Saturday, September 7, 2013

Eloit Boulders: What a day!

It was the winter of 2012-2013 and I was doing a lot of searching on Google Earth for boulders. one evening I got all excited and about what I had seen. I called my friend and said we must head out hear as soon as it is climbable. By late June conditions were good and we headed out.
Apple blossoms and Mt Hood
Beautiful does not begin to describe the day! Blue sky's and perfect temps. Wow everything was perfect except for one thing. My ankle was in full recovery mode and climbing was not an option. This first trip would be just to find the boulders if there were any climbable ones. We drove into the unknown with the hope of boulders on our minds. What we found was incredible and a return trip was scheduled instantly this is that trips story.
My dad on the hike in.
The excitement level was so high that I could not stop shaking as my dad and I left the car and headed up the valley toward the boulders I had found in June. I thought of climbing everything but new I would be week from the layoff and this would be just a fun day.
Mt Hood
The hike was short with lots of views of Mt Hood. Wild flowers had popped up every ware as well.


When we arrived at the first boulder I could not wait to climb so I set right to work on warming up. Supper clean rock and great edges made for instant fun and I set my sites on a little overhang.
A nice little power problem came out of it and the send day was started. Next was a big blank face with two opposing crimps on it. It looked supper thin but I thought it would go. The surprise came from the wicked mantal top out waiting for me at the end.

Razor blade
After this I sat on my pad with my dad and took a break while looking at the mountain and just taking it all in.
We decided to move on to the next boulder and started hiking further up the valley. The floor was covered in wildflowers of all colors.

As we arrived at the Eloit boulder there was a problem on the backside that I just could not wait to try. It all starts on two good holds and takes a big dino to a good hold over a bulge.
Eloit Ness



I tried lots of times but just did not have the strength to keep the hold on this day. Such a good problem on such a big boulder. I will be back for this one for sure. At this point my friend Rob showed up and set in to climbing as well. More sends on the Eliot boulder followed soon after.

As the sun was going down I was beat up from all the fun boulders. The day was supper good and the hike out brought more flowers.

I will be back with more power and more sending. There is so much to climb up there. Keep sending out there.

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