Lessons from the rocks
Durango climber publishes local bouldering guidebook

Ian Allison, author of a new bouldering guidebook for Durango, goes large in Sailing Hawks. Allison, who works at Pine Needle for his day job, said he wnated to “represent Durango in a way that showed our ethics but still left some exploration to be had.”/Photo by Stephen Eginoire

by Brandon Mathis

"You hear it all over town.“Hey, you wanna go bouldering?” one Durangotang asks.“Sure, lets go to the Alley,” another replies.

“You mean the Corridor? Is that near the Euro Boulder?”

“Which one is the Euro boulder?”

And so on.

In a paradise laced with recreational opportunities, endless ribbons of trails, soaring peaks, river put-ins and take-outs, its about time that someone sat down in the dirt and wrote the book on Durango’s bouldering.

That someone was Ian Allison.

Bouldering, as it is known, is a simplified, powerful form of rock climbing requiring little more than strength, a passion to climb and boulders to climb on. Tenacious climbing shoes and a “crash pad” greatly lend to function and protection, but overall it is a purist’s endeavor. A romance of climber and rock: simple, clean.

And you can chalk up another one for Durango, because we are blessed with enough fallen blocks to keep a boulderer busy for a lifetime. “We may not be a full-on climbing destination, but we have some of, if not the best, bouldering in the state,” said super fit 27-year-old Allison. A Southwest Adventures Guide and assistant manager at Pine Needle Mountaineering, Allison began rock climbing during a trip to the storied Hueco Tanks National Park in Texas. After moving to Durango eight years ago, he now pursues it at every level. “Pretty much all we do is climb,” he said, referring to himself and wife, Jen.

Writing a guidebook evolved out of his personal mission to log down the many problems, as bouldering routes are known, and areas he encountered. “I started writing stuff down and eventually there was a full notebook on three or four different areas. I thought ‘Wow, I could turn this into something. People could actually use this,’” he said.

Previous bouldering books have briefly mentioned Durango, but none with such detail as Allison’s. “I wanted to represent Durango in a way that showed our ethics but still left some exploration to be had,” he said, hinting there are still a few secret stashes lurking in the woods.

Nahia Iraola and Joseba Munarriz, of the Basque Country, Spain, browse through Ian Allison’s 1st edition guide while visiting Durango’s Sailing Hawks area./Photo by Stephen Eginoire

When rumors surfaced that a local climber was putting together a guidebook, it stirred mixed feelings in many long time boulderers who enjoyed their playgrounds under the radar. However, with development and access issues threatening closure to some of Durango’s best bouldering, the book comes at a perfect time. The Sailing Hawks boulders, on land recently acquired by the city as Dalla Mountain Park, are prime examples. It’s these sacred places that make Durango special to locals and visitors alike.

Jason Chinchen and his family, of Bend, Ore., recently visited Durango on a summer bouldering trip. Visiting renowned climbing destinations like Joshua Tree National Park, Red Rocks, Nevada, Bishop, Calif., and more, he was stunned by Durango’s sandstone. “It was a really pleasant surprise when it came to accessibility and quality,” he said. “Sailing Hawks is a blast. Durango was really laid back. The people are great. I want to come back.” Having purchased guidebooks at every locale they hit, Chinchen classified Allison’s offering as “really solid.”

But just what is it that climbers find so fascinating about scaling these miniature mountains? Seventeen-year local climber Rush Linhart says that bouldering has taught him some of life’s biggest lessons. “My greatest teacher in the whole world has been a rock,” he said. Already highly respected, Linhart is relaxed, solid and known for his strength and philosophy. “I spend all my time learning a meditation … from an inanimate object. There is no better teacher,” he said.

Chris Parker moved to Durango after seeing a photograph in a climbing magazine of diehard Jimmy Symans at The Secret Spot, now known as Sailing Hawks. “I thought I’d go down there and find it, I didn’t know I would immerse myself in it,” said Parker, 24, who filmed his attempts to climb an extremely difficult route called Legacy of the Kid for a media class at Fort Lewis College. He soon became obsessed with accomplishing, or sending, his quest. “I spent a month of my life trying to climb it. It’s like a vertical dance.” He got it on film, but it was the spiritual experience that was most fulfilling. “It was enlightening. I don’t meditate,” he said, “but in a way I do: I boulder.”

Allison agrees. “Climbing, in general, teaches you valuable lessons about yourself,” he said. “How far can you push it, what can you endure? The rock has a spirit of its own. You don’t climb it because you are strong; you climb it because it allows you to. You work a problem and it throws you off most of the time, until you learn what it has to teach you.”

Flipping through Durango Bouldering, you’ll find there are many lessons to be learned. For 4½ years, Allison went to great lengths to document, climb, research and re-climb every route he could. More than 350 problems in five major areas are included, and the number is still growing, such as a recent discovery: the “071” boulders.

So what do the elder statesmen of Durango bouldering have to say about a new guidebook revealing their secrets, mapping their journey and packaging their trials and tribulations for the whole world? “I think it’s great,” says living legend John Duran. At 48, Duran has been scaling these rocks for more than three decades. He is the “Kid,” and it’s his “Legacy.” Regarded as the “Ninja of Sailing Hawks,” the “Shadow of the Woods” – nicknames and reputations he earned by silently exploring local cliffs and hillsides – Duran’s mellow demeanor downplays his astonishing ability to find micro holds, carrying him effortlessly up seemingly unclimbable rock. A resident of Ignacio, he brushes off his talent as a way to relax. “Just coming to Durango to chill out, have a beer, get into a different perspective on life by putting in some effort on the movements. It’s heaven.”

To think the bouldering community almost lost its Mecca, Sailing Hawks, is hard to imagine. Linhart was instrumental in keeping the dream alive for climbers, and many others. “I was having nightmares about it being developed,” he said. Linhart began writing anonymous letters to land owner Jake Dalla, proposing a compromise: sell the land to the city, preserving it for everyone. “I met with Bill Manning (then head of Trails 2000). He contacted Jake and it ended up working out,” Linhart said.

Just as Duran earned his title as the shadow, Linhart earned his own: Mayor of Sailing Hawks. “Dalla is just passing the torch for us to take care of it,” he said.

The consensus is that Allison was the man for the job, and that the guidebook, in bookstores now, will build a more aware community of climbers. “His approach to it has been super respectful,” said Linhart. “It’s the right timing, the right stories – everything happens for a reason.” He paused for a moment. “The lessons here are, if you have a dream, you really can do something about it.” •