The first leg of Triple Crown is a wrap. The weather could have been cooler of course, but as climbers I feel like I am always saying that exact phrase. Mother nature, however, being the respectful and fun-loving deity she is granted a slight breeze and no rain on Saturday, the day of the event. This was both Todd and myself's first time attending the competition with On the Road and Off due to the generous support of Metolius Climbing out of Bend, OR. They gave enough chalk to outfit all competitors all weekend, and more chalk pots than you can imagine. We gave away a few of our Session Crashpads and Short Stops for those muddy sit starts. Our friends with Ground Up were there demoing Scarpa’s newest kicks as well as at least 20 other brands dropping knowledge, stickers, shoe demos, and probably some more stickers.
With that, this was my first time EVER attending Triple Crown and plan on writing about that soon – sharing reasons why I never attended, my expectations, and of course the overall experience.
Todd, myself and Jared with Ground Up set up our booths around lunchtime on Friday, then headed higher into the mountains to Hounds Ears for a sampling of possibly the high country’s least climbed stone. The setting did not disappoint nor did the quality of the problems. Style wise, it is completely different than the sandstone my tips and shoe rubber are accustomed to. We tasted as much of the boulder field we could. I will say, the field was way bigger than expected which I can surely appreciate being one who prefers walking a good bit more for a more dispersed crowd. Hounds Ears is notorious for being sharp, but for y’all sloper slappin hillbillies from further west, there is quite a good variety – and plenty of highballs to get the heart racing and vision narrowed.
With that real brief overview, we just wanted to share quite a few of the photos we snapped during the weekend. Keep a lookout for a more in-depth writeup in weeks to come, which hopefully gets everyone even more psyched for the next leg at Stone Fort. But for now, eye candy from the weekend. Tag friends if you see them, comment on the glamour shots, and most importantly keep climbing y'all!