Snow Preview

Updates have been slow as I have been trying to fix my main computer over the last month or so…luckily I am getting close!!!

This doesn’t mean it hasn’t been a hell of a busy winter. Plenty of days out riding great snow, ice-climbing, and other shenanigans has made the time go by quick.

Here is some eye candy to hold you over:

Ice-Climbing in Ouray (only a little pretty):

Caitlin in the side-country at A-Basin:

More to come….

Some Favorites from 2010

Below is a slideshow showing some of my favorite photos from 2010. 2010 was a pretty good year with a number of really cool trips to new locations and old favorites. Hope you enjoy:

If you are following from a feed please follow this link for the full post: http://andylibrande.com/news/2011/01/some-favorites-from-2010/

A Few from Trent and Bethany’s Wedding

Date: September 18th, 2010

What: The wedding of our good friends: Trent and Bethany!!!

So three month’s later here are a couple of the better pics from the wedding night. Essentially just a sample of the nearly 400 photos that I took that night.

Congrats Trent and Bethany!!!

Jake and Annie:

Dan and Cara:

Ian and Brooke:

Caitlin, Annie, Liz:

A bunch of people:

Trent and Bethany’s first dance (under the stars non the less)!!!

Duncan, Ryan, Ilham, John:

Kate and Christian:

Rod and Maryann:

Some really creepy looking dude that crashed the party:

The next day Caitlin, Jake, Annie, and I all headed over to Minturn to do some bouldering in the aspen forests. Along the way we saw some of the best fall colors I have ever seen:

New England Trip and Bouldering

What: A Visit to Boston, MA and the surrounding climbing

When: Sept 25th – Oct 2nd, 2010 (Sat thru Sat)

Took a week off from work to meet up with Chris who has been living in Boston for just over  a year. The goal was to visit a number of different bouldering areas while spending some time checking out Boston. It was the first time I have been to the East Coast and was looking forward to something completely new.

Immediately we had to check out the local spot. The day after I landed we headed to the Hammond Pond area in Newton which was less then 15 mins from Chris’s house. We went to a spot that Chris had not previously checked out, as the parking for the area is questionable, called the Temple Overhangs. Awesome hunk of rock hidden in the forest made out of a weird rock called puddingstone (resembling a slick castlewood rock).

Myself stretching the muscles after the flight:

Temple Crags at Hammond Pond

Chris sending the Classic Reefer Madness:

Reefer Madness at Temple Crags

Chris on the Traverse Problem:

Temple Crags Boston, MA

Sweet shot Chris took of me getting spanked on the Reefer Madness start:

Temple Crags

Shortly after this decent session a rainstorm moved in and spent Sunday Evening through Tuesday Evening slowly drizzling. The weather changed the plans which resulted in us spending a lot of quality time in exploring the sites and sounds of Boston.  Ate a ridiculous amount of great Italian food, ran into a number of good characters, climbed indoors at Metro Rock (really fun gym), and saw a bunch of cool sites which was an unexpected plus.

Tuesday night was looking gloomy and we could only hope that the weather the next day might be good. Much to our surprise (and contradicting of the weather reports) we woke to sunny skies, the clouds quickly burned off, and the sun was nice and warm drying the rain quickly.

The drive to the legendary Pawtuckaway State Park Bouldering area was a nice drive. The closer we got the nicer the weather was getting and we were getting very excited for our visit. We finally pulled into the area a little after 11am (we had to save a turtle from the road on the way in) we hiked into the Round Pond area due to the guidebook recommending it for lots of sun.

Round Pond Boulder Area Sign

The boulders were perfect. Nicely clustered on the top of a small hill overlooking a good-sized pond (would probably qualify for lake status in Colorado), we checked out any climb that was dry.

Myself not liking the starting crimps on this dyno problem:

Round Pond Bouldering

There was this unique block that is tetering on-top of another much smaller boulder. Chris crushed the problem Atlas v5/6 repeatedly for photo ops and for fun. Really awesome to watch:

Atlas at Round Pond Pawtuckaway

Spending enough time at Round Pond we decided to head over to the main event, the area called Boulder Natural. A insane cluster of granite blocks in every shape and size nestled deep in the forest along a small stream.

I spent a lot of time trying to spend the classic Hobbit Hole but the feet eluded me:

Hobbit Hole at Pawtuckaway

However this dyno right next door was way too much fun:

Boulder Natural Pawtuckaway

We ended the day with Chris trying to send one of the harder classic problems in the area, Terrorist. Chris was climbing extremely well this trip considering that he took a hiatus when he moved to Boston over a year ago…very impressive to watch:

Terrorist Boulder Problem at Pawtuckaway

Pawtuckaway was a really cool area and I wish we had more time/energy/supplies to continue to check out this awesome location and glad that we had such a full great day out there.

More rain moved in and we were beat after our intense 6.5 hrs of climbing at Pawtuckaway.  However before the trip was up we spotted one last day to go climbing and raced a storm on a Friday morning down to Lincoln Woods in Rhode Island. After an hour drive we pulled into the park right at 10am and threw-down on as many problems as we could handle at the “Warm-up Wall” which has a number of quality problems.

Myself getting some of the more interesting moves on Cave Overhang:

Cave Overhand Lincoln Woods Rhode Island

Chris flashing Iron Cross (with the Sasquatch the spotter not being very attentive):

Iron Cross Lincoln Woods Rhode Island

Flashing Iron Cross at Lincoln Woods

Chris trying this Dyno, right before a massive monsoon downpour hit us and we scrambled to pick up the various pieces of climbing equipment and expensive photo gear. 2.5 hrs after we got there we were rained out; turned out to be just enough time for a great last session.

Andy perfecting his Pizza pick-up skills:

Street Art by Bansky:

Windy in the City:

Damn good trip.

If you are following from a feed here is the original link: http://andylibrande.com/news/2010/11/new-england-trip-and-bouldering/

Backpacking in Lost Creek Wilderness

When: September 10th-12th, 2010

Start: Goose Creek Trailhead, Lost Creek Wilderness

Destination: Shaft House Area

Caitlin and I decided to finally get in a backpacking trip just as the Fall colors were starting. We decided to check-out a place that my roommate was just a few days before us as the scenery looked just amazing.

We took off late on Friday and drove to the trail head as quick as possible (lets just say the Honda Civic tore-up the last 14 miles of dirt-road to the trail head) and arrived to the parking lot with the sun just about to set and darkness setting in really quickly.

We took off down the trail moving as quickly as possible to try to take advantage of the last glowing hints of evening sun, but we quickly found ourselves hiking in the dark. The trail is relatively easy with the first chunk of it on a smooth hillside just above the creek. At one point it does climb far above the valley and with the looming trees (and moonless night) we encountered some seriously dark hiking. Out comes the headlamps and what seems like an eternity of rolling trail we eventually got to the turn-off to the “Shaft House”.

Relieved that we finally hit the turn-off we hiked-up this new trail with no idea of where we would camp. In the pitch dark we occasionally smelled some campfire smoke, hear some bumps in the night, and eventually set-up behind a massive boulder. The sheer darkness and absolute stillness of the night made it challenging to get our bearings.

Morning was an unbelievable site. Huge granite rock-formations everywhere with thick forest and the beautiful fall colors just starting to show.

We hiked out to a overlook over a massive valley with an incredible array of large domes, massive boulders, and a creek wandering through the middle.  With the help of some guys that were camped nearby we learned that it was possible to get all the way to the creek bottom. We scrambled all the way to the far stream in the picture below:

Views from the Shaft House Lost Creek Wilderness

Attempting the get to the creek bottom was a major event in itself. With a significant amount of rock hopping and scrambling (sometimes over great exposure), we had to drop through chimney’s, climb over knife-edges, do some sketchy jumping over crevasses, all while trying to pick out which route would be possible. Awesome stuff!

Once we were at the stream we were rewarded with a Wild Raspberry Bush!!!:

Picking Raspberries in the Lost Creek Wilderness

Hanging out down at the stream-bed (ie Andy falling into the stream):

On the hike out we found a little more direct route but had to take this insanely sketchy, rusted-out ladder that was precariously perched between a couple boulders (not bolted into the rock), above a pretty gnarly ravine. Here Caitlin shows her discontentment with me taking photos instead of holding the ladder steady:

Sketchy Mining Ladder Lost Creek Wilderness

Once back to the top we had to relocate our campsite to this one with a phenomenal view of the valley around us. Then off for more exploring.

Caitlin at the old Shaft House (they actually tried to pump concrete into the ground to seal-up all of the rocks to form a reservoir where we hiked earlier in the day; luckily they failed):

We snagged a sweet spot from the guys we ran into previously. Our campsite had to be one of the most scenic locations I have ever slept:

Amazing Campsite at Lost Creek Wilderness

We built a fire on top of the massive rock formation and hung out looking at the stars in a perfect moonless night:

Hiking out of our camping spot was fun. We were completely protected on all sides by rock cliffs, boulders, and tight squeezes. Here is what we had to do to get out of there:

Tight passage between boulders at Lost Creek Wilderness

We hiked out with minimal water (the filter was not working well) and towards the end the heat of the day caught-up to us and made the last climb out of the valley very hard. Once back to the car (which was in direct hot sunshine) we raced out of there and headed down the dirt-road to where the road went over the river; we desperately needed to cool off and clean off the grime!

The drive home was a little different as we stopped at Zoka’s for lunch (amazing as usual) and then headed towards Breckenridge over Kenosha and Hoosier Passes as Caitlin needed to go buy some skis on pro-form (she picked up some new Armada JJ’s!!!). The colors were starting to look real nice on both passes and the drive was well worth it.

If you are following from a feed please check out this post on http://andylibrande.com/news/

Bachelor Party in Camp Dick

When: July 30th – July 31st, 2010

Where: Near the Camp Dick campground close to Lyons

Who: Ben, Andrew, Scott, Yours Truly, and Stranahan’s

Why: Well Ben decided to randomly get married on extreme short-notice so we had to throw a bachelor party on extreme short-notice.

Let’s get the elephant in the room a little explanation. Yes, we did have a bachelor party in a place called Camp Dick. Yes, it was just a bunch of dudes camping out together, drinking together, and reminiscing about the good ol’ days. And yes, it was a lot of, uhhh… fun….

We left Denver Friday night all jammed into Andrew’s SUV with several crash pads, gear, food, adult beverages, and four of us with the mission to give Ben a damn good evening/weekend. Luckily for us the drive to Camp Dick is just enough time to enjoy some beverages in the backseat and ramble on about how cool we all once were.

We get to Camp Dick and Andrew has to navigate the 4×4 road in his Ford SUV which was a little tight but we managed. We quickly found a awesome camping spot near the river and had a awesome boulder that we could sit on in the middle of the St Vrian river were we could cook and chill. Luckily I have been there a couple of times (documented here), so everything was pretty easy to figure out.

Morning was a little rough but here Scott and Ben discuss the merits of sleeping in a tent directly under a fallen tree:

Car Camping at Camp Dick near Indian Peaks Wilderness

We hit up the Bolt Boulder to try out our climbing skills the next day. Awesome high-ball boulder with easy access and a few really fun problems. Andrew getting high into the crux of the main easier problem there (crux is at the top):

Bolt Boulder Camp Dick

Ben showing off his good looks:

Bouldering at Camp Dick on the Bolt Boulder

There is a easier slab climb to the top which is much more sketchy when your hands are wet from the condensation on your beer and you have to use your teeth to hold the can:

We tried to convince Ben to eat this colorful friend:

Anyways congrats to Ben and Beth!!!

Great Sand Dunes Party!?!

