The plan for the day was to meet up with Mike at 7:30 am and head into St. Vrain's Canyon to climb before the afternoon storms rolled in... the weather reports said 2:00 was our cutoff. We planned to climb at The Coliseum. We parked, hiked up the road, found the appropriate creek crossing... and then decided it was not a good idea. Dave and Mike tested out the water to make the decision, while Alex made the decision without putting a foot in the water. The creek was too rough and swift moving to safely cross with packs full of climbing gear. Back to the car we went to pick another area that was on the other side of the road.
Instead, we chose to climb at Upper Infirmary Slabs. We made the heinous uphill hike up to the wall, carefully avoiding kicking any cacti or trampling through the plentiful poison ivy.
First on the menu was Admission Crack (5.7 trad). Dave led the the crack first, and decided this was a climb that Alex should lead as well. After successfully jamming fists, arms, and legs on her way to the top, and gaining Dave's "gear approval," Mike promised Alex the milkshake she had been wanting since they had backpacked the previous weekend.
Remission (5.7 sport), and Community Service (5.6 sport) came next. Right on time, the storms clouds began to form as Community Service was cleaned just before 2:00 pm. We packed up our gear and headed back down the trail.
After getting back to the car, we drove down the canyon to Lyons, where we had lunch at Smokin' Dave's BBQ. This restaurant has been on our "must do list" since we first ate there during Western Extravaganza 1. We have eaten the same meal each of the three times we were there.... and it has not let us down! Ice cream was on the menu next... Alex's reward for a successful trad climb... and it was delicious! With full bellies we got in our cars and headed home.
