2011

Flatirons on New Years Eve.

Well, it seems that the new year is off to a good start here in Colorado. I've been getting out some to shoot photos and climb also when the weather allows.

A few days ago I woke up super early and drove over to Estes Park hoping to get some good sunrise shots of the St Malo Chapel. When I left the house at 5:30am it was quite pleasant out with temps around 48 deg. I stopped in Lyons to grab a coffee before heading up St. Vrain Canyon. About 15 minutes later the wind picked up and the snow started to fall. By the time I got to the Chapel it was full on winter conditions. I parked in the small lot behind the chapel and hoped the skies would clear allowing for a nice winter scene. As the sun begin to rise I realized that the weather was going to win this battle so I drove into Estes Park for another coffee. After a while I decided to drive back over to Boulder and do a little shopping. My friend Scott Bennett texted me wanting to know if I was up for some climbing. Sure, I said and met him over in Boulder canyon. He wanted to try a route called the Vasodilator at Blob Rock. Many consider this to be the best 5.13 around. I was able to get a few decent shots of him and some other climbers too. Scott is now on his way to Patagonia in South America for the next few months. He hopes to do a first ascent with friend Blake Herrington on the Cerro Pallone. Best of luck!


Becky Johnson on the Vasodilator 5.13a


Enjoying the late day sun on a cold day in Boulder Canyon.


Scott Bennett cruxing on the Vasodilator 5.13a

Desert Solitude

I was fortunate last week to be able to spend a few days in the Utah desert with some good friends to enjoy the incredible climbing and vast beauty known as Indian Creek.

Here are some of my favorite shots from the trip.

I awoke to this one morning and ran up to the top of the hill to capture this shot.


Steven on "Camping under the Influence" 5.12 Second Meat Wall.


Usual night at creek pasture.


Still recovering from a broken back, Chick runs a lap on Broken Brain 5.12.


Steven sending Broken Brain 5.12, first go of the day!


Another beautiful sunset... one of the many reasons I keep coming back.

Rumble in da The Ghetto, Flatirons style.

The weather continues to be just fantastic here in Colorado making for great days in the outdoors. Me and my friend Shumin climbed a bit in Eldorado Canyon Friday afternoon in the roof route area. We started on the classic Rosy Crucifixion and finished on some of shorter roof routes down below. Twas a tad bit warm....

I get a call late that night from my friend Matt telling me that he and his "crew" were planning on going up into the Flatirons to do some bouldering in an area called the "Ghetto" and asked if I wanted to join them. I said sure because I figured it would be a good chance to snap some photos of them and do a little bouldering myself.

John "JD" Dunn. One of the founding fathers of the Ghetto establishing many of the problems.


John going big!


Graig contemplating his next move.


Kai focused on the top out.


Matt "aka" Hip Hop looking solid on Skin Poppin' Slut.


Graig totally dialed in.


Hip Hop


Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Yours truly!

Published Photos!

WooooHoooo! I'm so psyched to finally get a couple photos published in a soon to be released guidebook from Stewart Green. It's called "Best of Denver and Boulder" and should be out in the fall.

Stewart was looking thru some photos on Mountain project and stumbled across a few of mine and then contacted me to ask if I would be interested in having them in his upcoming guidebook. Of course I said yes!

The photo I took of Nick Chan on the Naked Edge took some effort to get myself into that setting and I was really happy with the shots I got of him that day. The shot of Jill Copper was a spur of the moment one day in Eldorado Canyon. Stewart had emailed me a list of routes he would like to have pictures of and the Bastille Crack was one of them. I was hanging out in Eldo one evening and noticed a couple walking over to that particular route. I went over and talked to them and asked if they were ok with me shooting photos of them. They kindly obliged and I shot several photos of Jill and her soon to be husband Creighton.

Hopefully this is just the beginning!


Nick Chan feeling the exposure on the Naked Edge.


