The CragBaby » Destination: Rifle, CO http://www.cragbaby.com Adventures of Rachel Strate (Wasatch Girl) and her chihuahua (CragBaby). Thu, 29 Dec 2011 07:59:42 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 Roadtrip Week 7: Rifle, Colorado http://www.cragbaby.com/2008/10/03/rifle-colorado/ http://www.cragbaby.com/2008/10/03/rifle-colorado/#comments Sat, 04 Oct 2008 00:34:18 +0000 WasatchGirl http://www.cragbaby.com/?p=277 After my first six weeks of vacation in Utah, I officially hit the road heading to Rifle, Colorado.  I had been to Rifle a couple years back and completely gotten my ass kicked.  At the time I was working on 5.10′s and 5.11′s and Rifle was definitely NOT the place for someone working on such grades.  This year I am a bit stronger and so was excited to see if the climbing felt any better.

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Beautiful Rifle canyon.

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Screamer on one of the “do-able” 5.10 warmups, which were very few and far between.

Well….. unfortunately…. it was still ridiculously hard.  I am working on low 5.12′s in Salt Lake, which means in Rifle I am working on 5.11′s.  Also, the Rifle ‘word on the street’ is to stay off the polished 5.10′s and 5.11′s…… meaning I was once again scared to death.  Sigh.  I only climbed 4 days but honestly just wasn’t having any fun.  I couldn’t get into the grove of the Rifle climbing technique (basically nothing pulling downwards and the bolts being spread out), I was scared to lead anything, plus, there was some stuff going on at home that was affecting the experience.  I was so discouraged I almost drove home from the road trip and hung up the climbing shoes for good.  Thankfully, I decided to cut my losses short and left for the Red River Gorge, Kentucky.

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Scott on the stunning Feline route.

Perhaps I need to go back to Rifle if I ever hit the 5.13 level.  Sigh.

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