NOW PLAYING | E+F OCT 16

Finally enjoying a little bit of a cold front here in Austin. And by 'cold front' I mean anything less than 100 degrees. Yes, it's still hot, but the cool mornings mean it's almost time for the long sleeves and boots to come out. Yeesss. 

Trying to take advantage of the break in the heat as much as possible with regular weekend trips to Reimers and little happy hour climbing at Gus Fruh. Made my first visit on Wednesday after work, and it's easily a new favorite. I don't think I'll ever get tired of the fact that I can now be outside on the wall, in the middle of the week in 20 minutes or less. 

In celebration of the new fall season and those send-it temps, here's the E+F Rocktober playlist. May it and the force be with you as you clip the chains on your next project. 

CLIMB | 10 MILE CANYON ROYAL FLUSH

I've been saying for the better part of the last year that I was going to extend one of my work trips to Denver and stay through the weekend to climb. A couple of weeks ago, I finally made it happen. My friend Max met me in Golden, CO, and we made the hour drive to Frisco early Saturday morning to have a go at Royal Flush, a 5.9, 8-pitch sport route located in 10 Mile Canyon on Mount Royal — my first proper multi-pitch.

The "planning" went something like this: 

Max: "Been interested in this if you're feeling multi-pitch." Max texts me the link to the route on Mountain Project.
Me: "Awesome."
Max: "Pretty sure we can be at the summit in six hours and hike off."

Well, you can't know what you don't know. 

We started our ascent at 9:30 that morning, and between my inefficient rope management, some tricky route finding between pitches and getting backed up waiting on other groups on the wall, it was some 9+ hours later before we made it to the summit at approximately 11K feet. Ah-mazing. Another hour and a half hike in the dark back to the car and a beer never tasted so good. 

After some sleep and a nice, greasy Denny's breakfast, our little mini-epic had me gunning for more. I definitely see a trad rack in my future...

photos: Max Deisch