Revenue Village: The Tapioca effect (City Limits)

Having been in development mode for a while, it was time for a big climb day. I finished the City Limits Buttress late last season and had not climbed a few routes yet so I lassoed Kyler and off we went. We started on the far left side and worked our way right. I started off by climbing a thin but low angle crack I call 'Chip Shot 5.8 20M' small gear and one bolt. Next we sent 'Custom Cushions 5.8 35M' bolts to s/m cams back to bolts. MC Tapioca pulled the roof in a different spot (climber's left) creating a more difficult variation. After a beer or two we then sent 'Hemorrhoid Ice Breaker 5.8 40M' mostly bolts but intermittent s/m gear. Again, MC Tapioca added a harder variation to the route, this time at the start. The last FA of the day was 'Crossfader 5.8 40M' s/m gear and a couple of bolts. Im pretty happy with the routes. Crossfader wasnt exactly hard or classic but it will do. Kyler then lead Black Angus Orchestra (5.9 35M s/m gear and two bolts) which I followed and Trooper Down (5.10a smal gear to bolts) to wrap up the day. I had never used an 80M rope but they do exist and Kyler brought one. I set up this buttress to be walked-off so the anchors are not in very good places for top roping or lowering FYI. I might go back and put some new anchors lower down on the rock to save your ropes. 6 hours later we had climbed all but one route there (Cattle Scratch Boogie).

H.I.Breaker is the left rope line, Crossfader is the right.

Dude, just shut up would ya.

The Tapioca effect on H.I.Breaker.

Did I mention it was so windy that we couldnt communicate? Pretty place to hang out though 'ey? 'Big Sky' country.

Kyler on Trooper Down.

The hike in was sunny and WINDY!

Me on the FA of H.I.Breaker

The hike in and out is gorgeous (and I know I have said that before). Not too many places I know of where you can see the Madison Valley and Gallatin Valley at the same time (not the case in this photo).

Revenue Village: Upper Manfred's Rock; 3 new routes "Tear Gas Connection" "Un-Thaw" and "The Chickadee Chirp"

This post is mostly for documentation and organizational purposes. Manfred and I had a day to ourselves to make some progress in the Village. We spent a cold but dry day swinging around on ropes, sinking 30 some odd bolts and killing a couple of batteries. I started on the climber's left side of the upper buttress, just continuing my left-to-right development. With so many routes to do, the decision making is easier when you just start on one side and work your way over. The first route done was Tear Gas Connection: mixed 9 bolts plus small gear to chains 30m. Next we have Un-Thaw: mixed SMW gear crack to permanently slung tree to crack to 5 bolts to chains 30m. Lastly we have The Chickadee Chirp: mixed one small cam to bolts, two ways to finish this one; at bolt 5 the route splits left to stay on face (5 more bolts) or goes right to one bolt (protects traverse) to crack to top chains 30m. There should be 3-4 more routes on Upper Manfred's by the time Im done. Its going to be a while before I get to go back out there though. :(

Tear Gas Connection goes up the left side and hugs the upper arete.

Un-Thaw goes up the crack/rope line-ish.

The Chickadee Chirp runs up this face. The route splits about mid way up. You can see the crack variation to the right or the black streak face to the left/middle.

Revenue Village: Manfred's Rock; Climb Day

Lucas, Bailey, Travis, Luke, Manfred and I all spent a colorful Saturday climbing new routes on my latest spire; Manfred's Rock. I finished bolting 'My Favorite Freddy' 5.6 6 bolts and a slung horn to chains 30m while everyone got ready to climb. Bailey, Lucas and I all climbed 'My Favorite Freddy' easily. Lucas and I climbed Manfred's Crack 5.7 all gear to chains 30m. Bailey almost got 'Wrinkles for Days' 5.10c mixed to chains 30m on the first attempt. Then Travis got in to the crux, cleaned a weak hold for us all and took a little fall. After a short hang-dog, he was able to reach the top. I was up next and was able to lead it cleanly. Lucas also climbed it cleanly on top rope. Then I lead 'Basset Friendly' 5.9 (maybe 5.10a) mixed to chains 30m followed by Bailey on TR. Luke and Manfred just spectated. With all four routes climbed, it was time to go back to camp and celebrate. This was Lucas' first visit to the Village in 4ish years so it was a ton of fun to show the original pioneer all the progress I have made over the years. Im pretty sure these four routes put the Village at over 50 routes now!