Jill Cooper on the timeless classic Bastille Crack.

Great shots from Eldorado Canyon

Well, Things are back to normal now that I've returned from Yosemite Valley and have settled back into the usual routine.

My friend Shumin gave me a buzz last Friday evening asking me about when a certain route in Eldo goes into the shade. Things have really heated up around here making it almost mandatory to seek shade when out climbing. He wanted to climb the route Jules Verne followed by the Naked Edge with his friend Nick Chan. These are both super classic climbs here on the front range. Jules Verne is pretty legendary because of it's committing upper run-out pitch that could easily send you for a big 40+ ft fall if you blow it. The Naked Edge is practically known throughout the world as one of the most aesthetic routes in Colorado. Together, these make a great link-up. A light bulb went off inside my head telling me I should go up there and shoot some pics of these guys. This would require me to slog up the east slabs descent so I could set up where the "Edge" finishes. I would simply build an anchor and drop a static line down the route so I could rappel right down into the action.

Shumin and Nick at the belay ledge.

So, after humping all my gear up there I lowered down the entire length of my 70m rope and was in about the perfect position. Shumin and Nick were busy climbing the lower pitches and were soon coming into view. Conditions were about perfect, weather, lighting etc... I think this is by far the most successful "shoot" I've had to date and are really happy with the images I captured.

Shumin on Lene's Dream. A great varation that links Jules Verne to the Naked Edge.


Shumin hoping something is there.


Small crimps for you.


Nick on the ultra-classic 4th pitch of the Naked Edge.


Nick goin' big!


Nick coming out of the "Bombay" chimney.

Back home

I got in late Friday night just after midnight from San Francisco and had some time last night to edit a few photos from the trip. Some are climbing related and others I took of interesting things found along the way. More to come as I have more to time to go thru them....


Skyeler on the Bachar Cracker. Camp 4 Boulders.


Skyeler goin' big on Thriller!


Brad tops out on Midnight Lightning.


Brad on "After Midnight". Camp 4.


Seagull in the San Fran Bay on a gloomy morning.


Old barn just outside Oakdale.

Day of Rest

Well, I've been out in the Valley for about a week now and I'm beat! Besides one day of rest for rainy weather, this is the first full day I've taken off. I drove into Mariposa for food and gas and stopped by the local library which has free internet.

Anyway, my first day in the Valley I climbed the first 10 pitches or so of the "Nose". Wow, talk about jumping into the "deep end" my first day! I climbed it with a friend of a friend who lives up in Vancover named Mike. We wanted to reach "Dolt Tower" but decided to stop at the top of the "stove legs" due to pending darkness. It's amazing how fast one can get off the nose since it has a dedicated rap route.

Next day it rained, but no big deal because I was a little tired from climbing the nose the day before. Hung out with my Skyeler from Durango for most of the day.

Day three was beautiful so me and Skyeler headed up to Pat and Jacks cliff do do a little "craggin". Highlight of the day was a route called the "Tube" It's a left facing corner clocking in at 11a.

My good friend Scott Bennett rolled into the Valley that evening and was amped up to do something big. So, we hiked up to the Ribbon Falls area to check out "Gold Wall". It's about 9 pitches or so and has some really hard climbing that can be easily aided with a bolt ladder down low. We chose to do the "Silent Line" finish which was really good. I linked two pitches together which provided a 215ft amazing hand, fist crack. Once on top we had an amazing view of Ribbon Falls which is going full force right now. The whole valley is full of beautiful waterfalls right now!

Yesterday was without a doubt the best day yet. Me and Scott hiked up to Hihger Catherdal rock to climb Crucifix. This is probably one of the best routes I have ever climbed. 12a crux with multiple 11+ climbing above that. Even the 5.10 pitches were hard due to their sustained nature. This climb has it all, fingers, hands, fists, off-hands, OFFWIDTH, and other sorts of weirdness.

Sorry for no pics yet, maybe when I get home!