Saturday, May 26, 2007

Big Country Revisited, 24 May

This day's events required some persuasion. Kerry worries about the consequences of errors on multi-pitch routes, and leading on gear makes her justifiably shivery too. I wanted to do both. And after insisting over and over that yes, I really did want to, that I had led it before, and that we could bail from almost any point she was somehow persuaded and we went to Long Wall.

I led Big Country again.


The day that I led that route last year is still probably my favorite day of life. But I got to remind myself of one of the best bits about climbing: sometimes you end up way high up.


Again, I gotta get those pics from Kerry. I imagine they will show me with my helmet askew and hair flying everywhich way, but (again) looking happy enough to compensate.


We took our time (which ended up making me too late for a birthday ding back home, sob!) and most of the route was much less intimidating this time.

Left Flank, 23 May with Kerry

Kerry & I took some days off work to climb this week. I was still cut up from climbing a crack with no tape on Sunday, but the sport day we had at Left Flank on Wednesday didn't add too much to my scabbiness. We climbed almost everything there that was even remotely within our abilities. (We didn't do Fast Food Christians, dammit, but everything else rated up to 10s we did.)

We hung a top-rope on an 11a (Maypop) just after our warm up on Mr. Bungle.

I don't actually CLIMB routes above about a 10b, I just hang & move up, over and over. So of course I cooked my forearms on that one route and was pretty useless for the rest of the day. This meant that Kerry had to lead every route, which I half expected her to be mad about. But she wasn't! She just choked her fear and applied the stick clip over and over.

(I did lead Face Up to That Crack, mostly because I have a grudge against that route. Kerry led it too.)

It's scary to take pictures of somebody leading while you're lead belaying them, so Kerry took all the photos. I will be relying on her kindness to motivate you to look at this post... and it could take a while.

Phantasia, 20 May with Eric, Alice, Dan and sort of Bill


Last Sunday Eric & Alice & I trekked again to the Red River Gorge, this time with a young, heterosexual, creative, agile, muscular dancer named Daniel. He leads harder than we do and doesn't seem to mind my staring.

He's on the right in this photo. Why we've never climbed with him before I don't know, but including him in our outings is a primary goal of my life now.


Okay that's an exaggeration.

We went to Phantasia. Most of my photos from that trip were blue -- anybody know why digital photos would all be blue? -- or fuzzy, but here's one through the trees that I like.


We ran into Bill at the crag -- sort of on purpose. He was leading 10 trad lines which I wish I had been able to follow, but we didn't have time. Bill knew Dan the Dancer, I guess because they both climb and dance. They were hilariously alike for people so different in age & appearance. I wish I had photographed them together.

I teamed up with Alice while Eric took a pass by climbing with the hottie -- all that muscle to look at AND he didn't have to lead much. I led an easy trad line called Petit Bazaar and a fantastic 5.9ish sport line called Pogue Ethics. The start of that second route is overhung to the first bolt, and I almost refused to do it, but Alice said plainly that she thought I could, and then when I thought about it I decided it was POSSIBLE that I could, and why not try? It was a great route. Thanks, Alice!

Then Eric & I followed Daniel up Creature Feature. Yes, the route with the giant cave, out of which one must lean all yogalike backwards without being able to see, to reach up and feel around for handholds which then do nothing for you unless you can carry your entire body weight on your arms. I always have trouble there, and did again. *Flail, hang, haul my ass up two inches, whine, repeat* Everytime I go to Phantasia I start by thinking I should try to lead that route, and end by thinking how stupid I am for thinking it.

Still, a great day.

Monday, May 21, 2007

13 May at Eden Park Reservoir

a week ago sunday kerry & i decided to climb closer to home. and here we are on the old limestone reservoir at eden park. it's harder going than it looks.
apparently, climbing at eden park used to be more closely regulated than it is now. there even used to be a book of routes there -- must've been more like a panphlet. but anyway, there's plenty of exercise available and only one lead route (which we didn't do). it was a nice break from the long drive & stress of the red.

Saturday, May 12, 2007

28 April, Fortress with a new friend, and an error


Kerry & I didn't have any guys with us two weekends ago, which meant that if we camped, there was a much lower probability of having a fire and coffee. Being somewhat spoiled and wimpy, we decided to stay at True North, where we did not need a fire and were fed delicious eggs, coffee and orange juice for breakfast.