Travis belaying Lucas up Manfred's Crack. My green static rope is set up over My Favorite Freddy (it starts a little climber's right of photo and trends climber's left). 

Bailey working the crux section of Wrinkles for Days.

Travis plugging gear before the crux face of Wrinkles for Days.

Revenue Village: Manfred's Rock; 3.25 new routes added

A couple of years ago on a Village rock scouting day, Manfred and I found a clean, beautiful chunk of rock that I foresaw atleast 10 routes on. I have been wanting to go back ever since. I decided to start my developing season there. Armed to to teeth with batteries and bolts and beers, a drillin' we did go! Saturday was cold and snowy so I spent most of the day getting the cache moved over from City Limits buttress to Manfred's rock and crack cleaning. By the end of the day I had one new set of anchors, Manfred's Crack cleaned (30m, all gear to chains) and Basset Friendly cleaned and bolted (30m, 5 bolts to a couple of small-medium cams to another bolt and up to the chains). By Sunday afternoon, I finished Wrinkles For Days (30m, 1 bolt then small-large gear to 7 bolts and chains) and started My Favorite Freddy (30m, 2 bolts so far). Im really excited to get back out there and climb these routes as well as add several more to the buttress. Its too bad the hike kinda sucks to get to this one because its going to be one of my favorites in the Village. But I think I have said that about every buttress out there so.......

Manfred's Crack is obvious enough. Basset Friendly runs up the face between the crack and the bush and finished climber's right of the triangular roof. Wrinkles for days starts just climber's left of the photo and goes up to the bush (I added a permanent sling for pro), passes it on the left then takes off up the face to the very faint dead tree on the skyline. My Favorite Freddy is about the right side of the photo but not visible. 

Some Village and Pipestone Bouldering

Last weekend's forecast left something to be desired but the climbing bug was biting hard so we had to try. Saturday Joe, Sam, Manfred and I tried to beat the rain by showing up to the Village early but to no avail. It rained, albeit lightly, all day. I hauled a (climbing) rack out to the cache though. After that we just kinda strolled around looking for new routes. During our scrambling, Sam spied a boulder hidden behind a tree that, with some aggressive trimming, would open up some fun routes. We spent about an hour building a nice base and removing the tree. Yup, we cut down a tree. Its not like it was a big one but size doesnt matter to some people. When MT, or even the Village, sees a shortage of Douglas Fir trees, Ill think twice about cutting them down but for now, I deem it ok. However, the routes that you open up have to be worth it and not contrived (I hope thats obvious).

The Three Amigos boulder in the Village

Sunday Sam, Justin, Manfred and I went out to Pipestone hoping to dodge the rain. And dodge the rain we did! We played around in the Desert area, climbing some established routes and potentially opening up a couple newbies. We removed some shrubbery from a boulder proximal to the Bolted Boulder and had a blast climbing 6 new-to-us routes all on the same boulder. I dont think its in the guide but there is no way we were the first to check it out. Im sure we were the first to climb a couple of the routes due to (initial) inaccessibility. We then moved over to Sam, Lucas and I's boulders from 7(?)+- years ago. I sent the Potato Head boulder for my second time, and I flashed it! (Climbed it on first try) I know I have more attempts on that route than any other rock climbing route to date. Its tall, its sustained, its hard. Im not going to attempt to rate it because boulder ratings are absolutely the most inconsistent of all climbing. I have flashed V5s and been shut down on V1s. Bozeman needs a standard, like Diesel Driver in Gallatin Canyon. Sam and I also climbed a new-to-us and maybe completely new route on the Unmasked boulder. Still feeling strong somehow and with a beautiful patch of blue sky above us and nowhere else, we moved up to the Courtyard and sent a highball crack route called Cherry Blossom (?).  Pretty awesome day considering we left Bozeman in the rain and didnt expect to get any climbing in.

We cleaned up the boulder on the far left of this pic. The Bolted boulder is the big boy on the right. 

This boulder is 50 yds from the car. Dont know what it is called, if its even named, but it has some good routes. 

Me climbing on the new-to-us boulder. 

The west side of the newbie (pics of me climbing this face).

Sam on the North side of the newbie. 

We cut out a sage brush. Oh boy. 

The South side. Again, those are Sage Brush stumps. 

The Potato Head boulder. My problem goes right up the center of the face. Theres a warm up on the climber's left side. 

