Last visit of '09?

Stopped by the desert under a full moon to capture the moment, whilst the kiddos asleep in the mojedemobile.




Full moon fever:-)




Product endorsement




Self-timer capture.

December in the Benchlands

It can be hard around the winter solstice, the days are short and the motivation can be low....but the last few weeks have warmed up and a nice group of folks have come out and experienced the joy of the Boulder Batholith.









a new find...



a week later...



Classy sees a repeat





A new one









Cheers

Benchlands and Birthdays

Over the past few weekends, the dry climate of the Eastern Bathoith has allowed us to take numerous trips into the Benchlands, to further explore and develop. Here are the best of my shots from the sessions. Happy Birthday, Tom!


Tom worming up a weird one...



Travis on "Occam's Razor"



T-Willy, again, on a new send



Dylan, visiting with the 'Zoo crew, on an area favorite, "Duke of Burl"



Levi trying to link the "Duke" with "Sally"



Pat and Tom, exploring the nooks and crannies finding new Wide



Ron, flashing a new one



Levi, sussin' and sending the testpiece of the area



Dylan throwing the long gaston under watchful eyes of the crew


It's been a busy start to the Benchlands Winter "season"--let's see what will transpire in cold temps.

Bear vs Bull

In 1895 at Columbia Gardens, a bear battled a bull to the death. A gory example of the ruggedness of Butte. It seems only fitting that this town would have such a plethora of wide, rugged climbing.


Bear vs. Bull







until the next one...

Tap 'er light!

Benchlands Project

It's all there, but a combination of(excuse machine) breaking a knob/conking my head and tweaking my thumb left my confidence a little low. Something to return to....

West Benchlands

Tom and Steve came over from Bozeman with the intent of exploring a bit farther West along the Benchlands and Homestake Creek Drainage to see what might lie there. I met up with them for the day--some photos:


Feeling out a project...


A cool "balance" formation


Sharing the turf with "other" recreationalists


Changing Homestake Creek


Topping out on one of the few of the day


All in all, a place to re-visit and play...

Yesterday morning Mo gave me a few hours off to go exploring--my target was to locate an area of pebbles that Dick Cilley had wandered through and climbed on. After a query and answer on SuperTopo, he said he wasn't familiar with my finds. While I am certain that I was in the right vicinity but at the wrong rocks, my finds were well worth the effort.

Anybody wanna come play?


Highball


Taller than it looks


Possible stand-out for the zone

The Desert - still dry after the storms

On Veteran's Day, Kalah and I went for a relaxed afternoon out to the Desert to take some pictures and continue sussing out the final details for the first mini guide...we are getting incredibly close, but it seems I'm having difficulty finding the time to finish out the last few things.

During the day I rediscovered a nice overhanging arete, very similar to Optronic Eye, and actually discovered around the same time, when we were initially exploring the area...yet it seemed to disappear until the other day, finally showing itself to me again.



Airship project

It was a fun afternoon, intermittent sunshine and blankets of clouds over the Tobacco Roots in the distance. We returned back to Bozeman, which was also blanketed...as the evening continued rain started to fall.

The next morning I was greeted by a surprise, and the rest of the week involved much shoveling, and watching people remember how to drive again.



Saturday came and I still had plans to boulder. I linked up with Brady and Ron and headed back to the Desert. Skepticism about the conditions continued to come up during the drive, but the farther west we went the dryer it was, and as if on cue, at the sign "Pipestone 1 mile" the ground was snow free leading up towards to Continental Divide.



After a warm up, I talked Ron and Brady into a lap on the Time Tunnel...which I also figured might get a mixed response, but so far everyone who has climbed it has really enjoyed the strange journey...a tunnel traverse with hands above your head to a little roof top out...











Ron on Chicken Choker


A new one...big move to the lip, pretty fun!


Overall I was psyched and surprised at the lack of snow, the Desert continues to be dry in the midst of huge storms all around it. Brady rode 3 feet of powder at Bridger and was pulling on granite in the sunshine just a day later. Life is good.

Cheers

Tom

West Hill--the next week

Just a few snaps from more sending...

West Hill - The Desert

Some sussing of final details led a nice session and a couple of new problems. Overall a pretty successful day, the Desert guide is getting closer by the day...





Fruh on Wild Yeast





Rose samples some nice stone on the Sour Grapes Boulder





Hutch and Adam on Matriarch







Adam on a new one..."Heelhook by your ear and rock over"


A nice afternoon over on the West Hill.

Cheers,
TK