How the west was climbed: Black Canyon of the Gunnison

Last week as I was looking thru the forum on MountainProject, I noticed that someone was looking for a partner to climb with down in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. I clicked on the post and recognized the person whom I'd met about a month ago at Indian Creek, his name is Jay. I gave him a call and the gig was on. Jay and I would make a good team with his ultra-chill vibe.

This would be my first trip down to the "Black" and I was super psyched to be finally going. The climbing down there has been described as the most adventurous in the lower 48. I would later find out this to be true. It's also been said that it makes Yosemite look like a pre-school!

Jay suggested we meet up in Carbondale since he is living in Aspen for the summer and take one car down the rest of the way. I arrived in Carbondale late Friday night and drove out of town to find a spot to sleep. I picked a dirt road that looked pretty desolate and crawled into the back of my car to sleep. When I awoke the next morning, I was surrounded by cows. About 7am my phone rang and it was Jay letting me know that he was in town. I cruised into town, picked him up and we headed south.

We rolled into the canyon about 9:30 and picked a spot in the campground. After unloading the car we racked up and headed down the cruise gully to start our first climb. The great thing about climbing here is that you walk down to the start of your route and climb your way back out to the top. When you top out, it's a short walk back to the campsite. We started on a route called A Midsummer Night's Dream. It's about 600 ft and clocks in at 11-. We topped out in the early afternoon and grabbed some lunch and headed back down for one more climb. This time we climbed Checkerboard which is about 400ft and goes at 10+. Once on top we went back and started dinner. Jay was really psyched to climb a route called Trilogy tomorrow. It's about 800 ft and goes at 12-. Let's do it, I said.

Sunday morning comes, and after a quick breakfast we head down cruise gully to the start of Trilogy. The initial approach requires some 4th class scrambling to reach the ledge where the route starts. Jay takes the first pitch which is a runout 11+ with a spooky traverse to the arete. He cruises this section and sets a belay for me to follow. I arrive at the belay and cast off on the 2nd pitch which goes at about 11+ also. It's a flared finger crack and really insecure. After taking one fall, I finish the pitch and bring Jay up. The next pitch is a little more moderate and Jay is soon bringing me up to the start of the crux pitch. The Black is famous for it's pegmatite bands of rock and the crux pitch journeys thru this lesser quality of rock. I start off on unprotected funky rock up to a small crack. I make a hard move up to a good slot that takes a hand size piece of gear. The slot is barely big enough for my hand let alone a cam. As I fiddle with the cam I suddenly pop off the rock. ahhh... There goes the onsight! I get back on and move up to the bolt guarding the crux and move up and right to easier ground. Whew! I got it. We continue swapping leads the rest of the day and top out about 4:30. As I'm driving home, I'm already wanting to come back down for some more adventure.