Quick Moments of Fall

Posted: February 07, 2012
By: andylibrande
In: Activity Categories, Colorado, Front Range, Location Categories, National Parks, Rock, Travel
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Just like that we went from blazing hot to the cool temps of fall. I experienced this during a little landscape project that started in late August and went up to mid-Sept (essentially going from dripping sweat to just normal sweat). That little landscape project turned into a much bigger project somehow miraculously finishing moments before the start of the Backyard Bouldering Competition.

The cool temps lead to an active fall of many short-outings experiencing the intense fall colors. Below is just a photographic taste from the short adventures that took place during the extended fall season

Kenosha Pass (and all surrounding areas) were absolutely breath-taking on Oct 1st-2nd, 2011:

Once finished with the climbing comp I was able to get out again (had no real adventures since Independence Pass in early August). Here we are at Mt Sanitas in Boulder doing some bouldering, September 17th, 2011:

Andrew relaxing on the top-out:

Aspen’s just starting to get really colorful on Squaw Pass Road near Evergreen on September 25th, 2011:

A trip to Crested Butte with RAMBO happened on Oct 1st-2nd. Potentially the most colorful weekend in my life. More will be posted on this adventure, however here is a teaser:

My sister flew in from Austin, TX and we checked out Rocky Mountain National Park on a snowy day in the park. October 9th, 2011:

There were also a lot of elk out that day and we had fun watching them in their rut:

Friday afterwork session in Castlewood Canyon with Caitlin at the 9 Lives Boulder, October 14th, 2011:

Day trip to Sheep’s Nose for some boulder exploring with Caitlin and some sightseeing, October 23rd, 2011 (Pike’s Peak in the background):

Oct 28th Halloween party!!!

Fall more or less wrapped-up in Colorado for me on a beautiful, brisk day in Castlewood Canyon doing some bouldering with Jake and Ben. November 11th, 2012:

Full Post here: http://andylibrande.com/news/2012/02/quick-moments-of-fall/

Sunsets in San Diego

Posted: January 31, 2012
By: andylibrande
In: Activity Categories, California, Travel
1

Thanksgiving found us in San Diego to hang-out with Caitlin’s family and explore an area that I have not been to before. This is unlike most of our adventures and kept it pretty simple with the main sites being the San Diego Zoo and Mission Beach.

After spending a few days doing Thanksgiving we headed to the amazing San Diego Zoo which was quite awesome.

We also saw a black and white stripes, a lady walking a cheetah, meat-eaters, hippos, caged beasts, and bamboo eaters.

Towards the very end of the day we ended-up at the Gorilla’s where the male silverback was in full display and a large crowd had gathered. I thought this was a pretty sweet capture as he put his back against the glass wall.

Saturday afternoon Caitlin and I made our way out to Mission Beach via public transportation (easy and cheap). While it was hot downtown the sea breeze was actually a bit chilly.

Then the sunset started to happen: From the first photo I took to the last one it lasted about an hour and fifteen minutes which made for an amazing sight as we strolled down the beach:

Pelican diving for dinner at Mission Beach during sunset:

It was fun place to check out and we stayed downtown for real cheap which allowed for us to try out some delicious drinks and listen to jazz at the speakeasy Prohibition and also try out the unique decor of Vin de Syrah.

The final bits of light over Mission Beach with the moon just starting to show itself:

Flying over the mountains (and the Grand Canyon!) during sunset is awesome!

Full Link here: http://andylibrande.com/news/2012/01/sunsets-in-san-diego/

Halloween Party Pics

Posted: November 30, 2011
By: andylibrande
In: Activity Categories, Events & Parties
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Oct 29th, 2011 was the Halloween Party dubbed “Night of the Dead”. Being the 5th halloween party I have thrown we went all out with the decorations and party supplies while everyone presented amazing costumes. Below are just a select few photos from the night, you can find more here.

Highlights of the “Night of the Dead” party included a black light bar, 22 lbs of pulled pork for a BBQ Dinner, everyone”s amazing costumes, Dessert Cook-off, Giant Jenga, crazy Decorations, lighted dance floor, general debauchery, and one amazing and incredibly fun group!!

