Cragmama "Not all who wander are lost…" JRR Tolkien

Category Archives: The Wild West

Wyoming, South Dakota, Utah, Nevada

10 5.10’s in 10 Sleep at 10 Years Old! (aka Big C’s Experience)

10 5.10’s in 10 Sleep at 10 Years Old! (aka Big C’s Experience)

That’s a mouthful to say, right?!? It’s even more impressive to do, considering that said 10 year old only started lead climbing 7 weeks before our trip to Ten Sleep! Considering his lack of experience on the sharp end, the CragDad and I weren’t really sure how he would do, but we were certain that the experience would be invaluable for him. While the bolts in Ten Sleep tend to be a lot closer together than at our crags back home, limestone can be notoriously hard to read. And while he didn’t have much experience climbing on pockets before this…Read the rest of this entry →

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Ten Sleep 2020 – Birthday Goals!

Ten Sleep 2020 – Birthday Goals!

Considering how covid cancelled both our spring climbing season, as well as our gym training options leading up to the trip, we really had no idea what to expect once we actually got on the rocks in Ten Sleep Canyon. (see here for our we prepped using our quarantine purchased treadwall from Brewer Fitness.) Our main goal was to simply get away from the real world for a while as a family in one of our favorite places. I also had a very specific side goal – coming into the trip I was only 4 sends away from 100 lifetime…Read the rest of this entry →

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Ten Sleep Canyon Part 4 – Superfly 12c/d

Ten Sleep Canyon Part 4 – Superfly 12c/d

So after a patriotic day at the rodeo on the 4th, the next day was back to the canyon for business as usual.  As I said in Ten Sleep Recap Part 2, the 3rd day on in our 3 day chunk was spent scoping out the moves on Superfly 12c/d at the Slavery Wall, so let’s rewind back to there for a minute.  The main difference we noted between Slavery Wall and everywhere else we had climbed was that it was WAY hotter in the morning, due to the lack of tree cover at the base of the cliff.  Thankfully…Read the rest of this entry →

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Ten Sleep Canyon Part 3 – Rest Days and Rodeos

Ten Sleep Canyon Part 3 – Rest Days and Rodeos

Despite being a town with a population of 260, the town of Ten Sleep, Wyoming is actually a pretty good base camp for fun family rest day activities!  And for once, the weather cooperated really well with our plans!  Saturday dawned cold and dreary in town, which meant the canyon was no doubt frigid.  So what would have been a pretty yucky climbing day was actually perfect for exploring, geeking out over nature stuff, and picking up groceries, all while resting our tendons.   For some of us, it was hard to sleep well at the campground. Though surprising, it’s not…Read the rest of this entry →

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Ten Sleep Canyon Part 2 – Superratic

Ten Sleep Canyon Part 2 – Superratic

Our typical “vacation climbing” (ie, more than a weekend) strategy involves a smattering of rest days in addition to climbing days, so that we can climb as close to our best as possible whenever we are on the wall.  We generally try to avoid crowds by planning rest days for a Saturday, when the crag would be most crowded from local day trippers.  For this trip we also wanted to make sure we were in town for the 4th of July celebrations, so we ended up climbing in 3 “chunks” – 2 days on, 1 day off, 3 days on…Read the rest of this entry →

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