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Intro
My 40th birthday fell on a weekend. What better thing to do to celebrate (i.e. ignore the fact I am over the hill) than to go climbing! Unfortunately it was looking like yet another rainy weekend in a string of rainy weekends, so it looked like we may have to do some driving to get to dry rock. Unaweep looked about the closest (5.5 hours drive or so) place with a dry(ish) forecast. So to Unaweep we went!
Nate and I left Estes Park early Saturday morning and arrived in Unaweep Canyon by mid-morning. The forecast was for an afternoon thundershower, but we decided we had just enough time to climb Questions and Answers, a 400-foot 5.10+ route to the top of Upper Mother's Buttress that is reputedly one of the best multipitch routes in the canyon. Indeed it was a phenomenal route. The rain held off until we were rappelling back to the base. We hustled back to the car, changed out of our soaking clothes, and went to find a free place to camp. The weather cleared for a nice evening at our camp.
On Sunday we thought it would be appropriate to spend the morning at Sunday Wall, a popular climbing area. We managed two fun pitches before the weather began to roll in. So it was a dash out to the car and then 6 hours in the car back to Estes Park.
Despite the rain, it was a great way to spend my birthday weekend. I've seen what Unaweep has to offer and hope to return. Below are some photos from Questions and Answers, and later on this page are other photos from the weekend.
Pitch-by-Pitch Photos
Top
Top of Upper Mother's Buttress.
Descent
Rappel
Three single-rope rappels in the gully system to climbers' right of the route.