Only photo of the day (for me)

Luckily it was of Dylan on his FA boulder, pre-send but still...

Back in the Northern Bourbons

Fun day so far, great weather and problems!
More hours of light left...but I'm not sure how much I have left in the tips...we'll find out...

Finally...

I've been the only person to give this crack a go, and have backed off every time prior. Confidence and a big pad over came the fear of popping out the top jam and success was achieved.





Good to get that micro-monkey off my back.


Molly taking the more aesthetic and graceful way up

Backyard practice

While getting some water at the Passmore cabin, Mo and I took advantage of the few, close boulders to climb on while the kids occupied themselves within earshot. The one thing about the best formations here is that a committed mantle is necessary to top out.


Getting psyched and stretched in preparation.


Battling to get a foot/heel up to stand on


Different angle


Pullin' hard


Getting a good arm smear going...


...she gave it good efforts, but fell short on the send--Mo DID actually get some mantle practice in by completing this one:



This is right of the last one, on the same formation--looking like some commitment here:


She's getting stronger, and being more comfortable on the overhangy-type stuff, which is fun to watch her experience.

Kid time

The chitlen and I met up with Orrin, Nick and Dustin M to drop off crash pads and take in some nice campfiring. The kids were in the mood to climb, and luckily a nearby slab provided an easy, fun challenge for them.


Fearless Ladd padless with a stump for a spotter:-)


Lyddie executing efficient slab-technique effortlessly

Back from Basic

Ben made it back alive from NG basic training just in time for the prime climbing season, and we headed to the N Bourbons to pick up where we left off.


Warming up on a small one (if you're a giant).


Kevin playing on the large dark features.


The big fella following the obvious line up the "Top Hook Crack".

Evening blast

Mo and the kids left me at home, while they played at the YMCA--my loneliness for people was satisfied by a few smatterings of pebbles in an area that one could only describe as "obvious". Come here for repeat action, as all of the pictured moderate problems were sent ( a few more difficult lines could still be had).

First up and closest to car (1 min)


Nearby, same side of draw.


Best problem of the evening--overhanging, slammer wide-hands...


Other side of the draw

The small, bear-huggable pinnacle on the right needs to be finished...

Should be easy to guess where this is by now...


Last pebble climbed before sundown



All in all a quick, user-friendly area with just enough problems to satiate one's granite plutonic desires.

Lolo Tour

"Lolo could be the best bouldering in the state" - Jeff Ho

It'd been awhile since I've been to Missoula to climb. With so much rock within an hour or so of Bozeman, it's hard to motivate beyond the bubble....but after seeing so many nice shots of the Lolo bouldering, and hearing about it, I was compelled to check it out...

I arrived late afternoon and met up with Levi, got some supplies, grabbed Dylan and headed up into dense forests of Lolo. After following Levi's truck through twists and turns on a maze of forest service roads, we came upon our destination. As evening set in, we did a quick tour of some of the boulders. I was impressed in two ways. One, the boulders were stellar looking: crazy pocket features in blueish granite, with smokey crystal quartz poking out in places, very cool. Two, they found a bunch of great boulders in a VERY DENSE forest, lots of dedication from these fellas over the years.

Night fell, a fire and psyche warmed us as we got our heads together for the following day...



(Chouinard Photography is Dylan's stuff, check out his blog http://dylanchouinardpeckphotography.blogspot.com/)


Sunshine greeted us, and we set off...meeting up with Chris who came out for a morning session.

We warmed up and hung out at the Beautiful Boulder, a massive boulder with a number of great problems...

I'm having a hard time remembering some of the problem names, but will do my best...


Ginger



Cool dynamic cross through thing...



Nasty mono problem





Ode to Boss



Chris sets up for the toss on Hooray for Boobies


Nabbing the dyno...





Ode to Boss

We then took a bit of a break and headed up to the Starship Boulder...there was a OW opportunity there, as well as some stellar hard problems...though I was a bit shot by the time we made it there...



OW proj



Big Medicine

We were pretty rocked and had to get back towards the Boze...We took a birdbath in Granite creek and hit the road, stopping at the Freeway in Butte for a Wop Chop and a beer with Hutch. All in all it was a great adventure and a hell of a tour, hopefully I can get back for more soon!

Cheers!

Heading to Lolo...

I'm psyched.

Heading towards Missoula for a bouldering tour from Levi and crew...not the Boulder Batholith, but the Idaho Batholith I believe...should be fun.

From what I've seen, it looks choice.


couple borrowed shots of Levi...








pictures will be taken, and perhaps a mobile post if I get reception out there...

Cheers!

TK

Casual Monday Morning Pullin'

Mo had a rare Monday off, and with the weather being stellar (low 80's) we decided to head to a spot between the Northern Bourbons and the Single Malts where an "island" of a few really nice pebbles could be played on.

The warm-up climb for me...


The warm-up climb for Mo...


A nice off-hands crack on the adjacent boulder--a real gem, too bad it is the downclimb. There are other harder cracks on this boulder, too.


Mo following fine face features flawlessly


Same problem from another angle


Last problem climbed that day--funky wierdness


Our "tag-along" for the session--Ladd slept in and missed school, so his reward/punishment was to come along bouldering with us.

More Delmoe Lake Bouldering

Bouldering along a lake shore is a pretty nice feeling. Being originally a Midwesterner, I sometimes miss the lakes and pines...this hike amongst Delmoe Lakes' boulders and climbing near the water brought on a great feeling.




slightly dynamic move to the flake




Weird highstep/reach thing





great moderate along the shore




This thing was on the edge of alot more quality looking boulders. I gave this problem a couple of goes, but the day was drawing to a close and we had a party in Butte to attend.



The topout, filled with moist pine needles, caused me to rethink pulling over, and instead lobbed a nice fall from the lip. sweet




Cheers!