Towers Of Ajax

The Crystal Line
5.9x, 900'; FA: Steve Johnson & Damon Johnston

Wild Wild West Out Of Print

OK, it is time to come clean, The Wild Wild West guidebook, best known for its desert wingate climbs on Carpenter Ridge, Red Rocks, 16Z, Psycho Tower, EE22 rd et. al., is officially out of print. If you have a copy save it in a safe place. There will most likely not be a reprint of this guide. I will however, in my spare time, work on a guide to these areas for the net. This may take some time to complete, no holding you breath.

Carly Crag - Just Outside Rico Colorado

The Carly Crag is a treasure of a climbing area. Though there are not a ton of routs there, they are all worth the drive and small approach. 9 miles outside of Rico (heading towards Cortez) on the left is Hillside Road. Drive up Hillside Rd for exactly 9 miles, this will bring you to the middle of a switchback—you will be right in between both cliffs. They can be found on the right side of the road. Hike down the steep bank to access the top of the cliffs (each cliff has a trail of sorts heading down to the right allowing access to the cliff base). Many good routes from 5.9 to 5.12+). We have not named all of the routes yet, but I will make a Topo at some point in the future. The area is shaded by trees in summer (nice cool place). Bugs can be present at times. This area has been kept on the DL for years. Photos by C. Fowler 2006).

MOUNTAIN FILM IN TELLURIDE

This years Mountainfilm event was amazing! Click on the link to see who won the best of the fest. My favorites include:

Bag ItTry going a day without plastic. Go ahead. You’d be hard pressed to get out of bed without encountering the substance in one form or another. Plastic is everywhere and infiltrates our lives in unimaginable and alarming ways according to Suzan Beraza’s documentary, which is getting its first finished screening here in Telluride. What starts as a film about plastic bags, evolves into a wholesale investigation into plastic and its effect on our lives, bodies and waterways. Starring Telluride local Jeb Berrier, playing the role of the “everyman” (those of us who know him realize that this role is a stretch), the film travels around the world, from Telluride to Midway Island. As we learn more about how little we know about plastic, one thing becomes certain: The advice given to Dustin Hoffman’s character, Ben, in The Graduate—“One word: Plastics”—was right on.

—DH

http://www.bagitmovie.com

I AM

http://www.iamthemovie.net/

Social Events

Ad Burgess, "BUSTED" (photo below)!

THE BURN AT THE MINE! (photo to come).

New Game Wall Routes

There are so many new route possibilities on this wall! Steve and I put up two new ones recently (April 2010). Sorry the climbing photos are not better. The two routes can be seen by finding the drill dust lines on the wall (don’t worry they are gone by now, after light rain). They are just right of center / large corner system (unclimbed). The bottom of the two routes are not visible in the photo. The left route is 5.10a and the right route is 10c. There will be second and third pitches on these two routes in the future. Click the photo to see large image. Also, the Wild Wild West Guide Book is now out of print (sorry printing is to $'ly).


Steve, on TR. Nice corner to left!

Another Day In Disappointment Valley

As if the Just Do It Area (The Appointment / Slap Happy / Just Do It / Spin Cycle …) was not enough of a stellar find, the discovery, or more accurately, the rediscovery of an area. One of those areas that you have always meant to come back to, two years ladder—give or take. Anyway, the Fox Den (not really) is a welcome addition of very steep bouldering—some of the steepest we have found in the last four-plus years.

Bouldering problems like this come along so infrequently. Paul working it out on an new, unfinished problem. There are three other routes along this wall that will be stellar as well.

Fox Trot was the our main reason for our trip (1/15/10) to Disappointment Valley. It is long, overhanging for twenty feet, and offers just enough pockets, edges, and heal /toe hooks to provide a very pumpy V3+ (+ for the pump). Above is Paul leading with his feet.

Fox Trot: Paul rounding the overhang and beginning the climb up the face to the top-out.

Jim on the the warm-down, end of the day. A bit of last light.

Dominguez Canyon

Dominguez Canyon (not far from Grand Junction, Colorado), is a magical wonderland of fun bouldering and potential rock climbing--now a Wilderness Area thanks to a lot of heard work from the Uncompahgre Valley Association et.al. As such, bolting is not an option, a good and bad thing; good for visual pollution, noise, and overuse...but bad for safety.

The Following Photos were taken by Jean Jullien (Juju), who just bought his first SLR (Canon 5d).
Damon, on the FA of a stellar arette V0 Problem. The photo below this was the way down the other side. A bit high-ball. But fun climbing!

Another amazing boulder, there are two proud lines on the boulder, but bring a rope, and watch the top is tricky V4.
Damon at the base of a potential thin to wide hands crack...there are others even better.


The following photos are from the author (Damon Johnston):

Dominguez Petros, there are many more like this one if you know where to look.Jean Jullien (Juju) sitting by the falls about an hour and change up the trail.
Daiva, playing the sliver of a boulder just off the trail...Daiva in the tea cup boulder looking out to the rest of the canyon.Another Petro...which I could read these!
If you look in this photo, you can make out the arette boulder that Juju took a photo of me climbing (first shot in series).Daiva, on the bridge just before sunset...we will be back.

New! Mill Creek Wall Routes

More info to come: Route names, more routes, cave, approach wall, and more.

Telluride's Via Verrata 2009

The VF is an ALPINE environment! Falling rock is always present. Even a helmet may not be enough to protect you from every rock fall event. There is an OBJECTIVE risk involved in being on the FV. "At your own risk to life and limb" ... ROCK CLIMBERS BELOW, there are people climbing on routes below the VF, there may even be climbers above the VF. SO, please do not knock off rock--you could kill someone!

Disappointment Valley Bouldering At Its Best

Many new boulder problems have been going up. FA's include: Dynostatic V7, Beast Within V4+, Stonehenge V4-, and many more. What killer problems!

New ! Mountain Star – A Kids Book About Mountaineering

New ! Mountain Star – A Kids Book About Mountaineering
A true story about a mountaineer (Charlie Fowler) that will teach children how to draw a perfect star. For ages 4 to 7.

• TV interview with author Ginny Fowler Hicks
• Read more about Mountain Star
• Montrose Daily News - A Star Is born
• Mail Tribune-Mountain Star
• Jackson County OR - Press
• Where To Buy Mountain Star

New Bouldering In Telluride—The Tree House Boulders

There is something new in the Telluride area—the discovery of over 30 amazing, tall, and bullet hard boulders just above the Mill Creek Rd. Only a month or so in the making, it has impressed at every new problem. Here is a map and a few photos of what we are up to. The boulders range from short 10’ to 30’ high. There are about 50 new problems to date—changing every day. The hardest grade at the moment is V3 (this will change as we continue to clean new problems—there will be several hard up to V9+ problems).

Lizard Head, San Juan, Colorado – Summit Register – 1998 – 2007

This spring (2008) Keith Brown and I climbed Lizard Head. It had been a few years for me and Keith had last stood on the summit in 1979. When we arrived at the top and opened up the summit register cylinder we discovered a rich history of ascents at risk of being lost forever. The years of wind, rain, snow, and electrical storms have managed to penetrate the solid 1/4 inch thick and capped iron cylinder—to our dismay many of the contents inside the cylinder were damp, torn, and in overall shabby condition. To preserve the register information from being lost forever to the elements I decided to take the register notes and photo-archive them for future generation to enjoy. These register notes have a date-range from 1998 to 2007/08—we did leave the most recent register note in place. Please enjoy the many interesting discoveries about who has climbed lizard head and their impressions of their experiences. Who knows, you may see something that you put down during your own ascent?