Memorable Experiences

This past weekend a couple of buddies and I went bouldering for the day at Horsetooth Reservoir in Fort Collins, CO.  This had been our first time to the reservoir and wanted to make it a memorable one.  We decided to spend most of the day at the North Rotary Park and check out the various boulders in the area.  After having spent most of our time working the problems on “Mental Block” we decided to look in our guide book (Colorado Bouldering by Phillip Benningfield) for some other challenging boulders.  Horsetooth Reservoir is full of fantastic rock but one stood out in the book more than the rest.  “We should check out the Hell Cave” I announced to our group.  “What’s the book say on that one?” responded a friend.  I proceeded to read the narrative, “This dirty, glass and spray paint filled cave is north on the ridge and above the Mental Block. The craig looks like a devil worshipers or paint sniffers hangout.”  We all laughed at the description at first, but after taking a second to reflect we thought how wrong it was for people to deface the area.  In fact it opened my eyes to my current surroundings.  We didn’t take much notice since our pads were laid over the fall zone, but we had been bouldering on broken glass bottles all day!  Our party did the best we could to remove broken bits of glass from the base of the rock, though the image still remains in my mind.  I will remember Horsetooth Reservoir as an excellent bouldering spot for its beauty, quality rock and problems, but I will also remember my experience with the broken glass. 

 

As for the “Hell Cave”… well we stayed away from that area all together.