Thanks everyone for making Halloween 2011 “Night of the Dead” so awesome. Can’t wait until we do this again!!!

2011 Backyard Bouldering Comp Recap

Posted: October 31, 2011
By: andylibrande
In: Activity Categories, Climbing Wall, Colorado, Events & Parties, Front Range
1

Thank you everyone for attending the 2nd Annual Backyard Bouldering Comp!!!

It was a huge success and I am really glad we had such an awesome group of people out ready to climb hard and have a lot of fun. The event was at least twice as big as last year and it was one of the most fun gatherings that we have ever had!!!

Below is a quick recap of the results and the event. There was 10 problems featured this year and a brand-new feature on the wall (literally finished the day of the comp!!!). Of the 10 problems 9 were completed which means I need to make it a little harder next year. Also glad to see such a diverse group of climbers out there and really glad to see all of the costumes.

Results:

Awards:

Men’s 1st: Jake Fell (2nd year in a row!!!)
Men’s 2nd: Gabe Craveiro (after just barely missing it in the climb-off for 1st place!)
Men’s 3rd: Vinny English (a late entry that come-in strong)
Women’s 1st: Annie Bacci (Huge improvement over the past year!!!)
Women’s 2nd: Brea Galvin (the Chilean Hooker outfit really helped the climbing)
Women’s 3rd: Caitlin Shay (On the podium both years)

Prizes (these are the fun awards and glad everyone put a lot of effort into it):

Best Costume: RAMBO (making a guest appearance as some sort of sexy chilean prostitute and climbing in extremely tight jeans)
Best Determination: Bubbha (the hipster tried hard all not but realized it just wasn’t that cool to win)
Midget’s Unite: Katie for not ever really rock climbing before and coming out and doing amazing
Best Beer: Gabe/Marcio (for bringing a delicious belgian beer)(lots of hard competition)
Most Bonus Holds: Andrew Giamberardino (somehow winning this prize both years for hitting the most amount of bonus holds but not completing the problems)
Drunken Monkey: Andy Librande (flashing two separate problems after chugging a beer each time)

Thanks again for the awesome comp/party/BBQ!!!

More Info including the Competition Poster: http://andylibrande.com/news/2011/09/backyard-bouldering-comp-2011/

Details on the Scoring Format here: http://andylibrande.com/news/2010/08/backyard-bouldering-competition-sept-4th-2010/

Enjoy some pics from the night:

Independence Pass Bouldering and Camping

When: August 5th-7th, 2011

Where: Independence Pass, Colorado

Caitlin and I took off after work on a Friday to head-up to Independence Pass between Aspen and Leadville. The idea was to check out the bouldering that is all over the area, enjoy the sights, and escape the heat of Denver. We rolled in after dark and after taking Caitlin’s volvo for a little 4-wheelin’ action :-), somehow found free camping up Lincoln Creek road.

After sleeping like logs in the crisp night air (the denver heat was not making sleep easy), we awoke to a beautiful day. Amazingly our friend Terra happened to drive by our campsite as we were getting ready to leave for the day…small world.

Saturday we hit up the James Brown Boulders which we had a little difficulty locating as we were one pull-off too soon. Once we found these great boulders in the shade it was a nice day of trying a number of problems and enjoying the crisp air.

Caitlin working one of the tricky easier problems near the James Brown Boulder (notice the grassy top-out):

Me on the James Brown Boulder (awesome block):

We headed-up to the pass for some sunset viewage. Here is Caitlin showing-off:

Beautiful last chunks of light:

Small pond right next to the road right as the sun disappeared:

The craziest thing happened when we were back at camp and done cooking dinner. We were just sitting there pondering the night sky when a huge tree came crashing down in the forest behind us…scared the living crap out of us and it was pitch black and impossible to investigate. No idea why or how it fell but it was a crazy event that was a little unnerving.

Sunday morning cooking some breakfast: