Frolicking Through the Winter Months
- Posted: April 28, 2010
- By: andylibrande
- In: Colorado, Front Range, Random, Snow
- 0
To make up for my lameness in not posting any stoke all winter long, this post is all about the random days out and about with my camera. I also came-up with one of the most ridiculous names I could think of for a post just to commemorate this historic period in our lives.
Detailed trip reports of the more insane activities will follow, right now this is just the side-activities.
Roxborough State Park with Caitlin and Whitney (Jan 9th, 2010):
Ben Thought there was Something Funny Tasting in the Water (Jan 16th, 2010):
Scenics from the Biggest and Brightest Full-Moon of the Year (January 30th, 2010)(Summit County, CO):
Hiking Around Eldorado State Park with Caitlin and the Sister (Jan 18th, 2010):
Storm Blowing over Red Mountain – Awesome Time-lapse photos to follow – March 7th, 2010, 4:57pm:
Storm 30 mins later 5:33pm:
The Trees on the Side of My House After some Wet Snow- For some reason when they get the smallest amount of snow on them they can completely bend over and touch the ground (March 24th, 2010):
Anyways we had to find other activities to focus in on throughout the winter since the snow was so spotty. The only thing that I never got around to was climbing days out on the rock; I hit up the backyard wall a number of times but never got around to climbing in the snow (as in previous years).
More updates on there way including a Denver Zoo and the real report on Winter!!!
If you are following on a feed, all full updates can be found on my website here: http://andylibrande.com/news/
Grettings from Snowy Colorado
- Posted: December 28, 2009
- By: andylibrande
- In: Climbing Wall, Colorado, Front Range, Random, Rock, Snow
- 0
Happy Holidays and here is to the hope that this snow becomes strong for another awesome season. Thanks to everyone for the adventures over the past year and look forward to the crazy stuff that we will come-up with in 2010!
Just enjoying the snow as much as possible:
Bouldering in Camp Dick
- Posted: October 03, 2009
- By: andylibrande
- In: Camping, Colorado, Front Range, Rock
- 1
Who: RAMBO, Brea, Caitlin, myself, and Andrew (who is one of Brea/Rambo’s friends that is brand-new to climbing but straight-up crushed it).
When: August 22nd-23rd, 2009
What: Camp Dick is an awesome alpine-type bouldering area with big blocks sitting all along a beautiful valley that backs up to the Indian Peaks Wilderness. Located about 30 minutes outside of Lyons and about 1.5 hrs from my house in Denver it is an awesome place to visit and has some great camping. A decent sized river runs through the middle of the whole canyon and a 4×4 road and a hiking trail lead-up are on either side of the river.
I had been here once before a couple years ago for a short overnight trip and was glad to finally get back (photos on that trip here).
All of the free camping is up the 4×4 road and therefore we had to park our cars and hike in with crashpads and all of our camping gear; luckily it is only about 1/2-3/4 mile hike before you get to the first boulders and all of the free camping. The camping is also really awesome as you can get right down next to the river with some great flat spots.
The Bouldering: After setting-up camp we hike all the way to the fartherest boulder some 2.5 miles on a very rough 4×4 road in the heat of the day. Once we found the Alpen-Glow boulder we spend around 2 hours trying to find the Jumbotron boulder which according to the guidebook would be just uphill. We had no luck in finding that rock and with the sun starting to get low in the sky headed back to the Alpen-Glow boulder for an suprisingly amazing session.
The Alpen-Glow boulder is a beautiful 15 ft boulder in the middle of a open field right next to the trail. It has a mixture of easier problems to some good moderates.
Andrew working on one of the arete problems:
Brea cruising up:
Brea enjoying the top-out:
Caitlin making short-work of the problem:
Then we switched gears and started working on a harder arete that Rambo and Andrew sent. Some funky but cool looking movements on the rock. After both had sent the sun began to really set and the colors just went off. Rambo was ready for the twilight send.
