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Carnage
Apr 6, 2010, 9:03 PM
Post #1 of 3
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Registered: Mar 27, 2007
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Me, my girlfriend (Megan) and a guy I climbed with a few times a few years ago (James) decided that Jesus being resurrected wasn’t a good enough reason to say no to climbing on a beautiful weekend. We loaded up the car Thursday night and headed out straight from work on Friday. We were super excited about climbing (none of us had been outside in about 6 months) and about the new New guidebook.
(Sorry for all the improper grammar and swearing. I am an engineer not an english major)
Day 1:
Area = Cotton Top
None of us had ever been here before. I was looking to get on a 4 star twelve and this area had one with a description that matched my climbing style. It also had a pretty sweet looking 10a (which we didn’t get to but whatever…)
Bio-Slab 5.7: Route was wet as shit. It didnt look too bad from the ground, Megan lead the first few bolts up to where the water got bad, took a few falls, and then I did it and James did it. We all agree it sucked and by the end of the trip we all agreed it was one of the hardest routes we did all weekend.
Cottonhead 5.10d: Big moves with big holds. It’s got this cool blank bit in the middle, I traversed a bit, cut feet out right, pulled up to a good intermediate then moved up to the jug. Megan did it with a sick nasty undercling stand up thing. Next move was a mandatory undercling stand up thing. The top was really good too, throwing between jugs and shit, just having fun. I got the onsight, Megan TR'ed up to the second to last jug (It was big huck to that last jug) and James hung once or twice on it.
Psycho Wrangler 5.12a: Four star route in the book so I had to get on it. It looked like giant holds through a big overhang to a tricky roof to some easier terrain. We were so fucking wrong. It was big holds near the bottom, that turned into some really hard moves (one area required you to bump your right hand 4 times in a row) to some jugs through the roof (which was easy) to this weird mini dihedral thing (which we assumed was super easy because there was plenty of space between the bolts). The route was so fucking long. I hung the shit out of it. It took me a while to figure out the quad bump beta but once I did it wasn’t that hard of a move. The next bit of jugs through the roof was pretty easy, but the dihedral thing was pretty fucking hard. I was so pumped when I got near it… It was probably 10d-11a climbing though it with lots of space in between the bolts. I hung the shit out of it on lead, grabbing 1 draw to make a clip; James hung the shit out on TR for most of the route before giving up near the top and boinking. I plan on making it back out there soon for the redpoint. The more I think about the route the more I realize how good it was.
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Carnage
Apr 6, 2010, 9:07 PM
Post #2 of 3
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Registered: Mar 27, 2007
Posts: 923
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Still day 1
Area= Beer Wall.
I’ve been to beer wall a few times in the past. It’s got some really good routes on it and I highly recommend it to anyone.
St. Pauli Girl 5.10c: I've done this route back in the day, had to hang it a few times but got through it. I was kinda hoping to get it easy this time. James roped up first, but the intro moves are probably the crux, so after taking a few falls before the first bolt, we switched off and I gave it a go. I muscled through the intro beta and made my way to the part where I remember falling. There is this giant crack thing to the right or this big feature thing to the left. I went right. The crack eventually runs out on some shitty holds. I was struggling to make the clip on the bad holds when I noticed some really good holds out left that I completely missed (I had a little flash back, I think I had made this mistake before). My hands started slipping and I went flying off. Got back up on it and went out left and finished it up. Megan figured out some bad ass beta for the intro moves next. She flew through the rest of the route, going left through the jugs, hitting the bomber crimp and pulling through the area where I ate it. She hesitated a bit before the mini roof, but downclimbed a bit to a ledge, took a good no handed rest and then pulled the roof like a pro. James pulled the rope and gave it another go. He used Megan’s pro beta for the start and got through it first go. He finished the rest of the route without any problems.
