OWA Guide Keenan McDonald cleaning up after a great meal
We’re happy to report updates from our Colorado Rock Trip that kicked off just today! OWA guides successfully retrieved all five participants from the airport today and took off to Estes Park. Tomorrow they will be bouldering with Pro Climber Nick Duttle in RMNP and taking in some of the amazing alpine scenery! As is tradition for the first road meal at OWA, Guide Sean McNally cooked his world renowned fish tacos—a buffet style meal featuring tilapia, corn tortillas, shredded cabbage, diced jalapeños, and a greek yogurt based secret sauce, the exact ingredients of which he’ll never share! Click here to meet this week’s campers, or if you happen to be a parent of one of these fantastic young climbers, click for proof of life!
Meet This Week’s Climbers!
Brian is shown here getting into the personal tent he brought from home. We love it when kids bring their own gear AND know how to use it! Brian competitively climbs for the Rock’n and Jam’n climbing team and is excited to work some projects this week with Pro Climber Nick Duttle
Here is Reagan showing off some of her gluten free snacks. So far Reagan seems to be exited for just about anything outdoors and has one of the most eclectic collections of music on her ipod our guides have ever seen!
Here’s T.J. and we’re surprised we got him to sit still long enough for a photo! With boundless energy and some obvious athleticism we’re excited to see what he can do on the rock!
Emily is on the St. Stephens climbing team in Austin, Tx coached by OWA owner and director James Faerber. As was caught on film here, so far Emily seems to dance just about everywhere she goes.
Michaela (seen here in pink) did her best to avoid our camera-wielding guide but we got this shot of her just before she planted the foot and ran back behind the van! Michaela has actually heard of and been to many of our favorite secret climbing areas around basecamp including Eleven Mile Canyon in Lake George… impressive!
It looks like we’ve got a great group of kids this week with some really delightful personalities. It should be a blast and one grand adventure!
Here the groups tops out one of the many boulders they climbed on Monday in Rocky Mountain National Park
OWA guide Sean McNally spotting TJ while he boulders near Fern Lake.
Another classice boulder problem in Rocky Mountain National park
Overlooking the river on the hike into the Park
Brian tries one of the harder boulder problems among the Fern Lake Bouldering area.
Here pro climber Nick Duttle teaches the group about the local ecology in Rocky Mountain National Park, Nick is a pro climber but he is also a wealth of information about the local floral and fauna, ask him what tree is best to hide under during a lightning storm…
Getting started up one of the tricky bouldering problems with Outpost Wilderness guide Sean Mcnally ready to spot!
Update from climbing camp!
Well we’ve been having a productive week and logging a ton of vertical footage! After bouldering in RMNP our climbers spent the night at our basecamp, Bison Peak Lodge located in the Tarryall Valley. Tuesday was spent climbing at one of OWA’s lesser-known crags, Valley of the Chickens. Our climbers worked their way down the wall, climbing every route along the way.
Wednesday we headed down to shelf road to brave the heat and climb some world-class limestone! Unfortunately after only an hour of climbing, a serious thunderstorm rolled in and forced retreat. After a quick meeting, our climbers unanimously voted to drive to turkey rock, forego the amenities at Shelf and find primitive camping in the gorgeous national forest.
Thursday was our most productive climbing day yet, as our climbers learned how to crack climb and developed their technique. Our three climbing ladies formed a trio and methodically cruised every crack on the wall. TJ, after being one of the first to finish all the routes, decided to get a bonus lap on an un-established desperate face climb next to one of the cracks. Our competitive climber, Brian, got to work a 5.12 finger crack and found himself lay-backing thin edges.
All the climbers got an introduction to traditional gear and will learn some more about anchor building today down at Eleven Mile Canyon. We’ve had a great time so far this week and we’re enjoying that last couple days of our Colorado Climbing roadtrip!