Where: Great Sand Dunes National Park

When: June 11-13, 2010

Who: Myself, Caitlin, meeting up with Trent, Bethany, Duncan, Cara, Dan, plus the dogs.

So this recap is a little late considering it is now September and this happened back in June. But I couldn’t leave out this trip from the records because it was ridiculous. Let’s start at the beginning and all the photos will be in chronological order just for sake of ease.

We all convened in the Pinyon Flats Campground Friday night on a relatively quick drive from Denver. It is Bethany’s B-day weekend but we were able to reserve only one campground that can’t have more then two tents and two cars; we were not about to let “the man” hold us down so we set-up camp under a beautiful clear night sky with 4 tents and 4 cars (as we were traveling from all over the state). Spirits were high that night we were excited for a awesome weekend on the dunes filled with glorious adventures and abundant amounts of fun. Let’s just say everything changed quickly…

About 2-3am was when we encountered our first challenge: insane winds!!!!  We are in the sand dunes so that means where there is wind there is also flying sand; this is not just a little sand, but epic amounts of fine grain sand getting into every little crevice that it could find. Sleep quickly became a luxury as the wind and sand combo was blowing up tiny particles of sand underneath the rain fly and dropping down on us in the tent; it was literally raining sand.

Morning dawns…kinda. It’s cloudy, it’s windy, it’s kinda raining, we are sleep-deprived and it is  really early so we do what any logical human being would do in that situation: drink. Out comes the Jack Daniels which we enjoyed alongside numerous fresh cherries and other breakfast goodies; let’s just say each one of us was focused on this activity with Olympic-like intensity.

Several hours later we decide it is time to go do something (not before we had a run-in with vigilante park ranger about the tent situation even though our tents combined took up less space then the tent cities some of the other campers had). We head over the the incredibly busy visitors center (cold, wind and tourons do not mix), which was fun because well, we were  intoxicated. Then it was off to suffer on the dunes:

Hiking in wasn’t too bad, a little chilly and a lot windy:

Hiking into the Great Sanddunes NP

Trent Catching some Air:

The others turned around because they have the dogs and the sand was really messing with their eyes, however Duncan, Caitlin and I keep venturing further. Bad idea as the wind was to out backs but hiking out the wind was in our faces . Right before we decide to turn around:


Luckily the group found an awesome out of wind bank along the river. Some of us caught up on the sleep we were missing:

The low-hanging cloud on the right is part of a small fire that was happening just miles from the campground:

After catching up on sleep (and starting our afternoon hang-over from all the morning drinking) we thought we would get out of the wind and sand and headed to Zapata Falls. Nice little short walk to some freezing cold water (in the deep canyon part ice was still lining the walls). Duncan trying not to fall:

The evening gave us some nice light and you can see how crazy the wind was:

High winds at sunset at the Great Sanddunes National Park Colorado

Next morning we awoke to beautiful skies, no wind, and perfect temps. It was such a radical change it was hard to realize that it was the same place. Trent, Bethany, Caitlin and I all found a quite area away from other people and played in the creek, tried some sand-boarding, and just enjoyed the sun:

On the way out Caitlin and I took the scenic route up the San Luis valley eventually hitting up 285 for the ride home. While we were dealing with wind and a little rain in the sand dunes, the I-70 corridor was hit with a very late season snow-storm (most of the snow had already melted off of the peaks and we were sure glad we weren’t camping in that):

Now I can finally say I have been to the sand-dunes (even if I am still scraping sand out of my eyes 3 mos later)!

Backyard Bouldering Comp Results and Recap

The first ever Backyard Bouldering Competition was awesome. Thanks to all that came and made it such a success; for all those that could not make it I hope you have the opportunity to join us in future events (and yes after the success of this event there will have to be more!).

Here is a video of the event made as a stop-motion film from the ~600 photos that I took over the course of the evening. Sit back and enjoy:

Backyard Bouldering Comp 2010 from AndyLibrande on Vimeo.


