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February 14th, 2004, Suzy and I took the opportunity to play around at the Castle Rock Upper Falls, WI3-4 I guess, in Boulder Canyon, Boulder, Colorado. This is a popular spot for weekend group trips, and since this was Friday, it was our chance to avoid the crowds.
I knew that this was a fairly short falls, but the pictures I had seen of previous seasons gave me the impression that this would be good ice. What we had was a thin smear good for two or three climbs at best. It seems that a leaky aqueduct above the falls created the great ice in the past, but it looks like that's no longer the case.
Still, we had it all to ourselves, and the weather was great, so we geared up and hit it. While I did play around with a lead, high traffic had left the ice in poor condition, and screw placement was less than bomber.
Warming up straight up the middle, we then ran each side, which was actually quite challenging and fun, as thin as it was.
This shot, one of Suzy's, shows how much better the ice conditions were during the 2002/2003 season. For the last two seasons though, the right half never developed. Those were the days I guess.
Colorado Ice Climber's Guide
Colorado Ice
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