Rock Climbing in Boulder

Rock climbing has always been very exciting for me. I started climbing with a few of my friends when I was in college in Pittsburgh. I loved the challenge, the heights, and the trust and faith that you learned to put in your friend with the other end of your rope.

So of course, it always excited me to think about going out west and attempting some crazy climb somewhere like Eldorado Canyon. Never really thinking that I'd get the opportunity, but always dreaming.

Well, this is me.

Rock climbing in Eldorado Canyon.

My family from Boulder, CO took Sonya and I climbing while we were in town for a visit. It was an incredible experience. They've been climbing for a lot of years, so they had a wealth of knowledge and pointers to share.

To start the climb, my cousin and I climbed up the backside of the face and set the ropes and all of the fall protection at the top. Then we checked to see if everything was going to hold by rappelling down. As you can see from the picture... it held.

Thanks Owen. That made me happy.

Once we both made it down, we all started to climb. Taking turns of course.

Unfortunately for me, I didn't realize that we were going climbing, so I didn't bring along my climbing shoes. As it turns out, hiking shoes are no match for 1/4" wide, at best, foot holds. I tried my best, but the shoes just weren't going to let it happen. I really enjoyed the attempt though.

Next up was my uncle Don.

Here's a picture that's just purely amazing to me. It proves to me that the lifestyle you choose can make you old or keep you young. It's completely your choice.

That little speck of a person at the top of this rock face is my uncle. In a few weeks, he's turning 60.

Unreal.

Sonya and my aunt Emily climbed next and did very well. Sonya was amazing. At first, she didn't seem to have the confidence in herself, but once she started up, she was a natural. I was very proud to say the least.

So, feeling like I just had to give it one more try, I decided to go barefoot. Everyone gave me the "that's going to hurt more than you know" look, but I was determined to at least try.

Well guess what, it hurt more than I knew.

I only made it about 3 feet higher than this picture and stepped on something extremely sharp, lost my grip, fell, swung, smashed, scraped, and bled. All in about 5 seconds.

I loved it!

We wrapped up the day by going to a microbrewery with my cousin. We had great food and lots of great beer. Then we met my uncle back at his house to hang out and share the huge growler that we brought back from the brewery.

Life in Colorado is everything I've ever imagined.

Living in the Rockies

Well, its been a very long time since I’ve blogged. I’ve been super busy with life. In a good way, of course. Sonya and I recently moved out to a small town in the Rocky Mountains in Colorado. We actually live in the Rocky Mountain National Park. This is Longs Peak, the highest peak in the park. This is what we look at from our front door.
Pretty spectacular isn’t it? It's a little washed out, but hey, you get the idea. It's awesome.

So. What brought us here? Well, one week when I was working late at the shop again, Sonya decided to look for new jobs for me. She happened to stumble onto a posting for a carpenter for the National Park. I figured…what the heck. So I applied and after a very, very long process, I got the job!

Ever since we’ve been here, we’ve been taking advantage of our surroundings. Hiking, taking up photography, slowly-but-surely gathering backpacking gear, and enjoying the natural beauty of the mountains. This place truly is breathtaking.

Here we are at Alberta Falls. One of many waterfalls in the park. We actually had to climb down a little rock face to get to it, which ended up making for some pretty nice pictures. One of the things that we love about these hikes is how rapidly the environment changes. Our hikes, very commonly, start in the hot dry elevations around 7,000ft. then work their way into snow covered trails in the peaks around 11,000ft. Just recently, we ventured into a Tundra region above 12,000ft. At that elevation, you are above the tree growth line. It’s so high, that trees actually can’t survive there. It actually doesn’t even accumulate snow there. The wind is so wicked that it keeps the ground completely bare even through the intense winters.

Impressive.

It definitely does snow here though. One of my current construction projects is building snow doors. They are huge solid wood doors that are about three inches thick that will hold back 14’+ of snow for eight months out of the year. Such a cool job.

Another pretty cool part of the job is being able to drive around some cool toys. This is the military all-terrain forklift that I drive every few days.

Only bad part about the job is having to look like Ranger Rick.

Say what you want about the hat. Without it, my ears would melt off of my head out here.

So yes. We're absolutely loving it out here. The job is pretty cool most days. Just like any job anywhere else, except this one is in the freaking Rockies. Plus, Sonya and I get to hike, backpack, rock climb, and get some pretty amazing pictures on a nearly daily basis. We're happy, we're healthy, and we're having the times of our lives.

How can you go wrong with that?

We've certainly become mountain people and I mean that in the best ways possible.