Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Unraveling the Labyrinth


For the past couple of years I have been wondering- sometimes aimlessly- through the Batholith. I first visited the area in 2005 and was blown away- it reminded me of Red Feather Lakes back in CO, except 10 times bigger. I could not believe that there was so much rock and I had heard nothing about these endless fields of boulders- except what was over in Whiskey Gulch. I clearly remember the first day I went up the pass drove toward Delmoe Lake spied some blocks of the side of the road and put up 10 or more quality problems. Was I dreaming? No I was not... and I guess it can be summed up in this phrase- "Patrick you are not in Colorado anymore..."
I have since learned that simultaneously Tom and others were putting up problems sometimes feet away from some of the same areas I was working on and others had been bouldering in area years ago but neglected to record much- needless to say it is a big place with even bigger potential. First ascents are pretty much guaranteed every time you go and/or bring a problem of old into the limelight.
Here are a couple visual excerpts of some of the things my friends and I have found over the years some you might recognize.
Yours truly on Fade Away

Kevin Brumbach digging some Solace

Aaron Burford Scooping It Out

Velvet
Even though the snow is slaying Bridger, recently my psych for the Batholith has increased exponentially. Tom and are going to start working together to actually get some more of these places recorded- and attempt to bring some more of the Batholith bouldering out of obscurity. I thought I'd throw a couple shots in from a session in the Trailers 2 weeks ago as well.
Pat Wolfe on Tearjerker
Tom on an Airstream Project
Stay tuned for more...

5 comments:

TKingsbury said...

Nice Patrick!

Psyched!

edejom said...

Great first post, Patrick--glad to have you aboard and look forward to pullin' down with you in the 'Lith!

Anonymous said...

Thanks guys! Can't wait to get out there some more with you guys. My fingers are shredded from Saturday.

Hank Stein said...

Hey TK..Where did the online whiskey gulch guide go? Is there a book I should get to replace the online guide?

TKingsbury said...

Hank, not sure what the story is on the Whiskey Gulch website, I emailed the webmaster, but never heard anything

That info is available in print along with the area cragging in "Butte's Climbing Guide, Third Edition"

Hope this helps