lena_chita
Moderator
Aug 27, 2010, 4:14 PM
Views: 16264
Registered: Jun 27, 2006
Posts: 6087
|
Wednesday Weakness.
I get a promise that the day would be more mellow. No Hinterlands hike today! We start at the main cliff. Men in White Suites, a very mellow 5.9—then it is time for Armed, Dangerous, and off My Medication, a 5.10b that I feel an instant affinity for. Must be because of the name… The usual story—Doc hangs the draws. And I am very grateful to have them pre-hung! A weird hand-foot-match mantle gets me to the fun overhanging finish. Awesome! Photo credits go to Doc, again.
Then it is time to try something a bit harder. We hike to Bonsai crag, managing to squeeze in some trail work along the way. Doc’s management skills are obviously well- developed, and his weight keeps the branches from wiggling. Lunch break is a bonus!
Jake is offering to hang the draws on Social Outcast, a 5.12b at Bonsai crag. I get pre-hung draws, brushed key holds, and all the beta I want—all of which combined aren’t enough to make me climb it clean. I make it to the anchors though… it is doable. Just not right now. I don’t want to spend the rest of the trip working on only one route.(There, isn’t that a good phrasing, and a nice excuse for being weak?)
Right next to Social Outcast is another classic route, Peer Pressure, 5.10d. Doc hangs the first draw, and decides that he doesn’t want to do the route that invokes the crimp rage in him. Jake helpfully points out that the best way to clean this route would be on toprope, and he doesn’t really want to do it twice… I guess if I want to lead it, I am stuck hanging the draws! Probably good for me, too…
I should know by now that “classic” usually equals “stout”. I also should know better than to try and repeat the move that looks reachy for someone a foot taller than me (remember lessons from Tuesday?). But no, I attempt to do the same thing that Doc tried, and hang on the first bolt. After a couple of tries a key crimp is located, and the reachy move is conquered. But I hang again on an awkward flake at the top, and come down feeling pissed. I don’t want to do it again! To hell with it! I hate it! Jake proceeds to clean the route. When he is about half-way up, I change my mind. I WILL do it again, dammit. Please, Jake? Jake starts down-climbing and hanging the draws back, not a single word of complaint. Peer pressure goes down, my mood goes up, and Jake climbs it again to clean.
Up until that moment, we have been enjoying the complete solitude. It felt like no one else was on the entire mountain. But it wasn’t true, of course, a few climbers wander in, then a few more, and before I can blink every route at Bonsai is occupied. “Let’s go over to Darth Vader,” suggests Jake. But I want to do Centerpiece, another 5.10d at Bonsai. So we take a lunch break and wait in line—only one time in the whole week that we had done that! The wait was worth it!
Doc has to leave… we say good-byes, and Jake and I head to Waimea, a wall we had not visited yet. It is beautiful! Unlike the rest of Rumney rock, which looks rather plain, the Waimea looks like a beautiful frozen multicolored stone wave. And the climbers look… well, we know what good climbers look like, so let’s not waste words! We admire the view, and I climb Waimea, at 5.10d the easiest route at the crag, and well worth the walk. We decide to come back after a rest day to try Luau, a beautiful-looking 5.12.
As usual, Jake still has more energy than the Energizer Bunny, so we do a “cool-down” route, Yoda. (Why are 5.9s so hard here?). The route is fun, but the main reason why we did is was b/c Jake wanted to clean up the old rusty quicklinks at the anchors that were left behind when the new anchors were put in. He quickly discovers that the old quicklinks are rusted in place and won’t come out even with a wrench. He wows to return with bolt cutters next time.
(This post was edited by lena_chita on Aug 31, 2010, 12:24 AM)
|