Unmasked boulder has a face problem and a climber's right side arete problem. 

Basset and beer. Oh yeah, and no rain. 

Potato Head, Unmasked and I forget the name of the left most one. 

Manfred always needs a pillow. 

                                               

                                                       Cherry Blossom crack in the Courtyard. 

Hyalite Ice: Slot Corner to Land of the Lost

Climbing and linking Slot Corner to Land of the Lost has been a priority of mine for a long time and I finally got to make it happen. Sam and I took advantage of the last Saturday of the season in Hyalite to get er done. We actually tried to do this climb the previous weekend but missed the turn (cause there wasnt one; nobody has been up there in a while) and ended up in Avalanche Gully. We used the early season approach to reach the seldom climbed first pitch of Slot Corner. It was an easy WI3 that only required one screw to reach the top. Pitch 2 was the money pitch of the day; the actual 'slot corner' pitch was atleast 4 times larger than any photo of it I have ever seen! I guess its usually a column of sorts but not this day. It was just one giant vertical sheet of ice very very similar to Curtains. I tackled this short and to-the-point WI4 with just a couple of screws and off/up to Land of the Lost we went. Land of the Lost are climbs located in the same gully as Slot Corner and could just as easily be called Slot Corner pitch 3 and 4. The first pitch of LoL was the best ice we saw all day. I led it without any trouble. Sam volunteered to take the sharp end on the last pitch and he brought me up a very thin, snowy, rocky final pitch. It was really cool being so close to Winter Dance; a climb I can only dream about for now. About the time we topped out, the sun finally reached us and the snow and ice turned to total crap. Im really glad we got up a little extra early this day. I was at the Unnamed Wall the previous night scouting Bingo World and Thrill is Gone, both which I deemed undesirable for me, even though Bingo World was touching down and climbable. Looking across the canyon Sam spoke up "is Bingo World gone!?" Sure as hell, it had broke at the lip of the cave and a 30' tall + or - chunk of ice fell down! I know these things happen, but its different to witness such potential mayhem. Luckily, nobody was hurt, though it had been climbed earlier in the morning. Our lobster fried faces were pretty excited to get to the adult beverages patiently awaiting our return.

Sam following Pitch 3 of the day.

The last pitch, the 4th pitch, the second pitch of Land of the Lost. Winter Dance above. 

Kinda looks funny right? Thats what crappy ice looks like. Not a crappy climb, just crappy ice. 

Pitch 3 or the first pitch of LoL.

LoL

LoL

Slot Corner main pitch aka pitch 2

Slot Corner pitch 1

Hyalite Ice: Upper Avalanche Gully

With the end of the season rapidly approaching due to warm temps and gate closures, its time to squeeze in whatever ice climbing is available. Sam and I departed an 18* parking lot (which is usually the coldest place in SW MT!) headed for Slot Corner and Land of the Lost, two WI4s with a couple easier pitches. I stopped on the main trail and looked right at the approach trail, deciding it was the wrong one and about 15 minutes later I realized it was the right one. At that point we were closer to the Dribbles than anything and Sam had never been so up the hill we went. I have climbed it twice, once this season already and upon seeing it basking in the sun decided that it was climbable but it gets soo much better so I convinced Sam to look elsewhere. I have always wanted to climb Avalanche gully (the standard decent route of the Dribbles) as well as the upper pitches (P3 and P4?) so off we went. P1 and P2 were in the shade so we were feeling optimistic about the upper pitches. Wrong. The upper pitches must get as much sun as any N-NW facing climbs there. It was still really fun to gain atleast 1k' to get there with 60m of M1 climbing to get to the base of the upper climbs. We both agreed fairly quickly (possibly to our dismay in the future) that these upper pitches were definitely within our grasp and added fuel-to-the-fire for next year's season! This was Sam's high-point-in-Hyalite, mine wasnt much higher when I was at the Climb-above-the-Dribbles. I cleaned 20+ years of tat off the rap anchor (obviously replacing it with good stuff) and 4 rappels later we were back to the beer, I mean packs. It was atleast 50* driving out!

Getting there earlier in the day may have possibly allowed us to climb the hanging pillar kind of the middle of the pic but the top out had all melted out. It wasnt hanging on by much and I didnt have any rock pro with me. 

Maid of the Mist and Palace Butte in the distance.

Cleos in the background.\

Pitch 1