Monday, June 17, 2013

So In Love I Stayed (again)

I wasn't supposed to stay Monday.  I intended to take my time, but not all my time on Monday.  BUT there were more rocks to climb. I hired a guide to take me out so I didn't have to boulder by myself again. That definitely freaked me out a bit.  So, I hired Colorado Climbing Company to take me on a whirlwind adventure!  Jeremiah was my guide and he was VERY PROFESSIONAL : ). He gave me a couple options to go with.  I had said I wanted to try something classic and indicative of the area.  Thusly:


We headed out to the Maiden.  The picture above shows it right in the middle.  It kind of looks like....ummmmm...well...a Maiden?


It is in the middle of the FLATIRONS outside of Boulder, Co and is an east coast exhausting hour hike to get to.  Again, Altitude...you jerk.  You embarrassed me in front of Jeremiah. I was really trying hard to look like a real live rock climber and I had to stop around 5 times to catch my breath just to get to the flipping rock!


This was the view from the base of the Maiden.  We're already pretty high up in the air.  What little air there was here...  So, I'm huffing and puffing and there are no houses to blow down.  We get all geared up and...



...where did my guide go?!  : ) He scaled this (I think 5 pitch) rock like, well, a rockstar.  Jeremiah was awesome! Thank goodness because when he picked me up from my hotel room, I had started to get nervous.  Right before he came, a guy with a pretty nice gregory pack was walking like he had springs in his butt around the lobby.  He had crazy eyes and dirty hippy hair and reminded me of the socially awkward computer nerd from high school that seemed overly excited just to see human beings.  I was hovering in the corner of the lobby closing my eyes and chanting "please no, please no, please no...don't look at me....no eye contact....that's not my guide." (which is very similar to what I do in bars sometimes as well) Then my knight in shining armor pulled up with real climbing experience and real funny jokes and amazing skill at driving in "traffic." SAVED! Knight in shining armor! (Sidenote: there is no such thing as traffic in Colorado.  These people have no idea what that even means)





So once my guide go himself up the first pitch it was my turn.  It was weird because I'm used to climbing with only a handful of people. This wasn't Ryan, or Ben, or Jim...this was some dude.  He's funny, he knows what he's doing...but this isn't one of my partners in crime. After 5 pitches he was...



Anyways, I was a little nervous to climb here because it was tall and I'm afraid of heights, and right at the beginning I felt like I forgot everything I knew about climbing. Oh well, ONWARD UPWARD!










One pitch left, and let me explain the pigtails.  Here it is: I hate helmets.



We were at the top of the Maiden...on the TIP if you will. It was a pretty fun climb.  Not incredibly difficult except the 5.10 section, which was a short pitch, but made for tall people. (yes I'm playing the short card again).


We're at the top, I'm barely breathing.  I'm not sure if it's because of the spectacular views, the height, the climb, the altitude...

I was resting on top of the world.  Jeremiah tried to take care of the business while we were resting.  He was working on top of the world.  It cracked me up, he was trying to describe some climbs to a lady and they wanted to firm up plans.  He told her: "I'm out of the office right now, can I call you back in a few hours?"

That woman probably thought he was screwing around and doing his laundry, maybe some errands.  He just climbed a MOUNTAIN!  He's WAY OUT of the office.  I don't know if it was the lack of oxygen, but I couldn't stop giggling about it.

But the adventure wasn't done:


That's me right there in the middle of nothing rappelling off the back of THE MAIDEN.  Yes it freaked me out, but it was also AMAZING! I was suspended in nothing but clouds and sweet zephyrs. Bottom to Top and down again.  It was nothing but the best of fun, and so worth the extra day I spent in Boulder.

(PS the sunburn! OH THE SUNBURN!)


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