I love True North, so I snapped a few photos the next morning. The above is one view from the loft.

And below you see is what happens when the bacon grease meets the morning sun coming in the windows. I don't eat dead pigs, but I do see the magic that they can create.




While we were there we met a trad climber named Ken from Colorado. He was in Louisville for business and, having no rack with him and no awareness of the nearby trad routes, had decided to hire one of my favorite TN Guides, Jake, to take him out for sport climbing lessons. They had been out all day together when we arrived Saturday night.



This is Ken looking sexy but out-of-order.

Jake had only good things to say about Ken, so we teamed up with him on Sunday for a day at Fortress.




This is Ken after we were kind enough to let him lead Calypso 2 for us. He thought it was a bit harder than a 5.6. We all do the first time.



After that, we let him lead Bedtime for Bonzo. That's Kerry following the first pitch. Some girls from Indiana had gotten their rope stuck up top and were waiting at the bottom for us to free it. Kerry climbed last, but they were there to shoot her looking way cool here. I try not to lay this back like she is, forgetting how tough it makes one look.



Here Ken & I are at the top of the first pitch.

That's me belaying Ken as he starts the second pitch. Kerry took a video of this. Apparently I told Ken to call out for his mother at one point. I might not be the nicest belayer.


That's me on the second pitch. Looking tough, but only because my feet are on a wide ledge. Tough or not, I finally got both pitches clean on the follow. Or, except I grabbed a cam on the second pitch. It was a very loose cam though so I'm sure it didn't help me much. ;-)

If you can't make fun of your own fly-away hair, what fun is life? This photo completely cracks me up, but also shows me at my favorite part of a multi-pitch climb: the top. I have another...

Fractional happy people up top. (That's Ken's foot. I swear!)


But then! I rapped last and
uh
left
my
gear
sling
at
the
top.

With
most
of
my
gear
on
it.

It was a serious mistake. Ken was expected in Louisville at any moment; the sun was starting to set; we all had to be at least two hours away for work the next day; and we didn't really have enough gear to re-lead the route anyway. I was considering a steep and unorthodox scramble that probably had loose rock and, at best, would have put me at the bottom of the second pitch. The second pitch has a very thin but long traverse that one cannot protect, at the end of which is a crack which takes, to be safe, two #3 C4s. And one of our #3s was at the top of the route. To boot, I had just gone on a rant about how I could never have led that pitch -- it's too scary. But when weighed against the loss of half my rack, I was willing to consider it.

Ken went on a hunt for a walk-off. He couldn't find one, but while he was away it occurred to me that this was exactly like the beginning of one of those stupid tragedies you read about, in which one mistake leads to more bad choices, the effects of which then snowball until your hero is killed in three different ways simultaneously and nobody ever finds his corpse. I told Ken and Kerry to pretend that I had accidentally put $250 in cash down at the top of the cliff, and that it had already blown away. If there was nothing up there, there was no reason for us to try to go up without enough gear, or time, or daylight. (Of course, as it turns out I left way more than $250 worth of gear.)

I considered leaving a note that read something like, "Yes, I am the idiot. Please don't steal my gear? Here is my number." But we weren't sure that it wouldn't attract thieves instead of inspiring climbers to be kind. Plus we had no pen.

Then we remembered Jake.



Dear Jake, of lovely True North.

He got my gear back. And yes I do love him for it! But that's his story -- and his girlfriend's. I was two hours away in front of a desk, staring out the window. Nervously.

22 April, Pistol Ridge



Kerry gave me pics of this day! Hooray, Kerry!

The gang camped (happy fire with marshmallows and whiskey!) Saturday & had a great time at Pistol Ridge on Sunday.

Right after we arrived at the crag, the others convinced me to lead a 5.9 sport route whose name I didn't even know, and then wandered off to hang ropes elsewhere. Before he left I showed Eric a section of the route where I couldn't see any bolts. He said something like, "Yeah, I think that's why it's an R," and then walked away. An "R" rating on a route means there is some danger to the leader's physical self, in the same way that an "R" rating on a movie means there is danger to her purity and righteousness. Usually it indicates the presence of a sizable subsection with no protection.

