evolv Climbing

“You better bring lots of tape.”

“And don’t forget your Carharts.”

“If it’s not windy there will be tons of mosquitoes.”

“It might be windy and snowing.”

This was the type of advice we were getting as we planned and packed up for Vedauwoo for our second annual Gimps on Rock event for Paradox Sports. Known, and feared, as the offwidth capital of the world, Vedauwoo is perched on the highest point of the trans-continental railroad, smack between Cheyenne and Laramie Wyoming. Guarded at either end of I-80 by winter closure gates, this phantasmagordical playground of tumbled rock-piles and towers is known for its crystalline cracks, offwidth horror-shows and puzzling labyrinthine approaches. Move carefully or slice yourself on the sharp crystals of the exposed Sherman batholith that stretches from the Colorado/Wyoming border all the way up to Casper. Vaguely reminiscent of Joshua Tree the area is made up a jumbled rocks of a quality that J-tree aficionados can only dream of. 

Except that it makes you bleed. Sometimes a lot.

Maureen Whalley was one of the first people we called after we set the date. “Hell yeah” was her reply. “I’m getting married the next weekend and, with any luck, I’ll have some nice scabs and bruises to show off in my wedding dress.”  Okaaaay. Whatever yanks your chain, Mo. We’ll always love you. See, the thing is, Mo only has one hand. The other one, somehow, didn’t quite make it out of the womb intact. No matter, Mo has been a fixture at our Gimps on Ice events in Ouray for the last few winters and was soon to be a battle-scarred veteran of Vedauwoo. Welcome on board.

Tommy Carroll, another favorite paradox Sports Athlete, lost his leg in a fight with a motorcycle and has been hobbling around since. He doesn’t let that stop him and has been a Paradox climber since our very first event.

 Chad Butrick, wounded while training with the US Army and discharged, later lost his leg in a car accident. Vedauwoo was just going to be training for him. In October Chad was scheduled to climb Lobuche Peak in Nepal. A 20,000 foot giant that towers over the glaciers around Namche Bazar. (Note: Chad summitted Lobuche on October 14, 2010)

And finally, Jeff Lowe, if not the world’s best alpinist, one of the top three in the world. At least until he was struck down by a weird affliction with symptoms similar to MS or ALS. The docs don’t really know for sure what it is, but Jeff can barely walk and mostly gets around in a powered chair. That doesn’t stop him from hanging out with the crew, joining in on the stories and lies and generally participating in, if not instigating a lot of the mayhem which always seems to follow the gimps around.

We were also luck to have a group of dedicated volunteers, family and friends to hang the ropes, help with camp and dinner and make pictures. I think there were 25 pople in all. What a pack.

We were there to climb, so on Saturday morning, after a hearty breakfast of pancakes, eggs and bacon in the campground, we set off to the Walt’s Wall and Fall Wall areas. And promptly got lost. Well, not quite lost. We got split into two groups and didn’t catch up until we were back at camp. Half the group, including Tommy and Mo climbed over at Walt’s Wall, while the other half climbed the routes on the Coldfinger slabs. Lots of successes, some falls and just enough blood to satisfy Mo’s need to bleed.

Dinner that night was a festive affair with lots of swag doled out and raffled off. Many thanks to Ospry Packs for their donations and Evolv Shoes for the hook-ups. Evolv also loaned us an entire demo kit so we could all try out the latest climbing shoes.

Sunday morning was slow, as Sunday mornings after Saturday nights tend to be, but after a hearty dutch oven pile of eggs, sausage, potatoes, cheese and coffee. We all managed to head over to the Ames Monument for a mass assault. This pyramid marks the highest point of the original transcontinental railroad and wherever you climb, it’s 5.6. All the gimps made it to the summit along with a handful of the volunteers for the summit shot.

What a weekend it was!

The Paradox Crew on top of the Aimes Monument, just outside of Vedauwoo