Maple Canyon

I'm out in the middle of Utah with my buddy Dan as we search out Maple Canyon's finest steep, cobbled sport climbs. The drive from Boulder has kept me wary of this place. 8 hours is a pretty formidable commute, especially since you have to pass right by Rifle to get here. I always seem to get distracted, and hadn't made it to climb before.

I have, though, been to this valley on a previous work trip. I didn't even know Maple existed when I passed through back in 2004, so instead of getting to sample the towering cobbled walls with (mostly) fluffy grades on the trade routes of The Minimum Wall, I headed to Joe's Valley instead. Now that I'm back, though, it does look pretty familiar.

There's the rows upon rows of turkey farms, stinking up the air and giving me pause when I think about industrial meat manufacturing. Snow College in Ephraim is the scholastic powerhouse I remember, as I'd been there with Landman extraordinaire Bill Untiedt in his quest for a Snow College Badger's Basketball T-shirt in between bouts of teaching me how to acquire oil and gas leases from skittish Mormon ranchers.

Upon closer, second inspection, I can say the best place about this Sanpete Valley is the climbing. Dan and I have been able to get on some unfamiliar routes, a rarity for us project minded men. Normally, we get so routine with the climbs we pick at Rifle, and climbing becomes an exercise in whittling down a climb from impossible to "wired" over the course of numerous attempts. Here, we're onsighting to our hearts content, and marveling at the weird rock. Cobbles, anywhere from golf ball-sized to watermelon replicas, are glued in place by an odd sandstone matrix. Many of the holds on routes 5.12 or easier are incut and friendly on the skin, with the name of the game being endurance over pure power.

We've got a few more days of climbing before we head back to Colorado. Then, I'll focus on working and (hopefully) doing the Diamond up on Long's, and after a week of relaxing in the familiar, head to Burning Man.

I'll try to write about my pre-trip excitement and expectations, and then take a ton of pics while I am out in Nevada. I'm hoping to get something similar to the Salathe post in terms of content and scope, but have a little time until then. For now, it's rock climbing and enjoying the summer breeze out in Utah.