We wake up parked next to highway 115 under clear, cold skies. Climbing still seems unlikely. We drive north to Colorado Springs, and follow many many signs to Garden of the Gods. We’ve both been here before, but never really taken a close look at it. It’s a nice place to hike around, we find, and free to the public according to the wishes of the donors in 1909. There are many rock climbs here, but they may be an acquired taste, protected by scads of old pitons, some bolts, and gear placements in soft, pliable sandstone. They are fun to look at, at least.
Garden of the Gods Gambol at EveryTrail
7 responses to “Garden of the Gods”
Your posts are coming up on my home page complete with photos! Did you do something so this would happen or was this some magical upgrade of Yahoo? I’m enjoying it.
Must’ve been Yahoo – it’s about time!
dude, i saw “Garden of The Gods” and my mouth started to water. I am like “He has go to climb this mud and let us know.” Then I read a bit further and got worried that you didn’t climb there. Then the ~”.. mud, pitons, etc.” i knew you didn’t. gakk.
yeah, doubt i’d climb there either. maybe a toprope or true sport climb. total effing mud. i have never heard a good thing about the climbing there. in fact, a friend of mine was talking to a Co. local about climbing and he kept bringing up the Garden. the local just kept looking at him like “WTF? Why are you asking about that place? it’s a shitpile”.
i believe that there heretofore was, and there is still a lingering need to be “THE FIRST TO PUT A ROUTE UP AT A PLACE!”. I mean fuck, some ridgecrest locals bolted the fucking TRONA PINNACLES. that is pure shit, in terms of “rock climbing”. IT AIN’T ROCK!
i get disgusted sometimes. maybe you could tell.
Smith Rocks has some utter shit as well. squeeze jobs on congealed mud. seems there is a complete lack of discretion sometimes. idiots.
lol.. did you ever climb at the corridor at the Alabama Hills? i was talking with a r/c local and he said someone squeezed in some more lines between the existing 4 on the west wall. what in the fuck? you could already reach over and clip bolts on a couple of those.
you should prolly just quit climbing.
There’s a funny editorial in Rock & Ice defending climbing on chosspiles. Basically, the guy says sport crags are just outdoor gyms now and choss climbing provides more adventure and crowd control…
heh. there is a bit of wisdom in foolishness, no doubt.
i think “choss” was one of the millions of intertwined factors that made my jinga tower-like desire to climb finally come crumbling down. well, i know it was.
one of my last GREAT days of bouldering was out at JTree. man.. fucking bliss. just so much fun. but we got on some choss. like hardened laundry detergent.
i dunno. can’t talk ’bout it.
still, you can’t imagine how i was chomping at the bit to actually talk to not just someone, but YOU on the climbing there. heh.
in a way i am relived to here you didn’t climb there. like a vindication thing. like.. sure, you love climbing and the adventure side of it. but you are not a choss hog.
i’m serious man.. the lack of quality stone was a piece of my jinga tower.
I think to be a connoisseur of fine stone you have to be willing to focus 80% of your energy on finding the rock, and 20% on climbing it. It depends on your home base too. There’s plenty of choss here too, but it’s a bit easier to avoid.
Somewhere driving around I saw some towers that were literally made of mud, and I had a primitive urge to climb them. We’re strange beings.
Hey there you two… Been thinkin ’bout y’all a lot and see you’re still kickin. Tried to email Ann – maybe the wrong address. All the best!