The semi-regular weekend afternoon at the Pond

After a quiet morning I finally went down to the Pond. It was very warm so the quest was to find problems in the shade. With a few minutes before the nice sitstart on the backside of the C boulder would be in the sun I had to climb it quickly. It felt easier than last time I did it so I am not sure of the grade. In any case, it is a nice problem. I walked over to the Scoop, V3, which I had problems with the first time here. There is a tree that you could fall right into if you miss the good pocket right below the top. I tried the moves and they felt easy today so I gave it a try and a success it was. It is a nice straight forward problem (at least with the sequence I used this time). See a video of the Scoop from the tojorisen blog here.

Feeling satisfied with the easy send of the Scoop I hiked up to the Upper Deck in the gazing sun. Carrying two pads and a backpack is somewhat frustrating from times to times, especially when it is as hot as today. My plan was to try Lost Descent and Spooner again. I had watched a video of Lost Descent so I now know that you do the same top-out for both Lost Descent and Spooner. However, the beta did not help me today. One crucial hold to go right to the top-out was a bit to slopey for this hot day. I came slightly closer on Spooner's sitstart but yet again to warm for slopers today. I tried to figure out were the R and Q boulders were and I believe I found the R boulder but the location of the Q boulder remains a mystery. On the way home I scrambled down the hill to the Cube to have a look at the highball: Doo-doo Wrecka arete V5.

Elks on the Caldera.

As I drove past the Valles Caldera a lot of elk were down on the meadows feeding. A coyote tried to get close to them but was scared off. After a while a large bull with big horns was about to cross the road close to the parking lot where I was but unfortunately it was scared away by another car.

Spider Canyon and Peck's Peninsula, Ponderosa

I had seen that there are some boulders further up the forest road from Ponderosa so today's mission was to check these out. I started at the Spider Canyon and hiked in the two track and found some blocs but they were chossy and not appealing. There are GPS coordinates for some of the boulders but that did not help me as I do not have any GPS unit. After the dissappointment after not finding anything exiting at Spider Canyon I continued to the Ridge (a.k.a. Peck's Peninsula). The view from ontop of the ridge is nice.

The scenery from ontop of the ridge by Peck's Peninsula.

At the Ridge I found several of the problems that I had spotted online. The Funky Spider looked really cool as well as the Pinball Simulator (or First arete). I did not bring the gear down to the boulders but I definitely have to go back to try them. There seemed to by some guys that we camping at the bottom of the bouldering area so that would be a nice thing to do a weekend.

Bandelier

Overview of the Frijoles Canyon with the cliff dwellings at Bandelier.

Overlooking the ruins.	A ladder to a carved out room.
A cactus by the long house.	A stranger in the Alcove cave.

I got to Bandelier National Monument around 4pm. Robert let me through the gate and I ran into Andrew by the shop. Watched the video and bought the map of the main loop. After the main loop I hiked over to the Alcove Cave. The Frijoles canyon is very lush which surprised me. It makes a nice contrast to the rock faces. 

Andrew told me about a concert at the Brewing Co. in Santa Fe the same evening. A group from the park were heading down. I got there a bit late so Missy Higgins had already started to play. I liked her voice and the soft singer-songwriter style of hers. Brett Dennen was next on stage and it was ok. His best performance was in a duet with Missy. Finally, Mason Jennings entered the stage and he was pretty good. The best part was a duet with Brett.

Upper deck at the Pond

As I just was about to start to warm up at the 20 minute boulder at 'the Pond' a guy from Albuquerque showed up with his husky. Apparently he knows the area well and also has found some areas nearby. He was heading up to the 'Upper deck' area which I had never visited so I warmed up quickly and caught up with Eric at a new problem on a boulder uphill from the 'King for a day' boulder. He did not manage to link the start so we walked to 'the Wave' boulder where I wanted to try a slab problem that I have tried twice before. Unfortunately, the problem is in the sun all day so it was already warm. To my surprise I managed to get my left foot to the key foot hold on the first try. After a few more tries I topped it out. Next I did an arete problem which was very nice and graded V3/4.

A nice easy problem on the 'K do me, do me boulder' at the Upper Deck.

