Girlfriend friendly front range multipitch
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OK, so my girlfriend has been climbing for a number of years, but still gets sketched out when we get more than a pitch or so up. She also has a fairly serious bee allergy, so there is some danger to her in being out someplace where retreat is difficult. She carries an epi-pen (which she's never had to use) but any serious bee encounters in the back country could still present a problem. |
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Why not the flatirons? The first flatironette has a walk off after about 2-3 pitches and also the the east face gully on the first. With the gully, I think the guide books say to cross the gully onto the face, but instead stay in the right dihedral. It's about 3ish pitches and also pulls right into a notch under the N. ridge with a walk off. |
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Eldo has some great multi pitch stuff but retreat is not easy, but hey you are super close to civilization. |
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Sheep Rock and Helens Dome are a nice. |
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Why not start her on multipitch sport? Tonnare Tower in Boulder Canyon has a few great 2-3 pitch sport and mixed routes, easy approach and descent :) |
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I'd also throw in a vote for the Flatirons. My wife loves the low-angle of the east facing slabs. Tip Toe Slab on Frontporch is short and close to the car. |
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3rd Flatiron |
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swansons arete in eldo, organ pipes on twin owls, pin route on same. |
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2 nd for Tonnare Tower in Boulder Canyon easy 5.8's |
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"an epi pen" |
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Ben Hicks wrote:"an epi pen" With serious allergy, that might buy you 15 minutes or less of an open airway. If she's allergic to the point of anapylaxis, she should consult with a physician that understands the remoteness of her environment. Even just up a couple pitches with an anaphylactic emergency could mean hours of delay to get her to help or help to her. Usually this means carrying multiple doses of epi plus antihistimine and steroids. Just had a student with this level of allergic reaction on a climbing camp. His doc sent 8 epi pens plus many does of benadryl and prednisone along with him.Excellent point. She's seen an allergist about them. He indicated that he though the allergy was serious enough to be dangerous. That said, she has been stung, and hasn't required the epi, just a constant trickle of benedryl for the 24 hours following. I think her having a life threatening reaction from one sting is probably not super likely (but is certainly possible) but there's always the possibility of multiple stings. She currently has a double strength epi pen that she carries when we do anything outside. We probably SHOULD get more if we're considering doing more back country stuff. She's also considering getting regular allergy shots. These take a few years to be fully effective, but they can generally nearly eliminate the allergy with them. |
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Kelly P wrote:Why not start her on multipitch sport? Tonnare Tower in Boulder Canyon has a few great 2-3 pitch sport and mixed routes, easy approach and descent :)Excellent suggestion. We've done a few of these :-) |
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Castle rock area in Boulder has some good 7,8 and 9s easy approach some moderate walk off , rock is clean and solid. There is a multi pitch sport called wrinkles in time at upper dream. Solid classic moderate for a 9. Some nutts required at first 20 ft then all bolted. Aprons on mt Evans although loose moderate approach good alpine exosure. Im sure she can lead a few pitches on all those routes I mentioned which will five her a sence of accomplishment and more desire to proceed in that direction. |
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Ben Hicks wrote:"an epi pen" With serious allergy, that might buy you 15 minutes or less of an open airway. If she's allergic to the point of anapylaxis, she should consult with a physician that understands the remoteness of her environment. Even just up a couple pitches with an anaphylactic emergency could mean hours of delay to get her to help or help to her. Usually this means carrying multiple doses of epi plus antihistimine and steroids. Just had a student with this level of allergic reaction on a climbing camp. His doc sent 8 epi pens plus many does of benadryl and prednisone along with him.+1, if it's that serious maybe you should stick to single pitch or wait till winter. |