An Outsider's Season in Rifle Mountain Park, Colorado

Okay, yes, I get it. You climb 5.13, probably 5.14. You're sick strong. You can get a knee bar rest everywhere with a fancy rubbery, glued, duct-taped kneepad. You can crush slopey pinches. You can dyno into an undercling. You can press your foot on icy glass smears and stand up.

Before this trip, I'd climbed a couple of 5.13s at my local crag and thought I'd go to one of the best summer sport climbing spots in the country to check out thre real action. In Rifle, all the routes are bold and the 5.11 (and the 5.12s) warm ups are polished and scary. I can usually send them, but I'm always gripped at the top. Welcome to Rifle Mountain Park.

Drive by the Project Wall any given weekend and there they are. The fronters. In full force. Hell, start at the beginning of the canyon... The Arsenal? Check. Bauhaus? Yep. Anti-Phil? Uh huh. Ruckman parking? You bet. But “hoooooo boy,” are they ever at the Project Wall. "How hard do you climb? What are you working on? Sent anything good lately" followed by a hollow stare. Such a harsh welcome it is.

If you wave, they might wave back. But if you just look, they'll look the hell out of you. You climb? I climb harder. You wave? I wave stronger. You glance? I look through your soul. On rest days, they'll even rest better.

Back to the fronters. You know who you are. You're probably looking the hell out of these words right now as you read them. You saw "Rifle" in the title and wondered what in the hell someone had to say about your favorite crag.

Fronting is defined by the Urban Dictionary as 1. Put(ting) on a fake or false personality; not keeping it real. 2. To think and act like you are a badass when you are not.