Edits: Kick A$$!

Journeys: The Red - Day 3

It rained on Wednesday night. It rained so much, in fact, that Steve was worried that we were about to be rained out of climbing for the rest of the trip. Fortunately for us, the rain let up on Wednesday night, and although the ground was soaking on Thursday morning, the rock was dry enough to climb.

Dry rock was a good thing. Thursday was trad day.

We packed up camp and drove into The Gorge to find Fortress Wall. Fortress wall was nothing but classic trad routes and Steve was eager to break out his rad trad rack.

Trad gear, Brah.
Photograph by Chuck Bolte.

The first route that we tackled was (possibly) Calypso III (5.5, trad, 60 feet). Steve lead the route, placing all of the gear, and I took seconds, cleaning all of the trad gear off of the face. The route was fun, a forearm sized crack that opened up at the top for an easy finish.

A blurry Chuck Bolte on Calypso III (5.5, trad, 60 feet).
Photograph by Steve Garrett.

Next we moved over to the classic American Crack (5.4, trad, 60 feet) where Steve led once again and I took seconds. The route turned out to be really enjoyable with a bunch of crack and some face holds to pave the way to an exciting finishing move that left your feet flapping in the breeze. We rappelled down and moved down the road to the next face.

Steve makes exciting moves on American Crack (5.4, trad, 60 feet).
Photograph by Chuck Bolte.

On our way to Phantasia Wall, the rain picked up again. At first, Steve thought the day was done, but I managed to talk him into hiking up to the wall to check the condition of the wall. Our destination was Lord Of The Flies (5.8, 40 feet). The intensity of the rain increased and Steve recommended that we leave, but I begged to stay and he finally let me get on the rock. I squeezed out a sloppy lead of the route, falling frequently, but somehow scrambling to the top.

Overall, the trip was great. This one will go down in my history book as the trip that got me officially "hooked" on climbing.

Man's best Poonaner.
Photograph by Chuck Bolte.

Journeys: The Red - Day 2

Miguel's Pizza. Here I am again. If I was tired yesterday...I am even more tired today. After four slices of pizza my state is becoming vegatative. I will quickly recap the events from Day 2 in The Red.

Steve and I started the morning off at the Roadside Crag. Specifically, we got busy on routes C Sharp or B Flat (5.7, 60 feet) and Ledger Line (5.7, 80 feet). Steve led the first route and I led the second. The morning felt good and both Steve and I climbed well. When we packed up and hiked out, we got in the truck and drove a mile down the road to Global Village.

Chuck B works the lead on Ledger Line (5.7).
Photograph by Steve Garrett.

We traveled to Global Village to get on one really fun and really tall route, Eureka (5.6, 85 feet). Steve let me lead the route since he had already led it once this week. Like Steve says, the route was like climbing monkey bars, but it was loads of fun. Good stuff, brah.

Steve tops out on Eureka (5.6, 85 feet).
Photograph by Chuck Bolte.

After Global Village, Steve and I drove into the Red River Gorge to run up some evening routes at the Left Flank. Rain clouds threatened, but did not attack as we climbed the evening away. Steve and I both led Mr Bungle (5.8+, 60 feet) and I executed a sloppy lead on Face Up to That Crack (5.8-, 70 feet) while Steve crushed the follow up climb.

Naturally, we headed to Miguel's for dinner.

Day is done...gone the sun...

Journeys: The Red - Day 1

I am sitting in Miguels Pizza of Slade, Kentucky. My forearms hurt, my elbows hurt, and my shoulders hurt. But most of all my legs hurt. Not from climbing though, but from driving in my truck for eight and a half nonstop hours from home base in Baltimore. I rolled into camp at 2130 last night and hung out with Steve and Marianna before racking out with my favorite pooch Poonaner.

Chuck B and a cuddly Poonaner.
Photograph by Steve Garrett.

Day one in the Red River Gorge area was awesome. Steve and I spent the day in the Muir Valley on two different walls. The first wall was Practice Wall where we put up five routes in the morning and Steve learned me on lead climbing and lead belaying. The routes that we hit were Acrophobiacs Anonymous (5.4), Yu Stin Ki Pu (5.6), Ai Ban Mai Fa Kin Ni (5.7), Slabalito (5.7), and TBD (5.8). Specifically, Yu Stin Ki Pu was my first lead climb and, even though it was only a 20 foot route, it was nerve racking.

Moving on down the trail in the afternoon, we blasted through two more routes on Bruise Brothers Wall; CH4 (5.7) and A-Beano (5.8-). Both routes were about 15 feet taller than the 20 footers at Practice Wall and were much more fun for some reason.

