The Triangle of Joy. Golden - Laramie - Rapid City - Lander - Laramie - Golden.
Laramie, WY. Home of Trains.
I just returned from a great week of travelling open spaces and climbing and filming. I am working on two projects at the moment: the Cloudveil Spring / Summer catalog and my next climbing video, which I'm calling Pure II. One of the segments in Pure II is about the West and the climbers who call it home.
On my way across Wyoming I saw an interesting sign....
Luke Kretschmar is one of the other climbers on the Cloudveil team so I went and visited his home crag called the VC. The locals in Rapid City are blessed to have this amazing resource right in their back yard. Steep limestone makes for a great alternative to the sketchy granite run-outs of the rest of the Black Hills. Last year I had a great time there and this year was no different. Perfect conditions and some new routes to check out. I managed the second ascent of the Tan Man, a hard 5.13 with some massive reaches that had me thinking 'go go gadget arms' when I was climbing.
The VC, South Dakota.
Luke Kretschmar Pulling the amazing red limestone at the VC.
I met up with my friend Ben Scott as well, who came up from Fort Collins with his friend Tam AKA Tom. It was great to see Ben again and it reminded me of our first trip to the Black Hills in 2003 when we filmed a video called Friction Addiction. The climbing in the Hills is so sweet right now its hard to even describe. Fall is great.
Ben Scott.
Tam.
Ben managed to get the employee of the day award by sending The Foot Fist Way, a 5.13 with some poserful... er... powerful moves up a steep face.
Luke had bolted a project to the right of the main wall and said it was cool if I got on it. I figured out the crux after a few tries and then rested for a while and linked through the crux boulder problem that same day. Hard to grade this one since it really just boils down to a few powerful moves. Probably not 5.14 but some other repeats will say for sure in the future.
After a couple days in the VC, we went to Spearfish Canyon for a morning of sport climbing on the near-vertical walls there. The temperature had started dropping but despite the occasional snow / hail flurry and cold breezes the climbing conditions were almost ideal. I managed to onsight a 5.13 and then I called it a day and started the long drive over to Lander.
Outside Buffalo, Wyoming.
Of course the drive wouldn't be that long if I didn't stop every five seconds to film something. I'm fascinated with the Wyoming landscape and I just cant get over the beauty of the wide open spaces. I'm lucky enough to be using a camera that can actually stand a chance of capturing such huge surroundings.
The Red One, shooting time lapses.
The VC, South Dakota.
Luke Kretschmar Pulling the amazing red limestone at the VC.
I met up with my friend Ben Scott as well, who came up from Fort Collins with his friend Tam AKA Tom. It was great to see Ben again and it reminded me of our first trip to the Black Hills in 2003 when we filmed a video called Friction Addiction. The climbing in the Hills is so sweet right now its hard to even describe. Fall is great.
Ben Scott.
Tam.
Ben managed to get the employee of the day award by sending The Foot Fist Way, a 5.13 with some poserful... er... powerful moves up a steep face.
Luke had bolted a project to the right of the main wall and said it was cool if I got on it. I figured out the crux after a few tries and then rested for a while and linked through the crux boulder problem that same day. Hard to grade this one since it really just boils down to a few powerful moves. Probably not 5.14 but some other repeats will say for sure in the future.
After a couple days in the VC, we went to Spearfish Canyon for a morning of sport climbing on the near-vertical walls there. The temperature had started dropping but despite the occasional snow / hail flurry and cold breezes the climbing conditions were almost ideal. I managed to onsight a 5.13 and then I called it a day and started the long drive over to Lander.
Outside Buffalo, Wyoming.
Of course the drive wouldn't be that long if I didn't stop every five seconds to film something. I'm fascinated with the Wyoming landscape and I just cant get over the beauty of the wide open spaces. I'm lucky enough to be using a camera that can actually stand a chance of capturing such huge surroundings.
The Red One, shooting time lapses.
I arrived in Lander and settled in at BJ Tilden's house. BJ is a carpenter who climbs 5.14 and his personality, location, and way of life fit in well with the western theme of the video. I filmed BJ as he completed his 10-year project 'Genetic Drifter' on the Rodeo Wave in Wild Iris. Great to see BJ in top form sending the hardest route in Wyoming.
Afterwards, we went over to the Erratic and BJ chucked a lap on Heart Full of Ghosts for the camera. Download a sample of the sickness. Raw footage from Wild Iris. BJ is the man.
I'm looking forward to continuing work on the segment, but first I need to go to Finland and get some footage of Nalle's new trad project. More on that later!
Cheers,
Chuck
3 comments:
Hi my names tam and I would love to tell you about a big hot sale we're having over at the gap. I'd be happy to try something on for you. Feel free to ask, because yes I am quite gay.
Thanks Tam. We support your unique lifestyle choices!
Hi, my name is Ben. I'm always stoned. Always.
Hi my name is Chuck. I'm not from planet earth.
I think traveling to and from the States to Africa, Europe, and the Middle East to take funny pictures of rock climbers on a regular basis is a common thing to do for a career.
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