After leaving the airport Ben and I decided to kill some time at a Denver coffee shop before the REI flagship store opened, so we headed in the direction of the Denver highlands. We stumbled upon this really simple place that served some delicious breakfast food, and had internet! Yay! The Denver highland area is beauuuuutiful! I think the barista this morning referred to it as being called the Lola district?? It's just this older looking part of Denver with really unique buildings and everything you need is within walking distance! And while we were in this little shop, the song "Carolina in My Mind" played on the radio! Ohh the irony. After breakfast we walked over the pedestrian bridge to the other side of I-25 and walked to the Denver REI. Oh. My. Goodness. A 3 story REI with a Starbucks, an indoor rock wall, bike trail around it, and the best clothing selections! I seriously needed a map to navigate that place! Haha, and the funniest part? All I bought was a pair of socks, on clearance. After leaving REI Ben drove us to Colorado Springs (about an hour South), and I slept in the car. Gosh, I'm so glad I can sleep so well while traveling. That nap was crucial. I tried to take a nap in REI (they had couches) but I couldn't bring myself to do it. I actually could use another nap right now. Haha, I'm still not caught up on the lack of sleep over the last several days!
I dropped Ben off at Palmer Park in Colorado Springs just over 2 hours ago so he could get some mountain biking in, and I am currently experiencing the first few hours I've had alone since...Friday?? It's nice sometimes to just have alone time, too bad I'm sitting in a Starbucks in a noisy grocery store just to get a little internet.
Yesterday morning we got up really early again to drive to Golden, CO where we met up with Lee and Jen to go climbing for the day. We went to Clear Creek Canyon and did a classic 3 star, 3 pitch route. I've seen conflicting ratings, but it was pretty much at my level (in the 5.10ish range?). It was called People's Choice. The 3rd pitch was the challenging one and IF I had fallen, it would have been a BIG swing out of a dihedral and I would have ended up hanging in the air, almost 3 pitches off the ground. It definitely scared me... Ben, Jen, Lee and I all attempted this climb together, and 4 people on a belay ledge can get pretty crowded. Lee lead it, I was second, then Jen, then Ben. Jen is a boulderer, and not a fan of multipitch, but she tried it anyways! When Lee got to the top of the 3rd pitch though, we seriously could NOT hear anything he was saying! I never even heard him say on belay when I started up the 3rd pitch, but I had a pretty good feeling I was. I honestly got sooo scared of the potential swing on that route that I wanted to be lowered; I really didn't want to do it anymore. And if I had fallen, I don't know how I would have gotten back onto the rock! I knew I couldn't communicate at all to Lee if I fell, or that I wanted to be lowered, so my only option was to climb it and not fall. Which, I did. :) Once I got through the crux move and up to a little ledge I was breathing SO HEAVILY, I had to take a solid 5 minutes to catch my breath. It was a sport route and Jen was supposed to follow me up, but I had a very good feeling that she might not like it. She was already uneasy at the idea of multipitch, and I think getting lowered down that 3rd pitch would have scared the daylights out of her. So from where I was resting to catch my breath I could shout to Lee above me, and Jen and Ben below me. We figured out that we'd get Ben and Jen down from where they were at the top of the 2nd pitch, and that I finish the 3rd pitch to then rappel down. It took Lee and I a while to get everything situated at the top, and Ben and Jen were apparently shouting to us up there and we couldn't hear ANYTHING. Seriously, the lack of ability to communicate was not cool. Anyways, Lee and I rapppeled down to them at the 2nd pitch
and we lowered Jen, who was definitely over the climb at that point and not having a good time. It can be very scary when you can't hear your belayer/climber...and although the climb was pretty cool, I didn't like that part. Actually, when I got to the top and looked out over the water and the road below us, I remembered seeing a picture a couple years ago of Lee and Logan on a very similar climb, and Lee said this was the exact climb they were on!! Haha, I thought it was so neat that I had seen that climb in a picture years ago, and didn't ever think twice that some day I might climb it, and yet, here I was, at the top of it! After the climb we hiked out and went back to David's house in Golden. Lee left for his flight shortly after that, then Ben, Jen and I went to Boulder! Boulder was so awesome!! Apparently everyone bikes in that down, and the city had the coolest feel! I can't wait to go back! Jen had to return a crash pad she was borrowing from this shop called Neptune Mountaineering. It was such a neat shop! I was literally walking around in awe at all the gear, ropes, shoes, tents, books. Gah, so much climbing stuff!! I even started to get a little emotional thinking about it...I about to live out here? In Colorado?? It still feels like a vacation.
Then we went to visit The Spot. It is some premiere bouldering gym out in Boulder. We hung around there, just watching people for at least an hour. It was so big, and there were so many people! And it was super hot in there! Although I was uncomfortable just sitting in there, I didn't mind that it was so hot that most of the men had their shirts off. A little eye candy is never a bad thing. ;) The grading system there is so funky though! Everything is rated 1-5 "spots." But the spots don't match up with normal bouldering ratings, and it seems really confusing. Jen really didn't like the inconsistency with the ratings and she tried so hard to figure it out during dinner. I think she managed to find some kind of pattern with the spot system, but we all agree...spots are dumb.
Going to Colorado Springs tonight! Hopefully climbing tomorrow!!
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