For the first time this year I headed up to Rotary Park by Horsetooth Reservoir after work for some real bouldering. It felt like it had been a very long time, but slowly the feeling of my hands on the rock, the sun on my back, and the changing sky reminded that climbing is almost a side-effect of bouldering for me. I love it more because it often places me in the right place at the right time, in the right state of mind.
7 responses to “Rotary Park Bouldering”
Looks like a beauty of a day! Congrats on getting that problem, looks complicated.
sounds inspirational….and safe? Are bouldering sites hard to find? Do you use equipment? Did you get any more photos of this trip??
ArtDobber
Bouldering usually involves lots of short falls onto a stiff foam crash pad. Safety is relative as with all activities – I haven’t looked into the risk numbers of this activity yet. We’re always on the lookout for new boulder problems – short climbs that are both difficult and aesthetically pleasing. Horsetooth is an area with several problems established by the “father of bouldering” John Gill in the 60’s.
I took two other photos, this and this.
my friends were talking about bouldering options too, since the weather is getting really nice. Your photos look great!!
ha.. yes. bouldering. the easiest portal to escaping reality.
if i can get to where i want to be with biking (urban assault / mtn biking), i don’t see me hanging on to my trad gear much longer.. .i mean what, for the handful of days per year i use it??? hmmmmmmm… and i am getting heeps of bouldering in.
yesterday was one of those days THAT WAS ABSOLUTE FUCKING KICK ASS@!!!! oh, aside from that, it pointed out one of the subtle beauties of bouldering (which i will get to). so dylan, put yourself at the Big Loaf on a sunny spring day with a breeze just cool enough to make me wear a shirt (but not randy).
randy follows me back to the Big Loaf and i am bursting with anticipation. i just feel like throttling rock. one of those situations where i don’t feel like i can touch enough stuff fast enough, like i am grasping for my last breath on earth. i am cruising everything i touch which makes it all the more surreal. i haven’t hung out with Randy in a long time (he hasn’t bouldered since December), so i was kinda enjoying his presence.
i got on a hard prob.. well, hard for me. V4. i have done it before. it’s that wicked slabby blunted arete on the W end of the BL (2 probs to the right of easy knob mantle problem that you cruised). anyway, i have long since forgotten the beta and i am bloodying myself on it. randy leaves. ’bout 2 more shots after he leaves, i nail it… then bam bam nail it 2 more times in a row. the rest of the day made me wonder if someone had slipped me some steroids. CRUSHING.
oh, the subtle beauty of it all… SOLITUDE. you simply don’t need anyone there. no ropes. no gear. no logistical nightmare. just you. at first i thought the day would suck after he left, but it got waaaaaay better. way. no questions, no answers, no banter, no noise… nothing to think about accept that key sequence that makes the hard trivial. it’s one of those days that touches your soul so deeply that it leaves you with a hangover the next day: depressed about being at work, can’t concentrate, etc. it’s just that good.
for those who haven’t bouldered, there are many things, tangigle or otherwise, that need to mix for bouldering to be fun. it’s not a “pure fun” sport, like say downhill skiing / snowboarding or surfing. bouldering is a journey into one’s pursuit of being able to let go your minds learned limitations and move on the instincts that we all have. but they are so buried under your preconceived and learned notions of yourself. if you don’t find frustration, pain and anger as equally useful motivators as the pleasures of success, you will not like bouldering. bouldering appeals to people who don’t want to put a 10,000 piece puzzle together in 2 minutes.
the whole yin & yang aspect is one portion. i mean, ideally, you are in some wonderful outdoor setting with rock that is so sweet it stimulates your senses to just TOUCH it.
i dunno.. sometimes i look at all my ropes and gear and harness and shit and just go WHAT A FUCKING MISERABLE PILE OF JUNK!
no big loaf pics here… but you ‘get the picture’
http://s18.photobucket.com/albums/b124/wild_beast_71
dylan, nice pics, but not enough of them. try and capture the size of the place and get some pics of the wicked probs there dude. start bouldering more. boulder boulder boulder.
horsetooth
http://www.0friction.com/thumbz.php?area_id=290
http://www.climbingboulder.com/rock/db/horsetooth_reservoir/
Very nicely said, I love it when a session gets you like that. I’m headed up again today – I’ll try for some more good pics!
If you’re looking to lose any wide crack gear, send it on out!
ha. all i got is that #4 Camalot. i think that’s “big”.
yes, sessions like yesterday. i ALWAYS feel better after bouldering, but yesterday was ‘one of those sessions’. my brain is still reeling from it. i can’t concentrate for shiz.
it’s the movement. the friction. just so good. hurts so good.
wait a second. you post a lot of stuff about Vedauwoo http://www.0friction.com/thumbz.php?area_id=142
but you are bouldering at Horsetooth in Colorado… something is screwy here. please explain.