Beer wench 5.8: Megan's turn. The first part of this climb is notoriously hard so we clipped the first bolt for her (even though she really didn’t need it). She struggled a bit at the first bolt, but then found a clutch foothold and stood up with ease. Next she cruised through some easy terrain till the top section. It is this open book thing that has a jug way out of reach. You have to get your feet up pretty high, use this dish thing out right and just stand up and grab the jug. You get a minute to think and compose yourself. The jug is good from down low, but it’s flat on top so the higher you get the worse it gets. This plus no feet means there is some sort of mantel thing involved. So Megan is mantling up and looking around when I call up from the bottom reminding her to clip the bolt (I can’t really tell how far she is from the bolt). She reverses the mantle moves and goes for the clip. It’s a bit too far out of her reach. She puts a draw in her mouth and does the mantle again. She tries to get a foot on something before reaching for the clip. It pops and she comes off with a draw in her mouth. Somehow she gets spun around and the rope catches her with her butt a few inches off a ledge. The draw comes out of her mouth and lands on the same ledge. It looked bad. Me and James (who was at the top taking pics) both looked at each other with a “holy shit” kind of look on our faces. Megan had some scrapes on her arms and a bruised butt but all in all was ok. She got back up and tried the move a few more times but never felt quite comfortable. She came down and I gave the route a go. When I got to the spot I could clip the bolt from the comfy feet (where she couldn’t reach) and make the move up to this sidepull jug thing that she couldn’t reach. Being tall is fun =).
Delirium Tremors 5.11a: I’ve done this route a bunch. It’s one of my favorites. It has some trick beta at the start that took forever to figure out, and then it calms down with some really fun climbing over some roof things. My hands had been cramping all day (they would close and then get jammed closed for a few seconds) so I convinced James to give it a shot. I gave a few tips on the start (it really takes about 20 min to work out on your own) and he pulled through the moves pretty quickly. You get this sharp jug to clip the first bolt. Next you navigate this thinner-than-I-remembered section on tiny fucking holds. You throw a foot out right onto this piece that just seems to love your shoes rubber and rock out onto it. You get maybe one or two more small crimps on good feet and clip a bolt. Now the fun starts. You get jugs and good slopers till you cruise to the top. James had some trouble with the last roof thing. Turns out he was missing this sidepull. He ended up stretching super fucking far to grab the next hold and made it through it. I TR’ed it after James. I think more grunting came from me trying to open my hands that from actually climbing. Megan’s tips were getting pretty worn out so she passed
Pies and Pints: some local beers (apparently people from Fayetteville think their town is call “Fette-ville”), some pizza, and some basketball.
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Carnage
Apr 6, 2010, 9:11 PM
Post #3 of 3
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Registered: Mar 27, 2007
Posts: 923
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Day 2: (we forgot the camera for the first part of the day and only snapped a few pics on the second... sorry)
Area = Whippoorwill
Neither me nor James had ever been here. We had never been in the area when the water was low enough. We decided to give it a go in the morning since it would be in the shade. Boy are we glad we decided that, some really good climbing along with some cool views. It was probably the best area we went to all trip. We got out right when the sun was peaking around the corner of the cliff. I can’t wait to make it back here next fall/winter.
Straight outta lockmont 5.9: There were a bunch of routes in the area in the 5.6 to 5.9 range. We somewhat arbitrarily picked this one because it was far away from a huge group of noobs (fuck meetup.com). It turned out to be a fun route. Some really grippy rocks, to some bulging almost overhanging/almost vertical jughall. This route would have fit in perfectly on Orange Oswald. James went first, Megan second, me third. Fairly uneventful climb, but still super fun.
Latch key Kids 5.10a: This route had been recommended to James at Roger’s earlier that day. It looked pretty good from the ground but nothing spectacular. James lead it. 3 quick bolts lead to thin kind of tech-ey sequence, past some more jugs and stuff. You get a little breather then you get into this really weird but fun section in the upper wall. You’re expecting like good holds and stuff, but all you get are these sloper and shitty pocket type things. I think all three of us got to them and hung out for a min, then kinda said “fuck it, I guess I’ll try grabbing these shitty ones…” and pulled through it. It ended up not being as hard as you thought it was going to be, but you still felt like you were going to fall most of time. Turned out to be a super fun route, we all really enjoyed it.
