Red Fingerpaint | La Vie de 'Voo

It was easy to pick out the big Vedauwoo days of the past few months, but as the summer marched on more and more of my photo collection was comprised of one-route days. Perhaps none of them called for posts of their own, but - while their stories are acknowledgably disparate - together they paint a picture of the summer.

A summer done in red fingerpaint.

Haha, dramatic, eh?

Straight Edge

The impetus for Cameron and I installing anchors on Straight Edge was that I had climbed it some half dozen times in just two weeks.

turtle rock sunset

I did it with Laurel, who epicced in the most epic way, scabbing her arms nearly to her elbows.

laurel racks up
Laurel racks for Straight Edge

I did it again when Ben came through town, a nice alpine start to the day (and breakfast broritos from Qdoba).

ben walk slab

ben climb tree

I did it again with Octavian on some random weekend that he made it up, and again with Darren from Vegas. The gobie I got thinking I could do it sans tape gloves was a weeklong nuisance of gore.

straight edge gobie

Speaking of Darren, he left me with this gem after our weekend together:

Your program at the voo kicked my fuckin ass dude Darren

Yeah, man. Vedauwoo.

w darren

Take It Easy

I've alluded previously to a psychological breakdown after projecting Max Factor in Vedauwoo and Butch Pocket up in Wild Iris. The weekend Darren was in town I finally managed to get the redpoint on Max Factor, but prior to that I had hit the reset button with Ken and went exploring easies, looking for a good time rather than an ego boost.

Valley Massif

We climbed over at the Valley Massif, where I placed one piece in a pitch and realized I may as well just do it without a rope.

5.8 chicken wing

5.8 hero

We fooled around at the top of the formation, enjoying a view that nicely complimented our moods. Ken, good sport that he is, put up with me turning him into my model.

ken rope facing away

ken rope bw

rope sunset edges

As we hiked back to the trailhead we made sure to glance occasionally glance back to the West and enjoy another amazing Vedauwoo sunset.

ken sunset

Strawberry Jam and Other Easy Voo Classics

Laurel and I got it in our heads to do Strawberry Jam at some point. Not until we were back at the car, the sun set, did we realize that she dropped a cam mid-route.

Strawberry Jam, 5.8, has fists, heel-toes, maybe some OWs, and finishes with either a chimney or unprotected, runout slab...

... classic Vedauwoo handcrack.

I went back the next day to retrieve it with Rob and Maliina, and got to record Maliina's ascent. The sun would nip behind clouds and give me the perfect offused lighting for shots and then swing back out with its warm light and harsh shadows.

SBJ red cam

vertical

strawberery jam hair

strawberry jam slab
The aforementioned runout slab

Other easy climb highlights include:

Sugarcrack, my first repeat since climbing it with Allie Lindgren six years ago.

When I climbed it with Willow this summer, I sent her up to the top to learn how to clean and rappel, telling her I would solo up behind her. She seemed far more comfortable with the idea than I really felt.

Becker, 5.7 handcrack done in a downpour of hail that ended as soon as I was back on the ground, my first climb with Willow this summer.
Mother #1 with the Stebbins.