Chuck B clips a quick draw on A-Beano (5.8-).
Photograph by Steve Garrett.

Unfortunately, the day ended in despair when I fell apart leading The Offering (5.7). The route was described as "Begin near right of ledge. Follow easy crack system and ledges up and right to an exciting finish." The last two moves, the exciting finish, pummeled me into a mental terror dome from which I could not escape. I made a few miserable attempts at the anchors, but never made the last few feet of the 65 foot route. So, I began my down climb of despair and Steve and I packed it out for the day.

Until tomorrow...

Snapshots: Light Street

Nate Z represents the ACC in Baltimore.
Photograph by Chuck Bolte's cell phone.

Nonsense: Spring Unleashed

Today is the day that will go down in my personal history as the day that I took my first real road ride of 2008. I am not sure whether it was the comfortable Spring-like temperatures, the blossoming cherry blossoms, or the distant lapping of the Chesapeake Bay against the concrete of the Inner Harbor that drove me out of the house in Halethorpe, but ride I did.

To get to the beautiful city of B-more, I retraced the Hoppy Holidays route from way back in December of 2007. My pre-determined goal was Fort McHenry and the path that I took zigzagged from Halethorpe to Arbutus, past Carroll Park, through ancient and bombed out railroad yards, and up Federal Hill. The April wind whipped around children shooting hoops in city parks, drunks ranted and stumbled out of neighborhood bars after happy hour, cherry blossoms lingered in the air before dashing to the pavement before my tires, and I...I pedaled.

The day was beautiful and I kept the cadence light. I did not make it to Fort McHenry before it closed at 5 p.m., so I double backed to the Inner Harbor and cruised its bricked pathway. A black man who was dressed as a sailor stopped me to ask about my bike. As we talked about commuting into and out of Baltimore, he diagnosed a problem with my front hub. For a sailor, he seemed to know a lot about bicycles.

The sky turned its dial to dusk as I shook hands with the sailor, and I knew that it was time to do the Halethorpe hustle. I was 15 miles into the ride and my legs were already dead tired. The six miles of slow grinding hills back to the house did not help my fatigued legs, but I knew that the good burn would pay off later.

The Inner Harbor.
Photograph by Chuck Bolte.

P.S. The Colorado rough draft should be finished soon!

Journeys: Frisco, CO

Let's talk about Colorado. (This is an unfinished rough draft)

I would guess that it has been two years since Steve and I initially kicked around the idea of doing a "big west" ski trip. Of course, due to my occupational circumstance, I have been, sarcastically, fortunate enough to be unavailable for any "big west" winter trips for the 2005 and 2006 snow seasons. Story of my life. This winter season, though, Lady Luck shone upon me and I was finally going to have the chance to scratch my two year itch

It was time to shred.

Shredfest - Day 1
Saturday, February 23rd, 2008

I met Steve and Rich at Denver International Airport where we picked up a rental car. Those first moments in Denver felt something like Christmas. We were all very excited. After a quick quesadilla stop, we pointed the car west and drove. We caught some snow just as we left the city and entered the Front Range. That was a harbinger of weather to come. Our destination was an interesting and small town named Frisco, the sister city of Dillon, just a few miles to the east. Frisco is conveniently situated in close proximity to Arapahoe Basin, Breckenridge, Copper Mountain, Keystone, Vail, and Beaver Creek resorts. We unloaded all of our gear and grabbed some dinner, before realizing that we were not going to make it to any of the nearby resorts that day. Instead, we ate dinner and fell asleep.

It snowed all night.

Shredfest - Day 2 - Breckenridge
Sunday, February 24th, 2008

That first morning in Frisco was...glorious. The snow had been dumping all night and six inches of fresh pow had buried the parking lot in front of the hotel. We loaded up the Impala and drove to the local Safeway to pick up breakfast and lunch. While at the local Safeway, we got good information about the local ski resort shuttle system, and decided that we would take the shuttle from Frisco to Breckenridge for the day.

Other than saving us a couple of bucks in parking fees, the shuttle really was not all that great.

At Breckenridge we rode the gondola to the true base of the mountain and transfered to one of the high speed quad lifts. We spent most of the morning exploring the groomers around the moutain before getting busy in the trees. After lunch we hit some of the upper bowls, specifically the Imperial Bowl and the Whale's Tail.

The Whale was sick. From the top of the Imperial Lift, you must traverse approximately 300 meters to the top of the bowl. The traverse was too flat and I got stop, so I had to dismount my board and hike. Not cool. That minimal cardio at altitude crushed me. But, it was worth it. Dropping in on the Whale was sick and the run was long.

Steve blasts through a deceivingly narrow chute.

