Summer is here! It's time to shake off the cobwebs and get after whatever summertime fun you pursue. To start my season I returned to a climbing area that has been a perpetual intimidation for me, a place that I have gone to in the past to test myself in the realm of adventurous and committing rock climbs. However, this visit to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison was different. It was an attempt to rekindle the bold climbing habits prior to my injury in December of last year.
The Black Canyon is a forbidding geological anomoly. As one drives down the Black Canyon Road through sage brush covered hills you anticipate the change in landscape to come. Abruptly as you near the ranger station your eyes are immediately drawn to the 2200 foot drop in the earth. After parking you car in the campground surrounded by ponderosa pines you decide to take a closer look at this canyon that was spotted briefly on the way in. A five minute walk from camp deposits you at the rim of the canyon that drops into the depths below. The canyon lacks the common gradual descent, but rather sheer plummet of space that would send the faint hearted or ill balanced running home to the hobbit hole which they came. Small birds ride the air currents; swooping within inches of the dark, granite walls.
Those who have not satiated their curiosity at the rim may explore the inner canyon via steep gullies of loose rock with obligatory passages of thriving poison ivy bushes. At the lowest point in the Black rages powerful white water rapids that have been carving this splendor of the natural world for millions of years. If you would like to explore further down the rabbit hole: the path is upward bound. Now is the time to flake the rope, check your knots, and look well to each step up, into the unknown.
On my recent trip to the Black Canyon I was fortunate enough to team up with a local climber who has repeated the ascent over 40 times. The weekend would bring my count to the fourth and fifth climb out of the canyon. On Saturday we chose a route neither of us had done before. Of moderate difficulty but of committing, time consuming length the route is known as Moveable Stoned Voyage (5.10)
Rather than sticking to the standard way of passage, we chose to deviate from the path to a more difficult variation halfway up the wall. As I belayed my partner up this smooth vertical corner of stone I took my tight fitting climbing shoes off in attempt to find some comfort in this inhospitable place. I set one shoe securely next to my small backpack. While paying due attention to my partner's upward movement I naively tossed the other shoe into the corner of the ledge, which dropped into a deep fissure in the rock. My confidence was crushed as I heard the rubber shoe bounce off either side of the crack. After countless times of carefully removing my shoes on multi-pitch climbs, this was a very poor time to have a moment of negligence. "Son of a bitch" was my resonating thought. But no time to despair in this place, or it will surely win.
Shortly after this unfortunate event my partner was forced to swallow some pride as well. Turned down by a featureless section of rock, void of a gear placements to aid his ascent he returned to the ledge I belayed him from. Luckily we were able to take an easier route up the remaining 1000 feet to the canyon rim. This easier route was not all that "easy" in the absence of my second climbing shoe. Nonetheless, I squirmed up chimneys and scrambled up gullies of loose, crystalline rock.
Once the struggle was over and we had returned to camp we began planning for tomorrow's descent and ascent of the canyon. After chatting with the park ranger, he offered me his climbing shoes for the day and recommended a less traveled, moderate route by the name of Power Lounger (5.11). The game was on! When dawn came we set off down the gully again, to climb Power Lounger's five pitches by 1:00 in the afternoon. Without incidence or much struggle we finished the day's climb drove away unscathed from the Black Canyon of the Gunnison.
The Black Canyon has a rich history of horrific tales that would make my weekend adventure look like dinner and a movie. The people that pioneered the canyon and those who continue to explore it's walls, that lack a single human finger print, posses courage (or stupidity depending on your perspective; it's a fine line) I cannot hold a candle to. That comparison must be taken into account when comparing another's to my own skill set to put themselves in situations full of mystery and unpredictability. Whenever I put myself out there to explore the unknown I return with lessons that apply to overcoming the hurdles of other areas of my life. I view the ambition to wander into wild lands full of unforeseeable outcomes is that same curiosity that invented the lightbulb, sent explorers around the world and is the potential that drives the human race to new standards.