But Eric was gone. "Did he say this is an R?" I asked Alice, who had agreed to belay me. She didn't know. I gotta bring my guidebook next time.

The route was fun but challenging. There is a hard bit above the second bolt, and Alice held me repeatedly while I tried this and that to get past it.

Then in the middle of the route, there is a bolt in an odd little cave where I almost took a nap, and then the blank section. Above the cave is a yoga move to get to what is essentially walking, then stemming across a narrow but deep crevice, then finally another bolt and more face & arete climbing. Not so bad except for the ankle-breaking chances. The route then goes on and on, and was as fun an interesting as it sounds -- except that I was so tired.

I now know the name of the route: It's a Wonderful Life. Amen to that.

We don't have photos of it, though.

They hung a bunch more ropes and we climbed all day. The next two are a trad line called the X Files.

First Eric...

And then Kerry!

Bill hung the rope on X-files. It has something like three alternate starts, but the most direct start was thin, a little overhung, and I don't think it has much protection. Scary stuff, especially given its rating. I would like to try it again on lead, but NOT! using that start.


I was so tired when we got back to the cars that I laid down in the (unpaved) road. Doug didn't photograph that (thank goodness), but he took several nice pics of us looking dazed. Here we are!


Then Eric wouldn't let me in the car because I was so dusty.

March 11, Global Village with the crew



I really dig Global Village. It has everything: easy sport, hard sport, and mid-to-hard trad.

We climbed Eureka! (bolted now, a new favorite easy sport lead), Father & Son (Eric led it even thought it was his first day out all year), Kentucky Pinstripe -- ack, hard moves above the first bolt -- and the two trad routes that make me sweat and drool, Vision and Jake Flake. Bill was our heavy that day -- it was good to have him, because I wouldn't have wanted to lead most of those routes. And here he is showing off his threatening eyebrows for Alice...

10 March, Fortress with Jesse


ok ok! i'm a slacker and haven't been maintaining this. maybe i'll try to catch up...

this is from the first day of an overnight red trip i took a couple of months ago. jesse wanted to cheer me up after a rockless winter, so we drove to the red & met up with a guy he knew from the redriverclimbing board. (whose name i forget! but he is leading calypso 3 in that photo, i think. he called himself a nOOb but led more solidly than i did.) we climbed at fortress all day, then jesse went home while i stayed at true north. i met up with eric & alice & bill the next day.



i didn't get a lot of pix of that day -- jesse took a video of me leading route 48, but it's a huge (!) file. this is jesse chilling on belay.



the route 48 debacle

route 48 is a 5.5 trad line with a wide crack in a bulge at the bottom and nothing to worry about above that. i placed two huge cams on the under-side of the bulge, got above it and, stemming ass-and-feet on opposite walls, sat on all my gear.

lots of metal poking me in the ass would be uncomfortable at any moment of my life, but at that moment it was particularly discomfiting. i was above decking height, and (whether it was true or not) i felt very strongly that i needed at least one piece of that gear in the crack in order to avoid death or paralysis.

i was too scared to move for a while. had a long conversation with myself that went like this: "must-pant-calm-pant-down-pant-pant-pant," over and over again. (ordinarily, i would separate myself from any conversation that even approached that level of dullness or redundancy -- not to speak of never initiating it -- but i was very focused on staying alive.) being so boring must have helped, because after a while i did feel calmer and was able to scootch up and sweep the gear out, thinking "victory! life! victory!"

but the gear was then twisted around behind me. i couldn't see any of it. how could i pick the right piece? the panic came back. so i decided to just start unhooking biners from the sling one after another and pulling them in front of my face until i got something big enough. (thinking all the while that i had about 100 pieces and that doing that was the stupidest idea ever.)

luckily i racked big-to-small that day. the first thing that came out was my #4 c4. exactly what i needed.

when i stood up from that ass-feet stem, i started laughing. the climbing was RIDICULOUSLY easy.

yeah, so if you climb this route, bring at least 3 #3 c4s (i ran out of those), and save your #4 on your LEFT HIP for just above the bulge.