Just one of several great shots as Rambo sent the boulder at 7:45pm that evening:
Shortly after it was pitch-black and the walk back to camp was a little challenging without flashlights, however Rambo gave us a sneak-peek of his new climbing clothing line due out later this year:
The next day we broke-camp and went to the Fingerbanger boulder and the Pyramid boulder (the best part about Camp Dick is that most of the boulders and individual problems appeared to be named by a bunch of perverted 15 yr olds, which fit our groups personality/lack of maturity just fine).
The campsite as viewed from the river:
Brea working on a very tricky problem on the Pyramid Boulder:
Caitlin working on the Pyramid Boulder:
Rambo working on a beautiful problem called “Treetop Flyer” that starts low following the crack to a high crack that ends up being quite the high-ball:
The afternoon rainstorms eventually came in and we hiked out a little wet:
Another solid trip.
Late Spring/Early Summer – RAIN EDITION
- Posted: July 22, 2009
- By: andylibrande
- In: Colorado, Front Range, Random, Summit County/I-70 Area
- 0
Well going through the photos it took to compile the original post: Late Spring/Early Summer, I realized that for the first time ever I might have more then enough photos of just rain to compile a post.
Therefore I bring you the “RAIN EDITION” which highlights the serious amount of stormage that has come through our area. Please realize that the vast majority of these photos are mainly for illustrative purposes and are primarily for humor. Hope you enjoy.
Golden Gate State Park in the Rain:
Three Sisters Park in the Rain:
Castlewood in the Rain:
Hiding in Caves to Avoid the Rain:
Driving in the Rain:
Trying not to get hurt by rain:
Watching Rain’s close cousin Hail:
Horestooth Reservoir and trying to wakeboard in the Rain:
Watching Rain wreck havoc from far distances:
And a picture of Rain’s worse enemy: THE SUN!!!!
Picture coming as soon as I am able to see the sun…
Late Spring/Early Summer Activities
- Posted: July 19, 2009
- By: andylibrande
- In: Colorado, Front Range, Random, Rock, Travel
- 1
The last thing I need to mention to anyone that is living along the front range right now is how much rain we have seen throughout the latter part of spring and now through mid-July. It has been straight-up crazy.
While the rain has caused some problems with doing certain outdoor activities, there still has been some time to get out and enjoy the summer (and let me clarify, it is not the rain that is the issue, it is the insanely massive lighting/thunder storms that rush in faster then a fat kid in willy wonka’s factory and subsequently dump enough monsoon rain to make it feel like you woke-up in the middle of a CIA waterboarding torture). Anyways enjoy some of the photos of random things around Denver:
Caitlin enjoying the lush landscape (a nice benefit of the recent weather) of Three Sisters park:
Getting some climbing done at the Corridor area in Castlewood (with Jake, Trent, and Bethany):
Getting one small day of wake-boarding in at Horsetooth Reservoir (with the parental units):
Hiking around Mt. Evans and Echo Lake (with Caitlin):
Watching some Fireworks over Lake Dillon from some random pontoon-boat that we hopped in at that was parked at one of the piers (with Caitlin, Trent and Bethany):
Getting some sport-climbing done at Castlewood (with Ben, Andrew, Beth, Whitney, Caitlin, Tyler, and Kevin):
Castlewood – Fountainbleau area
- Posted: May 22, 2009
- By: andylibrande
- In: Colorado, Front Range, Rock
- 0
Well a quickly planned Friday night excursion (5/15/09) to Castlewood turned out to be a hell of a good time. Grabbing a 30 rack of Tecate and with seven total people we tore-up our hands in the fountainebleau area of c-wood. Getting there at 6:45pm and leaving at 9:00pm was just perfect.
Well less talk and more show:
Jake the Redhead Sending the Lip Traverse (v3-4):
Gabe following in Jake’s footsteps:
Gabe topping out the problem:
Yours Truly (Thanks Ben for the Photo):
Chris working on a dyno in the pitch black:
Attack of the Flying Frenchman…
- Posted: October 19, 2008
- By: andylibrande
- In: Colorado, Front Range, Rock
- 2
BEWARE!!!