Shredfest - Day 3
Monday, February 25th, 2008

The snow would just not stop. We woke to find a few m

Shredfest - Day 4
Tuesday, February 26th, 2008

We took and easy day at Keystone. I biffed and hit a tree with my left leg. It hurt.


Shredfest - Day 5
Wednesday, February 27th, 2008

Back to Vail to blow away the last pockets of fresh powder hiding in the trees of Blue Sky Basin. I kept it real on the groomers, letting my knee do its thing.


Shredfest - Day 6
Thursday, February 28th, 2008

Things are winding down. Hit Breckenridge for the second time. Hiked to the top of the tallest peak. It was a long ride down.

Shredfest - Day 7
Friday, February 29th, 2008

Last day. Went to Beaver Creek just to say we had been there. Not much going on there.

Shredfest - Day 8
Saturday, March 1st, 2008

Back to Denver. We are out of here!

Snapshots: 13,000 Feet

13,000 feet and falling.
Photograph by Steve Garrett.

More to follow.

Nonsense: Fairland Part Deux

Last weekend, we had wonderful weather here in Laurel, and this Saturday was living up to the same standard. I could not bear to, again, watch the sun rise and set from the discomfort of my computer chair while working on lengthy college research papers. So, I ventured out at the prompting of another email from Austin Steo, to break dirt with my local mountain bike brethern.

Austin, looking rather charming with his pulaski (pick).
Photograph by Chuck Bolte.

Austin, Andy, and I met at high noon at the Storm Water Demonstration building in Fairland Park and carted our trail tools into the eastern (or was it southern?) part of the trail system. The particular section was a familiar one, because Austin has been working for weeks to finish bench cutting in the quarter mile to one half mile section of trail.

Bikes are jumping in Andy's head.
Photograph by Austin Steo.

We three labored for three hours under beautiful clear blue skies and successfully bench cut an Andy-estimated 70 feet of trail. It looked great.

Austin estimates that another two hours of hard labor from two to three hardcore trail maintainers will result in the completion of the south/east side rollercoaster of a trial section.

Nonsense: Never Summer

It has come to my attention that my loyal readers are upset with my recent lack of interesting writing. For this lack of interesting writing, I apologize. Since the beginning of the year of 2008, my life has been dominated by dull activities that keep me inside for long hours, which leaves me with nothing to write about. These long dull hours have also inhibited me from journeying out and making interesting things happen.

Like all good things, all bad things will also come to an end. And my current college semester will come to a close on Sunday, February 24th, 2008, and I will be free to make interesting things happen.

And they will happen.

The first happening will occur in the state of Colorado throughout the dates of February 23rd to March 1st, 2008. The snow gods of the West have responded to my snow dances in the East and I am not about to let another magnificent West snow season slip away unshred.

Neigh do I desire to travel to the land of snow unprepared.

Witness this...

Out with the old, in with the new.
Photography by Chuck Bolte.

My six years thrashed 152 Burton Balance takes a seat as my new 158 Never Summer SL steps up to do my bidding. The NS SL will be outfitted with my once ridden 2007 Burton Freestyle bindings.

Stoked to shred, dude.

Nonsense: ChuckBolte Youtube Channel

Ahhh!

When I deleted my Myspace profile, my BMX videos from Augusta were taken down with it.

So, to allow the continued public viewing of those videos and any future edits that I might produce, I have opened a Youtube channel.

To enjoy my life in motion, go here!

Chuck Bolte's Youtube channel

Snapshots: Blue Heron

While hiking in Great Falls, MD last weekend, this big blue bird allowed me to move to within 15 feet of it and steal its soul with my digital camera

Big Blue Bird.
Photograph by Chuck Bolte.

Nonsense: Maintenance By Austin

The following pictures illustrate a short session of rock armoring and de-berming, carried out by Austin Steo and Chuck Bolte, at Fairland Park.

Shown in the picture below is the condition in which we found this 30 foot section of trail at Fairland Park. It may be difficult to see, but Austin is standing on a rather large berm on the left side of the trail. Because there is a berm there, there is a trough in the trail at the front of Austin's feet. This trough was created by water running down the trail, which is bad. At the location where I shot this picture there is a small water run off that hits the trail in a perpendicular manner. This is ok, but the dip created in the trail by the run off needed to be armored with rock.

Austin and I raked the leaves off of the trail and then Austin began setting the rock armor that had been harvested earlier in the day.

If the first picture in this series was the "before" picture, the picture below would be the "after" picture. Austin and I hacked up the berm and pulled the berm dirt into the trough as well as covered the freshly laid rock. To finish, we tamped the trail and replaced the mucky winter leaves.

Below, Austin visualizes himself riding down the trail.