Results:

Awards:

  • Men’s 1st: Jake F. (and overall winner!)
  • Men’s 2nd: Ben S.
  • Men’s 3rd: Andy L.
  • Women’s 1st: Caitlin S.
  • Women’s 2nd: Whitney H.
  • Women’s 3rd: Beth S.

Prizes:

  • Best Costume: Jon J.
  • Most Bonus Holds: Andrew G.
  • Best Determination: Brian G.
  • Best Moves: Jake F.
  • Kegmeister: Andrew G.
  • Midgets Unite!: Annie B.

Comp Recap:

Congrats to the above winners! This was the first time I had ever done anything like this and I believe the results were pretty sick. In the end we had 9 different routes all deploying a variety of moves from powerful traverses, to slopers, to balance/slab type problems. I learned quite a bit from the results and gained a ton of skill in terms of route-setting for a significant range of climbing abilities.

Thanks again for everyone that came and to all of those that helped with the party!

Comp Details:

For all of the specifics on the comp, prizes, and rules check out this page: http://andylibrande.com/news/2010/08/backyard-bouldering-competition-sept-4th-2010/

Select Photos from the Event (Please watch the video for a lot more action):

Who can forget about the 17lbs of pork that we smoked for 8 hrs and turned into the best carnitas tacos ever:

Prize winners:

Thanks for Coming!!!

Backyard Bouldering Competition – Sept 4th 2010

Introducing the Backyard Bouldering Competition:

Party – BBQ – Climbing Competition

Saturday September 4th, 2010

Starting at 5:00pm

By Andy Librande Productions

A simple open competition taking place on the backyard wall at Andy Librande’s house. A keg of beer and a dinner buffet will be provided. Everyone and all ability types are welcomed and encouraged to attend. Please indicate that you are attending by leaving a comment below with your email address.

Close-up of the Climbing Wall Featuring Optimus Prime

Close-up of the Climbing Wall Featuring Optimus Prime

Format:

  • At least 10 climbing problems will be featured on the climbing wall and will range in difficulty from Easy to Hard
  • Each problem will be given a set of Stars to rate its point value (and potential difficulty)
  • Each competitor has at least two hours to attempt as many problems as they can with no limit on the number of tries
  • Each competitor will share the wall with everyone else and take turns as necessary, time will go until everyone has climbed every problem or as attempted as many tries as seen fit by the overall judge
  • Each competitor will keep track of their own scores throughout the competition

Cost:

  • Entry Fee: $5 to cover beer, food and prizes

Scoring:

  • Each problem will be given a set of Stars to rate its point value ranging from One Star to Four Stars
  • Star rankings may hint at difficulty but are warranted more on quality of the climb. Therefore an easier but aesthetic problem may be worth more points than a harder contrived problem.
  • Each attempt on a problem is worth a certain amount of points. Flash (sending problem 1st try) is worth the most. There will be no points awarded for problems that are not completed. However on select few climbs there may be “Bonus” awards that a competitor may earn if they reach a certain hold but do not complete the problem.
  • A completion of the problem is considered when a competitor has complete control on the final hold. Grabbing a final hold and swinging out and not holding on will not count as a completed problem. Bonus holds count when the competitor at least has minimal grip on the hold with their hand; there are no bonus foot holds.
  • Completion of a problem means that the competitor has climbed the problem clean. This means only using the appropriate hand and foot holds as dictated by the competition scorecard. Dragging your feet on the pads, accidently placing hands/feet on off-route problems/features, or hitting other competitors with any part of your body will be considered a “dab” and competitor will need to restart the climb.

