Monday, February 16, 2015

Choss, Blood, Wind: The Daily Struggle of a Kraut

My fingers are stiff. Most of them have splits, blood blisters or flappers on their tips. The back side of my hand looks like Dresden, after the Royal Army bombed the hell out of it at the end of World War II. 24 days of climbing do such things to you.  Yet the only thing in my mind is: "Why I am not outside climbing instead of writing this lousy blog?", well the answer is quite simple. Laramie got hit by a blizzard once again, making climbing outside impossible. With wind gusts as high as 25 mph and temps of about -10 degrees Celsius, climbing outside doesn't make a lot of sense. So here I sit, writing about the the last month of climbing on the Wyoming Sheep Ranch.
Makes typing up this blog so much fun


School, Climb and Sleep. The flame in me ignited again. The obsession with climbing, the drive to climb as much as possible on every give day, was back. However this obsession, can be quite the challenge in Laramie. Most of the time Vedauwoo is to windy in the winter and it's elevation of 8000 feet, doesn't make it any better. However, Rogers Canyon the Mecca of sport climbing offers wind sheltered climbing in the sun.
Wind and Snow Sheltered. Rogers has it all
With this in mind, Andrew and I started hitting Rogers hard. However, soon we found ourselves exposed to a typical problem in Rogers Canyon. We started to run out of routes to climb. However, soon the lines in between the lines started to appear in front of our inner eyes and a day later, armed with enough bolts and Bosch's to bolt the world, we rolled into the Canyon like the Ocean's 11 crew rolled into a Casino. At the end of the day, 6 new routes were established, ranging in difficulty from low 5.12 to probably mid 5.13. 
Sorting out Gear, before drilling a new route
Andrew on the FA of a new 5.12- in Rogers
But Rogers isn't the only place, for winter climbing around Laramie. Other places, with high quality climbing are Horsetooth Reservoir and Carter Lake in Colorado. Both offering excellent sandstone and no shirt climbing. However, the finest winter climbing is of course in Wyoming at a place called Guernsey State Park.  
Temo and J. Sauerkraut, being typical Colorado Boulderling Bro's. Beanies and no shirt in February.
Guernsey State Park,is every climbers dream. Located 1.5 hours North East of Laramie, and is the Sport Climbing version of the infamous Fisher Towers in Utah. Guernsey has it all. From suspect looking home made bolts, to mud curtains, to Guillotine Flakes hanging over your head to changes in rock type from Sandstone to Dolomite.  Summed up, it is Lord Chossums (The Saint of all Choss Piles) temple. However it is probably the only place in Wyoming that is wind sheltered and warm even with a cloud cover. 

Choss Roof's of Guernsey. Photo by Katherine

Suspect Bolts. Photo by Katherine

Andrew Flexing. Photo by Katherine
Stay tuned for more news from the Sheep Ranch. It's time to go climbing....




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