Utah into Colorado

Having left the High Sierra for something a little more laid back, the first place we stopped off was Maple Canyon, a little south of Salt Lake City.  We had been to Maple Canyon before as it was the last venue that we visited before flying home at the end of our last trip to North America, so it was interesting to go back to a venue that we knew, and try some of the climbs that we had done before.

Ruth and I both left Maple Canyon last year with 'unfinished business', i.e. routes which we had tried to climb previously, but were unable to get up without falling off.  We were both dead chuffed to get up our respective routes very quickly, and quite easily this time.  This can only mean one of two things: a) we are both climbing better than we were at the end of our last trip, or; b) we were both completely knackered at the end of our last trip, and should have just gone home!

Maple Canyon

Maple Canyon was a perfect antidote to climbing in the Sierras.  No days of approach marching carrying rucksacs here; at Maple we could park the van up within a few feet of the crags, and stroll over to do some climbing after breakfast.  So we parked up and did just that for several days.

Rain doesn't stop play at Maple Canyon - climbing at the Pipeline during an afternoon thunderstorm.

We would have stayed at Maple Canyon for quite a while, except I managed to fall off and bruise my arm in the process... but that's a story for another time.  As an alternative we decided to do some proper tourism and joined the queues to enter the Arches National Park, which was only a few hours drive away (which is the equivalent to 'just around the corner' in America).

The desert scenery in Arches is superb and made both of us want to come back and spend more time in the Utah desert.  However, if we come back it is going to have to be much cooler.  It was 37C when we were there, and that is way too hot for Ruth and I.  It was too hot for us to stay long, and I seem to remember our tour ending by Ruth and I lying flaked out in the back of the van and saying "let's go and see this bloody arch and get out of here". 

State symbol of Utah - Delicate Arch (previously known as 'the cowboy's chaps')

It was still clearly too hot for us to do anything anywhere except up high in the mountains.  With this in mind, we continued our drive east and entered Colorado, where we have remained.  We are currently staying near a place called Rifle which has an excellent little local park called Rifle Mountain Park with excellent climbing in it. 

Rifle Mountain Park is quite high at an altitude of around 7,000 ft, so it's nice and cool during the day and we've actually already had some light air frosts at night.  The climbing is also in a deep gorge which runs pretty much north-south, meaning all the cliffs face either east or west allowing you to chase the shade or the sun at anytime during the day depending on what you want.  Perfect!

Rifle Mountain Park

Rifle is a steep sports climbing venue with no easy climbs, and a lot of hard ones.  The general standard of the climbers here is probably the highest I have seen anywhere.  A few of the climbers are just 'above average', most are good or very good, and some are brilliant or even legendary (Lynn Hill is sieging a project at the moment).  Like several other venues we've been to in the US, the standard of the female climbers puts the UK scene to shame - there are so many women climbing hard routes here.

The 'Wasteland' Sector

We've been in Rifle for just under 2 weeks now.  In that time we've managed to climb for 9 days.  This means that ruth and I have actually been taking quite a few rest days, which is not like us at all.  The reason behind this is that Rifle is such a physical and brutal cliff to climb on that our poor arms are destroyed after only 2 days.  It's hard here!  You either climb 11+ or go home... 

I think that we will stay in Rifle for another few days, do a bit more climbing here and then move on.  I'm sat in Rifle Library at the moment contemplating the unthinkable: taking 2 consecutive rest days off climbing.  Yep, we are pretty weary!

We are trying to formulate some kind of plan to snatch another little alpine adventure in Rocky Mountain Park.  Something before the autumn starts to shut down the high peaks, and something that will be an antidote to all this overhanging limestone.  A bit more research is required though. 

All the best

Innes