More When I am not wheeling pics

[Brody]

Since the 'reply to thread wasn't working and I couldn't post it that thread, here is a new one..same topic..more climbing photos..this time mostly rock, although there is a mixed photo tossed it.

The one where I am grinning about the opening moves on the climb (look closely and you will see the snow and ice covering some very small holds) was a cold day in February where we decided to see if we could do a 2300' climb on a short day. We started at dawn and finished at the top of the climb in the dark, pretty much what we expected. It took awhile to rappel down in the dark and then walk the mile or so back to the car, but despite the cold and wind up to about 60 mph gusts, we actually had a very stellar day. The picture shows the opening moves on about pitch #8, after about 1400' of climbing. These moves clock in around 5.10-, but were harder due to the ice on them.

Most of the climbs are in the Pike National Forest. People who drive over the Mt Herman Road will recognize the picture (with inset, labeled Jugland) of some of the rock formations across the valley. We have been putting up climbs here since 1990, anywhere from 5.7 to 5.13.


http://i586.photobucket.com/albums/ss308/peterbrody4/Climbingpictures1CT105.jpg
http://i586.photobucket.com/albums/ss308/peterbrody4/Climbingpictures1CT260.jpg
http://i586.photobucket.com/albums/ss308/peterbrody4/DMLaLaJugland.jpg
http://i586.photobucket.com/albums/ss308/peterbrody4/Climbingpictures1CT118.jpg
http://i586.photobucket.com/albums/ss308/peterbrody4/Climbingpictures1CT151.jpg
http://i586.photobucket.com/albums/ss308/peterbrody4/Climbingpictures1CT161.jpg

[Brody]

And a few more

http://i586.photobucket.com/albums/ss308/peterbrody4/Climbingpictures1CT179.jpg
http://i586.photobucket.com/albums/ss308/peterbrody4/Climbingpictures1CT249.jpg
http://i586.photobucket.com/albums/ss308/peterbrody4/Climbingpictures1CT290.jpg
http://i586.photobucket.com/albums/ss308/peterbrody4/JacobsLadder-1copy.jpg
http://i586.photobucket.com/albums/ss308/peterbrody4/bgcopy.jpg

[4Runninfun]

very cool brody. your icicle pic from your last post still blows me away.

[Man Jerk]

Can you explain the rating system. From an outsiders point of view it seems really odd.

[WINKY]

pete climbing a freezepop! yeah ive always had a high respect for those that climb rock as you cant make any mistakes or its your life (whether safety roped or not). i think it is one of the sports that is truley on the edge and is what makes it so much fun for those that can and do climb.:bow:

[Brody]

Rating system explained:

The climbing rating system (used throughout the USA) is based on the Yosemite Decimal System , though actually developed in Taquitz/Suicide Rocks, also in California. It is a 5th class system, where 1st Class would be walking on a sidewalk, getting progressively harder until you start to use ropes, where 5th Class climbing starts.

The grades go from 5.0 up to the current level of 5.15c/d which is that of Olympian atheletes. To furthur add confusion to someone not a climber, the grades 5.10 and up get broken down into a, b, c, and d. Thus a 5.10 (also called 5.10-) is a little bit harder than a , say, 5.9+, and a 5.10d is almost, but not quite, a 5.11. It is an open ended system so where someone does something new and hard, he or she grades it and the grade is either confirmed, lowered, or raised by subsequent ascents. 5.10 is generally where the 'hard' grades start.

The angle and the size(or lack of) of the holds are what gives climbing routes the ratings, but the ratings don't take into consideration the protection available. A safely protected 5.9 will feel just that, but take the same climb and have the available (as in cracks or permanent bolt anchors) protection be 25-50' apart, thus giving the leading climber the chance of falling 50-100', and the climbs starts to 'feel' more like a 5.10 just because of the head trip.There are climbs that have no protection at all...Anyway, climbs without a suffix of 'R' or 'X' are generally assumed to be safe, providing that you climb them safely. An 'R' rated climb usually means that you can fall 20 or more feet and stand a good chance of getting hurt. An 'X' rating basically means that if you fall on that particular 'X' section on the climb, you will probably get hurt and/or die. Anyway, you can fall (if you are going up first (leading) twice the distance you are above your last protection, adding the 'sportiness' to rock climbing.

