Colorado Day 9 (The End)

My last day finally showed up on Sunday. There was (surprise) a chance of rain and by this point I was sick of driving 45+ minutes then hiking an hour only to get rained out. So I decided to go to the Millennium boulder which is just 20 minutes outside of Denver. It is located near Red Rocks off I-70. I hiked out there by myself and luckily there was a crew of people already there. After warming up I sent Ghost Dance V7 which is a rather sharp pocket problem, like most on the boulder. Next up I started working on Purity Control V10. This is a simple yet difficult line consisting of two hard and precise moves on pockets. I stuck the first move on my second attempt but the next move was even more challenging. I was throwing for an edge but I was moving so far that it was hard to latch. Since it was now the afternoon, some dark clouds started to roll in over the hillside and it looked as though the rain was about to begin (surprise). I switched up my beta for the second move and after several more frustrating attempts I was able to latch the hold and proceed to the easy topout. After the send I hiked up the hill to Bambi V12 but my skin was totally shot so I didn’t put much effort into it. The video of Purity will be up shortly.

My Colorado trip finally came to a close and I couldn’t wait to get back home. This is the first time I’ve actually wanted to leave a climbing trip! Colorado just didn’t work out as well as I had hoped. I can’t say that you won’t have a good time in Colorado but I can say that if you have a week or less then I would choose one of many other bouldering destinations before going to Colorado. The hiking plus the weather plus the lack of concentration makes for a less predictable trip than most other destinations. I’m sure I will eventually return and have a good day in Colorado, it just didn’t happen this time.