RMNP#2

A short week after my first trip to the Rockies the opportunity came to make another trip back to CO. Weather in the east has been sketchy with rain and wind so timing was perfect for this second trip. It has been warm with a lot more rain than usual for September. The park weather has been hot during the day with temperatures reaching the mid 80’s but cooling off in the evenings so we have been looking for other options to keep us busy. Most of our time is spent hiking and swimming at the reservoir and making trips to other climbing areas near Fort Collins.

This past weekend we went to Wyoming for a throw at some offwidth and crack climbing in Vedauwoo. Vedauwoo is an amazing area with pink granite littered with large feldspar crystals.

Predominantly crack climbing, Vedauwoo offers large flaring cracks with small feet on amazing rock. I am not a great crack or offwidth climber so after I got seriously shut down hard on some local warm ups I started looking for potential lines that fit my style a little more. I was shocked at the potential that still remains at such an established climbing area. I spied no less than 5 hard double digit projects in the very first area that we climbed at about 100ft from the parking area. One project in particular that I put some effort into could easily go at v14/15 on a gently overhanging face with small patina crimps. I put time into another line that I was able to FA and called it The Republic. This line climbs out an overhanging arete with small crimps and a large span move that I was able to stick close to my max extension. I feel honored to add my vision of climbing to a list of classic hard lines in the area. Vedauwoo is a place where I could easily spend decades of time exploring and pushing my limits.

I have extended my stay to the 12th to capitalize on some good weather headed for CO this week. I hope to have the opportunity to climb at as many areas as possible before I leave. Photos and video to come soon.