I’m finally getting my shop in the garage organized to the point where I can begin doing some more woodworking projects. At my old house I was able to crank out a few pieces that got increasingly better over time, especially as I bought the proper tools to use. Right now I’m using a table saw, jointer, planer, band saw, drill press, router and router table to shape my projects. My most recent project was a 38″x30″ picture frame with inlaid birds-eye maple, all my current wood supply comes from my uncle in Maine. Here are some pictures of my projects.

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!

The leaves are turning, cooler temperatures are here and the days are getting shorter.  It’s perfect weather for climbing and hiking, and we’ve been doing some of both in the past few weeks.  I have been trying to push myself leading trad, and last week led my first 5.8+ route - Huston Crack.  Boulder Canyon has many great granite cracks that I can’t wait to climb.  Monika, the boys and I have also been hiking around the area and trying to see different areas of CO that we haven’t before.  We always take our camera and seem to get some pretty good shots of the kids now and then.

Monika, the kids and I decided to drive through South Dakota on our way back from our visit with family in Ohio. We drove for three days, visited Wall Drug, the Badlands, Mount Rushmore and the Crazy Horse memorial all in one day. The southwest corner of South Dakota seems to be the happening place in that state, the rest of the drive was highlighted by billboard ads for Wall Drug and the Mystery Spot.

Monika and I climbed Torreys Peak (14,267ft) today, it was her first fourteener and she did great. We went up Kelso Ridge, this was my second time up the route and today we had great weather for it. The crux of the climb was a bit more exposed because all the snow in Dead Dog Couloir had melted earlier this summer. Five hours up, two and a half down with a total ascent of 2946ft at an average of 14ft per minute. Thank you, Mr. Altimeter Watch.

Just a quick post to show some pictures I took on Quandary Peak last month. I climbed Quandary with a visiting friend from Ohio, we did the West Ridge and on the way down saw a herd of mountain goats. They looked pretty ragged, shedding their wool for the summer. There were a few young goats (goatlings?) in the herd, but they weren’t shy at all. I’m sure if they felt threatened a good headbutting would have been dealt to the offender.