Last weekend was cool but bearable, and climbing in Boulder Canyon was enjoyable and uncrowded. This weekend, with the temperatures in Boulder reaching a high of 75, every climber in the area seemed to be out enjoying the nice weather. Matt and I got up early on Saturday to score the pole position on Icarus, a romp up Tower One in Eldorado Canyon. We climbed the first pitch of The Great Zot and shivered at the windy belay, topped out in the sun and sweated our way down the rappels. Every route in Eldo had a party already on it, so we bailed for Boulder Canyon and a newly developed area that wouldn’t have the traffic. All in all a fantastic day!

The yearly trip to Ouray to go ice climbing went very well this year. I got to lead some easy, long ice and try telemark skiing for the first time (boy, my thighs are still tired). Midway through the trip Dave Ruel and I decided we were just getting too much snowfall to pass up Telluride and made the jaunt over to partake in the powder. The ice park was great, but every night we’d get more snow and the first person up a route would have to shovel their way to the top. My mom and the boys headed out with me again to see the sights and play for a bit in the snow. Good food, hot springs and some beautiful scenery always make for a good visit.

Just posting up a few pictures of some recent days on ice. Last week I went up to Hidden Falls in RMNP with some friends and tried to play nice with the other ice climbers all waiting to get on a bit of frozen water. The ice was nice, the weather was a bit chilly, though. An easy approach in a good setting with a nice meal afterwards always makes for a great day. This afternoon I headed out to Clear Creek Canyon in Golden to lead a few ice routes with a friend. Temps were much nicer, we had the place mostly to ourselves although the ice was a bit brittle. Too bad my camera ran out of batteries after the first picture!

Winter has finally arrived here in Colorado. There have been a few storms on the Front Range but the majority of the snow has been in the high peaks and the San Juan mountains. Samuel and I did get to go to Copper last Friday to ski, most of the snow was man-made but the conditions were decent enough. On Thanksgiving day we took the boys up to Chautauqua Park in Boulder to go hiking in the snow. Yesterday I went with a group up to Rocky Mountain National Park to go ice climbing, we hiked in to Loch Vale Gorge, climbed a few ice routes and attempted a mixed line that ended up being pretty hard (M7+). The freezing temperatures had us retreating to Ed’s Cantina in Estes Park fairly quickly, but it was great to get out and climb some early season ice!

The past few weeks I’ve been trying to get out climbing in Eldo or Boulder Canyon since the weather has been nice. Most days are t-shirt weather but when the sun goes down or the wind picks up, you’d better have another layer! My tick list on Mountain Project is getting bigger and my todos are slowly shrinking, although I seem to keep adding more climbs to do as I explore the area more. I can tell the end of the season is coming soon because the days are definitely getting shorter, and I can only get two or three pitches in after work. The good news is that ice season is quickly approaching!