All of the above assumes that you haven't made any terminal mistakes in buckling your harness, setting your protection, tying your knots, etc, and don't do anything really stupid on the climb. This is actually where 90% of all climbings accidents come from...human error...I have (and enjoy) doing roped soloing, where a mechanical device acts as your 'belayer' (the person not on the dumb end of the rope, but is still responsible for catching you with the rope if you fall), including putting up a lot of 'first ascents'(a climb that no one has done before..can be easy or hard). Some of these have been a long way from the car or any kind of help, making the margin for error very small indeed. You tend to get dialed into being very safe doing this, no matter what else is going on around you: lightning, rain, snow, wind, etc....

Ice climbing is rated in a similar fashion, but with many more variables, temperature being the greatest. An ice climb on a warm (freezing temp) day will be much easier than it would be if the temp is near zero as the ice will be softer and not as brittle. We have very brittle ice here in Colorado. Grades for the ice climbs go from Grade1 on up to around Grade 7 or 7+, maybe harder now. Ice protection hasn't progressed as fast as rock protection and is only sort of good. Ice tools have experienced the main part of technology and do not even remotely resemble what I started climbing ice with 'back in the day'. The rating system for mixed (snow/ice/rock, usually done in wintertime) has both a rock and an ice rating, such as the climb I mentioned somewhere earlier on this thread : 5.9+R/X Grade 4

Although I tend to do climbs more or less at my limit (somewhere between 5.10+ and 5.12+, depending on what kind of shape I am in and how much I have been climbing), I really enjoy the sport and climb easy to hard climbs. We have purposefully been putting up 'easier' and well protected climbs in the 5.7 to 5.8 range so that more climbers will have fun. We put up a 5.7 about 6 years ago that is 1100' long and is probably the longest route of it's grade in the state. There are people on it all the time. 90% of all the rock climbers in the world climb 5.10 and under...

Wordy, but I hope this helps...

[Funrover]

WOW! I am always amazed by climbers!

[Man Jerk]

That actually makes perfect sense. An experienced climber can tell a whole lot about a climb or section just by looking at a small combination on numbers or letters.

What always confused me the most was the fact that they always seem to start with a 5. Your explanation made that perfectly clear.

[Pathrat]

That actually makes perfect sense. An experienced climber can tell a whole lot about a climb or section just by looking at a small combination on numbers or letters.

What always confused me the most was the fact that they always seem to start with a 5. Your explanation made that perfectly clear.

Echo that.

[DETN8R]

Great pics brody, keep them coming.
Did you go through the Spandex fad in climbing that i've read and seen pics about?

[Brody]

Uhhhhhhhhh, yeah, Fred, though I don't like to admit it...Some of the pictures date back to the Spandex phase....now it is Carharrts or something similar....I have a picture of me climbing in Spandex after taping up a finger(to the one next to it) that I had just broken...I don't know what looks more painful...me in Spandex or the taped finger that I am just about to abuse again....

[DETN8R]

Its the lack of leopard print that didnt give it away.

[Chris]

We'll have to check with Ladawn, he may have those tucked away for posterity. :D

[Brody]

Here are some pictures I took of some of the harder climbs we did. Some of them were taken at Turkey Rocks down in the South Platte area and a couple were taken on Castle Rock in Boulder Canyon. All of the climbs are in the upper 5.11 range and were pretty damn hard.

http://i586.photobucket.com/albums/ss308/peterbrody4/DarrenJon003.jpg
http://i586.photobucket.com/albums/ss308/peterbrody4/DarrenJon004.jpg
http://i586.photobucket.com/albums/ss308/peterbrody4/DarrenJon008.jpg
http://i586.photobucket.com/albums/ss308/peterbrody4/DarrenJon011.jpg
http://i586.photobucket.com/albums/ss308/peterbrody4/DarrenJon012.jpg
http://i586.photobucket.com/albums/ss308/peterbrody4/DarrenJon017.jpg

[Roostercruiser]

sweet!!!!!!!!! i wish i could find fnd my old bullriding pics but i think they were in my 99 silverado when i turned it in when the lease was up. i had only a couple of pics because we never thought about takng pics because none of us thought it would end. we thought we could ride foreever

[Brody]

I had around 10,000 slides get ruined in a move a number of years ago. They included a huge number of my Yosemite 'Big Wall' pictures in addition to pictures I had of rock climbing in the Wind River Range and the Tetons and a lot of really good landscape and scenic shots. I also have managed to lose pictures of my Mad Max 69 Bronco and I know that I have at least one or two of them around. Now all I have are memories...

I now have multiple back ups of every picture I take. Stored on CDs, DVDs, on line, on two or three different computers. Kinda like locking the barn door after the animals are gone, but...