factor 5.11c
-Nat's 3 Star Roof 5.11a
-Escape Tunnel 5.12-/V5
-Desiderata 5.12d/V5 OW

Escape Tunnel, 5.12-, Vedauwoo

Besides that, I also had the honor, to Belay my friend Jon on his first lead on traditional gear on the classic Captain Nemo (5.8).

Jon after his first Trad lead

I also manage to meet Rob, a very experienced Trad and Alpine climber, who blew my mind in the regard of pain tolerance. Rob proved to me, that climbing Off-Width in Vedauwoo is possible in shorts without taping up your hands, as long as you stay true to the motto that it is all a matter of attitude and conception.
Rob I Salute you!

Poudre Canyon 

The Poudre Canyon is approx. 60 minutes driving from Laramie, right across the state line in Colorado. While the lower parts of the canyon appear to be slightly chossy, the sport climbing is surprisingly good. Especially the Upper Echelon Wall sticks out with routes full of high quality movements. One of the best if not the best route is a 5.12a called ODK. After a bouldery start, which stretches over about 3-4 bolts with a rest in between, the climb eases into sustained and pumpy 5.11 climbing for a total length of 30 meters. The entire route is about 10-20 degrees overhanging and includes a kneebar, jams, dynos and a lot of precise footwork. For me ODK might be the best 5.12a in the entire US and is solid for the grade. I was more then lucky, to bag the Onsight on this beauty, while Jon climbed it in a total of 5 tries over 2 days. Making ODK his first 5.12a. Good Job Jon!!!

Jon after sending his first 5.12 ODK, Poudre Canyon

Next to ODK is a 5.12d called the Dream of Poudre, supposedly the best route on the wall. Getting denied on my Onsight attempt, by being one move short to the life saving no hands rest on the top out slab, I cruised it on my second go without any problems.  However, in my opinion Dream of Poudre is by far not as aesthetic as ODK. Two other route, which are well worth trying, while in the Poudre are also the fairly soft Tailspin (5.12b) and the amazing 2-pitch route Tour de Poudre (5.12b/c), both filled with good technical movements.

Wild Iris

Wild Iris. Photo taken from Mountainproject 

"At the Wild Iris, the only thing I am interested in is bouldery powerful moves" Todd Skinner said in the classic Masters of Stone Vol. I and while leaving Laramie on a Friday evening, those words were stuck in my head. For over a year, my goal was it to go to Wild Iris to see the climbing area that made Wyoming appear on a map for me. The Frankenjura of America, as some people call it. Short powerful climbing on pockets. For me it sounded like a dream. But instead of a dream, I ended up with a classical Johnny Sauerkraut epic. Somewhere in between Rawlins and Lander, my car started to have transmission problems. At first, they were minor and I didn't pay any attention to it. However the longer Jon and I drove, I started to realize how my car slowly started to loose power. Especially when driving uphill, my car dropped suddenly from 80 mph down to about 45 mph. Voicing my concern to Jon, who said that it isn't a big deal, we continued our drive through the emptiness of Wyoming. At that time it was about 11 pm at night, which means that your chances of meeting somebody out on the highway goes towards 0 percent. So the option of just stopping at the side of the road was not existing. To make things better, neither Jon nor I had phone service. Welcome to the Wild West! Welcome to Wyoming. One of the last places in the western hemisphere where you can end up being alone in the wilderness for weeks at a time.
At the point when we finally got to the Lander junction, it was already to late and the action was about to begin. Instead of making the smart decision driving into the town of Lander to stop at least at a Gas Station to check the car, we decided to drive straight up to Wild Iris. At that point, it seemed like a smart decision for probably 5 minutes considering that it was already after midnight. But soon we started driving uphill towards Wild Iris and our car couldn't go faster then 20 mph. That being not enough, as soon as we made the last turn onto the dirt road to the Wild Iris Campground, smoke started to come up from the engine. This event was commented by a great dialog:

Jon: Philipp! Is that smoke coming out from your engine
Me: Nah Jon! That's just fog! 
Jon: I am pretty sure it is Smoke. Besides that it smells like burned oil! 
Me: Haha. That's awesome. Next thing you know, the car will catch fire!

To make things even better, right at this moment the radio started playing "Cowgirls Don't Cry". At that point it was clear s**** can't get worse. When we finally arrived at the campground, we decided it might be a good idea to check the oil level of the car, just to realize that the car was basically completely out of oil. Since it also seemed like all campsites were taken, Jon and I decided that it would be best to simply use the flattest spot around and sleep in the open. Ironically, the only flat spot we could find was right next to the toilet.

The only flat place available

The next morning we woke up with the first light and decided to lay around for a while, until a random camper showed up to take on his morning business. Obviously irritated by seeing two guys laying right next to the restroom. After a short conversation, which ended with him thanking us for not asking for any toll using the bathroom, we decided it was time to get up and go climbing. After the standard breakfast of some Muffins and a hot cup of tea, we threw everything in our destroyed car and packed up. Texted our friends Matt and Katherine, who staid in Lander over the night and asked them to bring us some oil up. We then proceeded to go climbing. After a nice warm up on the first pitch of Cowboy Poetry (5.11b), which felt very soft, Jon proceeded on working Wind and Rattlesnakes, while I picked out a project for myself. Unfortunately in the end, non of us could sent his project, which was strongly influenced by a change in weather, which brought some very cold winds and snow in. In the end, in between two cold fronts, I managed to squeeze in an onsight of the classic Hot Tamale Baby (5.11d). A route as I later found out, Matt onsighted earlier that day. Late in the afternoon Jon and I made it back to the car, to face the moment of truth. Would my car turn back on again? Fortunately after the oil refill it did, but I tell you it wasn't driving smooth. With this we started our drive back towards Laramie, which was 220 miles away from us. The drive went fairly smooth, until we had to stop to get gas in Rawlins. After filling up the tank, and turning on the engine,within probably 10 seconds half of the gas station disappeared in a thick cloud of white smoke, which was coming out of the back of my car. I just started bursting out laughing, while Jon's facial expression said only one thing. I want to go home! I want this to end! So while the gas station disappeared in the smoke of my car, we drove off with the hope not to get pulled over by our friends and helpers of the law enforcement community of the beautiful city of Rawlins, Wyoming.
At this point of the story,  I also want to apologize to all people that are concerned about environmental pollution. That night, I probably caused more environmental damage then the most polluted state in the US. The Birthplace of Aviation *Drum Role* Ohio, and I am deeply sorry for that.

We continued our drive back to Laramie, and shortly after midnight we finally made it back home and with this, the month of June ended.

Thanks for reading.....

Prior to the publication of this article, multiple environmental protection organisations prepared a law suit against the man, they simply call "The Kraut". Forced by these legal actions against him, The Kraut disappeared in Fat Crack Country and hasn't been seen since then.   

Other Shots from June

Johnny Sauerkraut getting his Wide Fetish on a fist fight with Gravity 

Jon getting set up for the crux of Desiderata 

Climber goes Insane