Having not climbed rock in the gym or outside in over 4 months, Dale and I were excited to meet up and get outside, but wanted to keep the climbing mellow. Blue’s Buttress on Poster Peak looked like a fun romp in a beautiful place. We met at the hairpin at 9:30am, packed up, and left the car at 10am.

The approach went quickly, transitioning to continuous snow near the base of the route, and we were suited up, simul-soloing the lower section at 11:15am. It felt good to move freely on mostly good rock and fun scrambling moves. We had a good conversation going throughout the route as we each made our way upwards. When we hit a more sustained 5th class section about two-thirds of the way up, we put the rope on and simul-climbed from there to the top, where we arrived at 1pm.

We took in the views for a while before heading down loose terrain to the saddle, then gingerly down-climbing a bit of snow before it eased up enough to boot ski big sections. We were back at Dale’s van, enjoying a little happy hour by 3:30pm.

It was a fun route—exactly what we were looking for even if relatively short. We ended up having enough time after shooting the breeze to hike up to the ice box hairpin crag and get on some more technical routes. It felt really good to clip bolts and climb harder, though our forearms were woefully out of shape.

Great day!