A Weekend in Memorial: Penitente Canyon Climbing

With a wife back in the midwest for the final family highschool graduation, I found myself all alone with the prospect of getting some climbing in down south.  So, as much as it stinks to ride without your partner, a gaggle of us Northerners found our way to the San Luis Valley on Saturday morning to get some sun and dirt in boots for the holiday weekend.

The Penitente Canyon is about a 5 hour drive, and resides in a valley part of Colorado that we haven't really explored much of. The little canyon is along the La Garita creek, next to the San Juans with a killer view of the Sangre de Cristos. The climbing itself is a mixed bag of pumpy huecos and pinchy slab, and on the whole pretty stiff stuff without much mercy for wussy weekenders.

That said, we managed to find about four or five routes each day to scrabble up, shared a group campsite with some strangers, met another Fort Collins couple and their poochies and ate pretty well (even though I was the weekend's cook). The best routes of the weekend were probably How the West was Won, Captain America and Mr. Wind, most of which our raggedy party took their turns bloodying their limbs on. The things we do for fun.

Kate and Mark will be sure to have a good take (plus better pictures), though you can find the rest of my shots over yonder. It was a great time in an area of Colaroo that we hope to get to again soon!

Nights on Top of the World

So, it must be summer time. How do I know? Well, apart from different outdoor activities, el bloggo may be ramping up soon. I think facebook, in its ease of use and built in audience may have stolen some of this blogs thunder. Sadness.  BUT, fun things were done and had and should be mentioned!

Last weekend Liz and I decided to give our backpacks a dry run for their (hopeful) upcoming use this summer. We chose to head up the top of Greyrock Mountain, just up the Poudre Canyon from us. It's a quick jaunt, only ~3.5 miles to the top, but you gain over 2000 feet, so the hike itself is no slouch.

Packs on our backs and trail under our feet around 5 pm, we made our way up the mountain trail. After we met a little scaly friend, we only got lost once, at the deceptive (non)left turn near the top, and eventually made it to the little greyrock pond. We had been encouraged to continue climbing past perfectly good campsites by the small army of young, annoying-to-camp-next-to college students that was beginning to congregate lower. We decided to risk wind exposure to avoid 2 in the morning hijinks.

It turned out to be a great decision! The rock next to us was a decent windbreak, and the scenery we got to enjoy from our tents was quite nice. Of course, though, around 1230 am a pair of people walked right through our very intentional far away campsite and put their flashlights right into the tent. So, believe the hype: if you camp on Greyrock, you will be woken by idiotic late-comers. Consider it gospel.

Enjoying our warm drinks in the morning watching the shadows on the lower sitting peaks, we packed up and made it back to Fort Fun with plenty of time to blow money at REI and eat lunch. We wholeheartedly recommend this little jaunt to anyone looking for a quick escape into some decent altitude. (Flickr Set Here)