As you may know, Nature has moved to Denver. As such, it was time to introduce him to Eldorado Canyon. And what better route for an intro to prancing than the classic Bastille Crack? (officially 5.7, 5 pitches)

We started climbing at the Boulder appropriate hour of 11am. It's north-facing after all. We planned to do it in two long pitches, combining 1-3 and 4-5 as is generally recommended; tho none of us had done the route before, so all we could do was hope it worked out. As there was inexplicably nobody on the most popular route in Eldo, Nature got right into things:

The official crux of the route is right off the ground. Getting from the right flake to the left.

Nature made quick work of that and continued up the crack.

He blew past the chains at the top of the first pitch, enjoying the 5.7 fun

I took a step across the road so I could get a nice all inclusive shot

The fun just never stopped

And soon he was almost at the top of the official 3rd pitch (a bit higher than this photo.) The ends of the ropes just touched the ground so we could tie in.

I led up from here through easy, but sort of awkward blocks and a nice chimney. Getting to the top rewarded us with some welcome sun.

There was some exposure on the descent

The three of us did a leisurely ~ 2:45 car to car and booked it on back to Southern Sun for some good food and beer.

Welcome to Colorado, Nature!