Flounder 5.11a: This had a few stars on it and was just a little bit down the cliff line so we decided to give it a go. We heard from another group that it was a one move wonder with “a few little holds and a small foot that you have to rock onto”. The route looked good so I got on it. The start was super easy, up a few bolts. Then the holds stop. There is chalk on a few fucking tiny edges. I tried something but it really didn’t work and I came off (the bolt was just above my waist so there was no drama). I thought about my options for a min and then tried it again. I kept getting stuck fully stretched out with my right hand on this tiny tiny sharp edge. With my hand up there I couldn’t move my feet at all. I tried a few more things but nothing really worked. Finally I noticed this edge sticking out about thigh level on the left. This plus an idea to use my right hand where I had previously had my left got me the rock over that I needed to grab the clipping jug. The rest of the route had some cool move on it and then I got to the anchors. Megan flew up the route to the crux. She had to think about it also but ended up getting it pretty quickly. The next bit gave her some trouble just because she’s not as long as me but she got after 1 more go. James did the same, getting up to the crux, stopping to think for a few, and then pushing through to the top.
Area = Junkyard
I suck at trad, I can do it…. sorta. It’s on my “to learn” list, but I’ve never had a really good partner to show me what’s going on. I’ve been to the Junkyard once and I knew it would be in the shaded on the ground and have a super short approach. I was a little hesitant about leading on gear, but James has been around and he knows what the fuck is up, so I figured we’d be ok. Plus, there was this classic I wanted to tick off….
New Yosemite 5.9: The classic. One of the climbs everyone talks about. It’s a handcrack that people dream about. I’ve heard about it, but I’ve never gotten on it. I’m not much of a traddie, but I figured “you’re here; you have to give it a go, right?” I racked up with what James called a rack (I called it a few cams and a set of nuts) and gave it a go. James has placed a shit ton of gear so he was giving me tips as I went. The route really only goes about half way up the cliff before falling apart. Got up through most of it with two bomber pieces and then had to place an almost tipped out purple wild country friend because that was all I had. Made it through the last bit of the crack and then cruised up to the top. James TR’ed next and critiqued my pieces and Megan came up third. This was Megan’s first go at a crack so it took a few min to get going. Once she got the hang of the feet though she made some quick progress. We all thought the route was OK, but nothing that special. It was a good crack but it was really short. We all agreed it was fun, but none of us really wanted to climb it again. Dunno why it’s as popular as it is.
 Resting on a face hold... what a noob!
New river Gunks 5.7: James led this one. We were running out of time and wanted something on the easier side just to have some fun on. The guidebook spoke fondly of it. James let up about 15 feet before finding a tricky piece, then basically soloed the rest of the route until the very top where he protected the little roof thing. A fairly unspectacular climb, Megan passed because of her tips. I would not recommend this route to a friend.
Ann's Revenge 5.8: oh god epic. This route was on the way out. We figured might as well jump on it. James led again. As he started he found it to be kind of dirty. As he got to the roof and pulled through this alcove thing, he basically inhaled a bunch of dust. He bitched and wined until the top and then came down bitching about the shittiness of the route. Megan and I followed and agreed on the shittiness. Would not recommend….
All in all we had a good trip. I was happy about the 10d onsight for me along with my first 9 lead on gear. I woulda liked to have done better on that 12 but given how pumpy the route turned out to be, I can’t complain much. Megan is getting better at leading, and most importantly she’s still excited about it. James is feeling the burn after not climbing for a while. Next trip she’ll make some shit happen for sure. We all had a blast and can’t wait to get back up there.
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