This is where I have been hanging around on my awesome and durable Sterling Ropes. It may have had a different name back in the day, but when I started playing on the wall nobody spoke up about it's history, nor was climbing up there, so I called it the Possibility Wall or P-Wall for short. I have been able to complete a few lines and there are still plenty to go in. Currently my project is the yellow line out the steepest part of the overhang.
I love hiking out to the wall, seeing the bighorn sheep that I pass almost daily and even trying to keep the marmots from peeing and eating my pack. It can be really windy, cold and uncomfortable, but the climbing is unparalleled and views breathtaking.
Most days that I climb at the P-wall, I get out of the truck and feel a stiff cold breeze the second my door opens. I quickly put my Arcteryx layers on and grab my Arcteryx pack and Camp hiking poles and head to the wall. Hiking through the alpine bowl in my Scarpa approach shoes to get to the wall is pretty casual as it is down hill the entire way. In a few weeks will be covered in alpine tundra flowers of all sorts and colors. It will be amazing! The snow is continuing to melt rapidly and I fear for a very dry season this summer. Then as I approach the wall I will normally see some kind of wild life, sheep, goats, marmots, elk and eagles. Once on top of the wall, I will gaze up and down the valley and take it all in before I head down a warm up climb.
Once I begin climbing, my heart rate raises and levels out quickly. I am normally able to gauge how well I have acclimated by my heart rate during the warm up. Then its time to eat and try the project.
What makes this route challenging for me is the fact that there are very few, if any holds to pull down on. Nearly every hold on the route is a side pull or gaston (meaning vertical) and only half a pad of my finger tips. I have found it difficult to train for this due to being unable to replicate the movements indoors or find other routes that climb similarly. What a joy to find something so unique and challenging. Well, time to head to the P-wall.
I am really glad that you have visited my blog. Thanks and I hope to see and hear from you soon. Rob Pizem
And last but not least, don't forget to check out my favorite sites:
http://www.scarpa.net/ http://www.arcteryx.com/ http://camp-usa.com/ http://sterlingrope.com/ http://coloradomountainjournal.com/ http://www.wunderground.com/ http://climbing.com/ http://rockandice.com/ http://deadpointmag.com/ http://urbanclimbermag.com/ http://andrewburr.com/ http://ladzinski.com/
Just southwest of Pueblo, CO one man has built his own castle. Jane and I went there to check it out. It is 40 years work of only one man and his wish to build something for everyone to enjoy. Here I am on the rickety cat walk up to his metal globe. Jane and I are nearly 50 feet up enjoying the scenery and swaying metal structure.
Jane at the base of the giant home made castle.
Jane and I some where up high in the castle.
Some of the stained glass windows from inside. The interior was left open with big rooms and beautiful stone work. An amazing place to wander around for a little while and in a beautiful forest in the San Isabel National Forest.
The only place where you can get an entire photo of the castle. The tower on the left has to climb to about a hundred feet up. There is a catwalk around most of the castle, spiraling staircases, huge rooms and it's always a bit windy here so being up high can be a bit nervous. I was sketching as I went to the top of the tower. The wind was picking up and its just a swaying spiral staircase making you dizzy as you head out of the safety of the rock and into space. What a place!
Video
