Anyways, last week or so Tara and I ventured up to the Empire boulders for a fun session. Most people don't seem to know about these little gems, and I like it that way. No crazy scene like at Evans or the Park, which are almost as bad as going to the gym these days. No, the Empire boulders consist of a bunch of fun boulders sitting at around 9,000 feet in a pine/talus forest area. There are lots of moderates around, plus a few choice lines in the higher grades. The three photos below are from a ~V9 sloper problem that will have any open-hand freak crying with joy.
The undercling start. The camera angle doesn't do the problem justice in terms of sloppyness and steepness.One thing is that there are a lot more boulders hidden away up here then people think. There is the small cluster where this problem resides, but there are more "up valley" as well as several down valley. What I am really excited about are the possibilities we scoped out across the river. This fall that will be the location of several scouting trips once the water level goes down.
Slapping the sloper. The feet are not nearly as good as one would want considering how they look in the photo...We also found a couple boulders with some interesting looking lines down valley and across I-70 near the boyscout camp. They looked fun, but we were burnt and our skin was crying for a break, so we decided to eat food at the awesome Hard Rock Cafe in Empire.
The heel hook before the final throw...
