That's some bomber pro!
So, today I went to Index and did my first traditional climb. So So good. All those months in the gym finally pay some serious dividends.
First route was Aries, a three pitch climb, (my first trad and first multi pitch)
A great introduction to trad climbing, pitch 2 was this amazing diverging chimney, that I wiggled up.. Serious full body climbing. pitch 3 was a great finger crack followed by an undercling. At the end of pitch 3 Simone and I met up with 5 other climbers that I knew from Stone Gardens.. What a small world.
Second route of the day was Sagittarius, a challenging 5.9+ with a serious 40 foot crack up followed by a gorgeous horizontal undercling/handjam. Simone was doing all the leading and had some serious problems with the start of this route. In retrospect a little lie back would have made things go much easier. Simone ended up setting up a top rope at the end of the route, because he was seriously pooped from the approach.
My turn:
I blaze up the 40 foot crack with a lieback, start to traverse the undercling and start to get really tired about 20 feet from the bolts.
About 10 feet out... Fading.. fading.. fading... I can see salvation in the form of a huge foot hold ..just.. ..too.. far. So time is running out on my arms, and I make the decision to lunge for the foot..
In retrospect, I should have just jammed my hands up the crack, and had a rest.. but those techniques are all pretty new to me, so I stuck with the undercling and made the desperation move.
Lunge! (My eyes were probably closed) Miss! Big swing. Flip upside down. hit my head.
Simone was sure it was time for the stretcher.
"No, I'm fine!" Hang there upside down a bit, then finish and clean the route.
In the end, an amazing day, definitely going to go back asap.
First route was Aries, a three pitch climb, (my first trad and first multi pitch)
A great introduction to trad climbing, pitch 2 was this amazing diverging chimney, that I wiggled up.. Serious full body climbing. pitch 3 was a great finger crack followed by an undercling. At the end of pitch 3 Simone and I met up with 5 other climbers that I knew from Stone Gardens.. What a small world.
Second route of the day was Sagittarius, a challenging 5.9+ with a serious 40 foot crack up followed by a gorgeous horizontal undercling/handjam. Simone was doing all the leading and had some serious problems with the start of this route. In retrospect a little lie back would have made things go much easier. Simone ended up setting up a top rope at the end of the route, because he was seriously pooped from the approach.
My turn:
I blaze up the 40 foot crack with a lieback, start to traverse the undercling and start to get really tired about 20 feet from the bolts.
About 10 feet out... Fading.. fading.. fading... I can see salvation in the form of a huge foot hold ..just.. ..too.. far. So time is running out on my arms, and I make the decision to lunge for the foot..
In retrospect, I should have just jammed my hands up the crack, and had a rest.. but those techniques are all pretty new to me, so I stuck with the undercling and made the desperation move.
Lunge! (My eyes were probably closed) Miss! Big swing. Flip upside down. hit my head.
Simone was sure it was time for the stretcher.
"No, I'm fine!" Hang there upside down a bit, then finish and clean the route.
In the end, an amazing day, definitely going to go back asap.
posted by jerdavis at 6:09 PM
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