Score Details:

Star Ranking Grid and Scoring Points
Flash 2-3 Attempts 4+ Attempts Bonus Hold*
1 Star 25 pts 15 pts 10 pts 10 pts
2 Star 35 pts 25 pts 20 pts 10 pts
3 Star 45 pts 35 pts 30 pts 10 pts
4 Star 60 pts 50 pts 40 pts 10 pts
*Bonus Hold only Counts when the problem is not sent by competitor

Awards and Prizes:

  • Awards will be given to the top climbers with the highest scores.
  • In an event of a tie the winner will be determined by a game of CLIMB (aka Horse in basketball). Where each climber will alternate in climbing a problem and then the other climber has to climb that problem or earn a letter.
  • Awards will be for:
    • 1st-3rd place for Men
    • 1st-3rd place for Women
  • Prizes will be abundant and attended to be light-hearted and will be decided by the Comp organizer (Andy Librande) or by popular vote:
    • Best Costume: Competitor with the best outfit/costume/etc and earns at least 50 points. Popular Vote decision.
    • Best Determination: Competitor that puts forth the best effort throughout the competition (does not mean climbs hardest). Comp Organizer decision.
    • Most Bonus Holds: Competitor that attempts the most problems and gets the most bonus holds but does not fully complete the problem. Comp Organizer decision.
    • Keg Stand Meister: Competitor that does at least a 15 second keg-stand and then flashes a Three or Four star problem.
    • Midgets Unite: Competitor under 5’5” with the highest score.
  • Awards and Prizes will range from Plaques to Gear to Cash Money

Preparation:

  • The climbing wall is open 24 hours a day 7 days a week in my backyard. Let me know if you are coming by to climb at anytime. Pads are in the house and if you need them and I am not there I can let you know the keycode.
  • Climbing wall will close several days before the comp to reset all of the problems for the competition.

The Wall:

Thank you and Please let me know if you have any questions!!!

– Andy

Teva Mountain Games 2010

Teva Mountain Games

Spent a weekend hanging out at the Teva Mountain Games up in Vail June 5-6th with Caitlin and ran into a bunch of friends that were up there as well so it was a lot of fun (Andrew, Whitney, Ben, Beth, Terra). This is the second time I have been to the games (first time documented here), so it was good to be back to check out some of the fun events with highlights being the in-town Kayak events and the Bouldering competition; compared to the last time I went there the events were good but the timing of certain events overlapped while at other times there was a huge space of time where nothing was really going on. Regardless it is still an awesome event which everyone should check out.

The coolest part about the games was the water-levels on the Gore Creek running through town were just insane with the CFS nearing doubling during the day on Saturday (what I heard from 1700 CFS in the morning to nearly 3000 that night!). The water was so high on Sunday that they had to cancel the events mainly due to the huge amount of debris floating down-river. Anyways we were lucky to witness some pros hitting the creek that night at some of its highest flows on Sat night.

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We literally watched full trees come down the river as it hit 20 year highs:

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Here is a picture of how crazy flooded it was that afternoon (seriously up 3ft from the morning):

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Watched the 3rd Annual World Bouldering Cup held in the US. Always fun to watch top climbers hitting a wall that is nice and tall. Also really cool to see how many people come and watch this event, easily the most watched event at the games.

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Really cool features that they mounted to the climbing wall:

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Bouldering at the Kluttergarden

On Sunday of that weekend hit up the beautiful Kluttergarden up near Red Cliff, CO. I had only been there once before (awesome trip documented here), so I was really excited to get back-up there again to play on these beautiful boulders.

We meet up with Terra and her roommate and the four of us enjoyed several different problems on just one boulder. The place was also insanely busy but everyone we ran into was pretty laid-back and we still had this boulder to ourselves for most of the day.

Here Caitlin sends a fun little variation that she found:

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This climb I am working is on the same boulder and is a cool traverse with a hard lip to try to top-out on.

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Then we headed back to vail for a late lunch and to clean-up all of the give-aways at all of the booths 🙂

If you are following from some sort of feed all of my posts can be found here: http://andylibrande.com/news/

Welcome:

Based in Colorado I spend as much free time as possible exploring various aspects of the outdoors. Everything on this blog is kept tightly categorized in the top links (ie "Blog Post Categories"). I only post about once a month and try to make each post interesting and useful. If you like something or have a question please leave a comment.

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