The Bozeman Six 2019!

Lou Renner, Leon Kaatz, and I embarked this morning on our third annual bid on the Bozeman Six – six artificial boulders around the city of Bozeman, Montana.  It was a fun-filled day of hard work, true grit, and shattered records!  We shattered the record that we already held by over 30 ascents with 287 completed problems between the three of us!  Leon and Lou both had over 100 completions each!  We would have had many more completions if it had not been for a tendon in my left knee getting tweaked after the third boulder in our series today.  Between boulders, we would listen to Leon’s Elvis tapes in the car, which is a classic tradition for us.  We hydrated well, for the most part (I could have and should have done a better job of that and I might not have had the knee trouble that I did), and climbed strong.  I climbed my V3 – “Chris’s Corner” – on the Bozeman Pond boulder and proved to myself on our first boulder of the day that I still have what it takes, even after the accident that left my wrist broken and me unable to climb for five months back in October of 2018.  I climbed in my Scarpa Instinct VS climbing shoes and they edged like a dream!  Fantastic shoes!  I’ll be doing a review later on the climbing shoes.  As is also tradition, after we finished the Bozeman Six 10 hours and 20 minutes after we had begun this morning, we dragged ourselves into the Outback Steakhouse and shared a Blooming Onion.  None of us finished our meals.  Many hugs, high fives, and heartfelt camaraderie was shared among us today, as well as stories and laughs and a roiling good time in general!  I love these two guys so much!  My brothers…  Time for bed.  I hope you sleep well.  I know the three of us will!  More tomorrow!