From: white_hae@ccsua.ctstateu.edu
Subject: Easterners in the Front Range (long)
Organization: Yale University, Department of Computer Science, New Haven, CT
Date: Wed, 12 Aug 1992 22:08:44 GMT

Here's a report on an Easterner's first trip to Boulder...

Well, we arrived in Denver in the middle of one of those fabled
Front Range thunderstorms, the pilots faced with a 5.11b IFR approach
into Stapleton. Piece of cake, I thought, from seat 17A...

Hey, we made it, and we were were struggling up Monster Woman (5.8+?)
on the 3rd Elephant Buttress by the dinner hour. Our good friend and
now-Denver resident Stew Sayah told us that Connecticut's ratings
were a sandbag (our 10's are everyone elses 11's, etc....you know, the 
"small cragger syndrome") and that we'd be bangin' 11's on the Front Range.
Monster Woman is a Colorado 5.8??

Anyway, we scraped our way up that one and then it was off to the Dome for
The Owl (5.7). An awesome route, really pretty....until the sky got black,
the wind wailed to about 40 knots, and it started sleeting/raining (!).
Unbelievable. You see, in CT, when it rains we head home. In Boulder, there
were parties STARTING routes in the middle of this storm. Wild. Anyway, I lead
through the notch where Cozyhang and The Owl converge and huddled under the
roof whilst my second fought her way up. By the time we topped out it
was sunny again.

OK, so the Rockies weather is unpredictably violent.

Next morning, heeding R. Rossiter's advice that one MUST do the 3rd Flatiron
regular route (II 5.2?) before venturing elsewhere, we were on the route by
7 a.m.. What a great route! A 55-60 degree sea of buckets! 2 hours later we
stood on the South Summit, with black skies, rain, and wicked local cloud-to-
ground lightning all around us. Through the notch to the rappel eyebolts, then
2 quick but interesting raps and we're down. 10 minutes later, the sun is out.
ARGHHH! Robbed of the summit by that Eastern WX paranoia (I'm a pilot)...

After a long afternoon and evening of bouldering at Flagstaff (*****), we
did the 3rd again by headlamp. Simply wonderful.

Next day, off to Eldorado for VD (5.7?) and Bastille Crack (5.8?). There
was a line o' climbers on the route AND at the base. Nasty. Off to 
Verschneidug (sp?) Dihedral...what an excellent position on beautiful
rock...quite similar to Connecticut traprock. BTW, the second rappel 
station on the North descent off of VD is terrifying...an old conifer 
propped up by fractured rock. The heavy climber went first....

After VD, off to the clinic :-), i.e., Supremacy Crack. Yep, it's hard,
and the flight path wicked! Just to be in the steps of Ament, Robbins, Kor, 
et.al. was ethereal. 

Next day, we did the Boulder Canyon thing, including Empor (5.7+) on Cob Rock,
Cussin' Crack (5.7) on Castle, and routes on the Practice Slab. We finished
off with a sunset climb (East Slab, 5.5) on the Dome.

We did the RMNP road trip thing, stumbled about in an anoxic stupor 
on tundra trails, barfed at the sight of the Estes Park hordes, and
awed by BIG mountains, Lumpy Ridge, and the endless rock along the
route back to Boulder via Lyons. BTW, my first look at Longs grossly
surpassed my mental image of it from photos...simply awesome.

Finally, the Front Range climbing community is great; friendly, helpful,
and etc. Boulder is an unbelievably tolerant community, too, and 
someone had great vision when the town fathers secured the Boulder 
Mountain Park.

Harry White	CCSU Biology - Lentic Environments Group
		white_hae@ccsu.ctstateu.edu