I do not think I would have found the 'Upper deck' area on my own. The hike was pretty steep and the loose sand made it hard. The boulders at the 'Upper deck' lie close to eachother and there are several cool problems on them. Eric showed me around and then we headed to 'Lost descent' V5 (V6 sds) and 'Spooner' V7 which Eric wanted to try. He managed the start of 'Spooner' but did not find a sequence for the mantle. It is a really cool problem that I want to spend some time on. Although it is way out of my league right now I think it suits me. You can find both problems in the Ponderosa Weekend movie. The sit start on 'Lost descent' was very hard and we both tried to go straight up for the mantle while I now think one should go right and do the same mantle as for 'Spooner'.

Beehive arete V2 on the Beach Boulder at the Upper Deck.

After Eric left I played around on the 'Beach' boulder but the rock was so warm so I did not succeed on neither the V4 arete nor the V2 arete. I had a look in the guide book and walked around the area to have a closer look at the problems. The 'Swiss cheese' V7 problem on the 'Tree slab' boulder looks really nice but I guess one has to be there in the morning to work on it. Before heading down again I did a nice easy problem on the K boulder. On the way down I stopped by 'Catherine slab' and did the left version although it was ever so hot there.

All in all it was the best day at Ponderosa so far.

Overlook of the canyon of Jemez Springs.

On the way back I stopped at the overlook of the Jemez canyon. Unfortunately, the view was a bit obstructed by trees.

Rope climbing quadruple

Part of the Overlook crag, White Rock, with an overview of the Rio Grande canyon.

The last four days I have been rope climbing outside. Thursday was the first time we went outside for the weekly climb previously held at the YMCA. We went to the Overlook where the mountaineering club also had put some ropes. I climbed some 5.8s to 5.10s with with Walt and Jess. I pumped out completely on the Holy Wall 5.10a as the sun set.

Friday I joined Yoshi and Caroline at the Dungeon, which is very close to town and even closer to work. We worked the climbs at Trash Tower and they were nicer than the name indicates. Especially, Weenies Go Like This 5.11b was nice with a pumpy lower section and tricky sequencies to get to the top. The after climb beer at Canyon Bar was really nice.

Friday evening Jae told me that a group was going to the Overlook to climb Saturday morning before their softball games. When I left home it was quite windy and a bit chilly but at the Overlook it was so warm in the sun. Jae and I warmed up on Cholla Wall 5.10a/b and we had to have several takes each. It is a nice wall that I would like to do clean. I also worked on Holy Wall and managed to get to the top after some struggle. Another nice wall I would like to do clean.

Sunday started lazy. I was tired after last night's bbq at Walt's. My original plan was to drive down to Ponderosa to go bouldering but something kept me in the chair. In the afternoon Walt called me and we went to Las Conchas and the Cattle Call Wall. We did La Verga 5.9, Cud for LuLu 5.8, Bovine Inspiration 5.9, and finally worked on Cow pies for breakfast 5.10d. I enjoyed the bouldery start of Bovine inspiration and Cow pies for breakfast was nice too with a desperate dead-point move.

Afternoon at the Pond

Forest road 10 was open today so I took the dirt road down to Ponderosa. It was a bumby ride at several places. I was able to locate the area Peck's Peninsula but did not check it out. I guess it would be possible to find the Spider area also if one drives north from Peck's.

It was warm today at the Pond today. I think I have to check out the areas in the woods soon to find shade and hopefully lower temperatures. The first stop was at the 20 minute boulder to warm up. The V2/3 left of Ichiro was checked out but the start is very weird with two underclings and then it goes up left of a prow. No success there. The V2 arete left of 'King for a day' got a few tries but the dyno felt scary to do on my own though I had two pads. The last stop of the day was at the Wave boulder and I spent time on the V1 slab with pockets there. Got some beta from some locals that were there two weeks ago as well. It did not help and I tore the skin on a finger on the fairly sharp right pocket. I guess that problem needs lower temperatures since it is exposed to the sun all day. After the failure there I did a few tries on Catherine slab but that was also warmed by the sun so I gave up and headed home.

Catherine slab at Ponderosa.

Las Conchas, NM

Today we headed to the Jemez mountains and the Las Conchas area where we set camp at the Gateway Rock. This was my first outdoor rope climbing in probably five years. I warmed up on Green Thumb 5.8 which was lichen-covered and not very nice. The next route was nice - Woof Toof Noof Roof, 5.10d. The start was pumpy and with my present endurance I was not able to climb it clean. The last route of the day was Drive By Shooting, 5.10a/b which was long (to my bouldering standards) and with the only crux at the start. 

I soon realized how convenient bouldering is compared to rope climbing. I will not change my opinion about that anytime soon. However, rope climbing with friends is nicer than driving more than an hour away to boulder on your own.