The Black Canyon is a forbidding geological anomoly. As one drives down the Black Canyon Road through sage brush covered hills you anticipate the change in landscape to come. Abruptly as you near the ranger station your eyes are immediately drawn to the 2200 foot drop in the earth. After parking you car in the campground surrounded by ponderosa pines you decide to take a closer look at this canyon that was spotted briefly on the way in. A five minute walk from camp deposits you at the rim of the canyon that drops into the depths below. The canyon lacks the common gradual descent, but rather sheer plummet of space that would send the faint hearted or ill balanced running home to the hobbit hole which they came. Small birds ride the air currents; swooping within inches of the dark, granite walls.
Those who have not satiated their curiosity at the rim may explore the inner canyon via steep gullies of loose rock with obligatory passages of thriving poison ivy bushes. At the lowest point in the Black rages powerful white water rapids that have been carving this splendor of the natural world for millions of years. If you would like to explore further down the rabbit hole: the path is upward bound. Now is the time to flake the rope, check your knots, and look well to each step up, into the unknown.
On my recent trip to the Black Canyon I was fortunate enough to team up with a local climber who has repeated the ascent over 40 times. The weekend would bring my count to the fourth and fifth climb out of the canyon. On Saturday we chose a route neither of us had done before. Of moderate difficulty but of committing, time consuming length the route is known as Moveable Stoned Voyage (5.10)
Rather than sticking to the standard way of passage, we chose to deviate from the path to a more difficult variation halfway up the wall. As I belayed my partner up this smooth vertical corner of stone I took my tight fitting climbing shoes off in attempt to find some comfort in this inhospitable place. I set one shoe securely next to my small backpack. While paying due attention to my partner's upward movement I naively tossed the other shoe into the corner of the ledge, which dropped into a deep fissure in the rock. My confidence was crushed as I heard the rubber shoe bounce off either side of the crack. After countless times of carefully removing my shoes on multi-pitch climbs, this was a very poor time to have a moment of negligence. "Son of a bitch" was my resonating thought. But no time to despair in this place, or it will surely win.
Shortly after this unfortunate event my partner was forced to swallow some pride as well. Turned down by a featureless section of rock, void of a gear placements to aid his ascent he returned to the ledge I belayed him from. Luckily we were able to take an easier route up the remaining 1000 feet to the canyon rim. This easier route was not all that "easy" in the absence of my second climbing shoe. Nonetheless, I squirmed up chimneys and scrambled up gullies of loose, crystalline rock.
Once the struggle was over and we had returned to camp we began planning for tomorrow's descent and ascent of the canyon. After chatting with the park ranger, he offered me his climbing shoes for the day and recommended a less traveled, moderate route by the name of Power Lounger (5.11). The game was on! When dawn came we set off down the gully again, to climb Power Lounger's five pitches by 1:00 in the afternoon. Without incidence or much struggle we finished the day's climb drove away unscathed from the Black Canyon of the Gunnison.The Black Canyon has a rich history of horrific tales that would make my weekend adventure look like dinner and a movie. The people that pioneered the canyon and those who continue to explore it's walls, that lack a single human finger print, posses courage (or stupidity depending on your perspective; it's a fine line) I cannot hold a candle to. That comparison must be taken into account when comparing another's to my own skill set to put themselves in situations full of mystery and unpredictability. Whenever I put myself out there to explore the unknown I return with lessons that apply to overcoming the hurdles of other areas of my life. I view the ambition to wander into wild lands full of unforeseeable outcomes is that same curiosity that invented the lightbulb, sent explorers around the world and is the potential that drives the human race to new standards.
The Canyon Called Itself the Black
Dark, deceiving
The foolish won't be leaving
The Canyon called itself the BLACK
Roaring, tumbling
In that river don't go stumbling
The Canyon called itself the BLACK
Deep, unnerving
Good judgement is well serving
The Canyon called itself the BLACK
Salvation will be found
If you avoid the BLACK'S hound
The Canyon called itself the BLACK
Son, you write so descriptively it is almost as if I am there in the Black Canyon with you. I wish I were..., to watch over you. I'm glad you were not in your shoe when it fell. I'm curious to know what hurdles you overcome by putting yourself out there? The thing I like the most about your writing is that you are more then likely sitting in a chair composing and not dangling from a rope high above the ground, so keep writing :)
ReplyDeleteI'll make a trip to the Black Canyon with you any time pops. I don't write while I climb of course, but the more I climb the more I have to write about!
ReplyDelete