*Well not technically french, more of a dirt-bag with a mustache that airs of superiority while subtlety saying “please be quiet as I sit in my bourgeoisie-cafe sipping my espresso while I comment on all of your imperfections”
So that flying Frenchman is RAMBO who happened to take some time off from his nomadic lifestyle to hang-out in Colorado for a couple weeks.
We took a crew to the Corridor area (September 28th) at Castlewood for some fun problems with nice flat landings.
Here is Ben working on one of the many problems we did that day:
Andrew working on one of the dyno problems:
Rambo showing us a better view of the area:
Ben…doing what he does best. Has the jump height for the dyno, has his hand on the hold in the perfect spot, is looking right at the hold, forgetting to actually hold-on (x4):
We also climbed at the creek boulders for our warm-up (fun little cluster right next to Cherry Creek). Rambo working on a sharp problem:
More Pics (plus the ones already included in the post):
Coming back from the depths…
- Posted: October 12, 2008
- By: andylibrande
- In: Colorado, Front Range, Rock
- 0
Well first off I have not posted anything for way too long which is a combination of a variety of issues that caused this delay. Regardless of the issues I am going to catch-up as quickly as possible by posting nothing but pics and very short-dialogue.
Chris works hard on Ghost Dance at the Millenium Boulder: http://mountainproject.com/v/colorado/morrisonevergeen/matthewswinters_park/105759288
At the very end of a really hot day and after throwing himself at the rock way too many times, Chris sends and I took a real nice butt shot since he needed me as a spotter:
Took some time off from climbing and taking photos in general. Why? you might ask…well August and the beginning of September were way too busy. I bought a house, moved, was healing a tendon injury, and was occupied doing to much other random stuff.
Somewhere in there I made the little sister go to castlewood with me and here is evidence of her attempting to climb with big-ass sneakers:
Anyways that is quick and necessary catch-up over the last few months. We are coming-up to the best time of the year to be outside and I already have lots of photos awaiting their presence on the interweb.
Sheep’s Nose Bouldering
- Posted: June 22, 2008
- By: andylibrande
- In: Colorado, Front Range, Rock
- 0
5/25/2008
Racked-up some excellent bouldering with Steve, Ben, and Terra on some South Platte granite at Sheep’s Nose. The drive is a little long from Denver, however the drive does contains stunning views of the rolling hills that line the front range.
Proof that Terra actually gets out and climbs and doesn’t just talk about it all the time:
Some of the views from Sheep’s Nose are very unique within Colorado. Pike’s Peak (14,110ft) is the backdrop for much of the climbing. Additionally the area was affected by Hayman Fire back in 2002 so most of the brush and a lot of the trees are burnt in the area adding an unusual ambiance to the climbing.
Ben up above the ground a bit on a cool slabby problem:
Steve working on the Air Jordan Boulder:
Steve, Terra, and Ben on the set of the new movie Jurassic Park #7:
Peace FoolZ!
Some Fun in Castlewood
- Posted: May 21, 2008
- By: andylibrande
- In: Colorado, Front Range, Rock
- 0
Photo of Chris on this sweet dyno on the Nine Lives Boulder; he is getting close to sending it:
Been spending some time over the last week or so finally really getting back into climbing. Went back to the nine lives boulder and spent the day working on a variation of the main arete and started to make some progress. Then a few days later went back out to the wood with Stephen, Chris, and Ryan and found new boulders in the Scary Monsters Area.
Chris on the Slabmaster Boulder:
That was on Friday night, then on Sunday took a huge crew back to the nine lives boulder. Seven of us had some fun on a really beautiful day in castlewood:
Chris Ivy on the Nine Lives Arete variation:
Maximus on the same problem:
Also if you are still reading this post I added this to the climbing wall in the garage: http://www.routesetter.com/2008/04/21/diy-wall-improvement-volumes/
Peace.
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