3.30.10
Busy Tuesday at Roadside Parking Area
We were wheels up around 06:30 and had and unusual NE wind that helped get us to Mt. Sterling, KY in about 3 hours. After picking up the dropped off rental car and driving into Slade on the famed Mountain Parkway, we chose to hit the Roadside Crag for a solid half-day of climbing. We got to the cliff around 13:00 (1 pm) and did an “easy” day just go get mileage in. We did the following:
- Roaside Attraction (5.7 5-star Trad)
- Five Finger Discount (5.8 4-star Trad)
- A.W.O.L. (5.10a 4-star Sport)
- Crazy Fingers (5.10c 4-star Sport)
- Pulling Pockets (5.10d 4-star Sport)
- Fadda (5.10a 4-star Sport)
We wanted to get on Andromeda Strain (5.9+ Trad) but the description and the look of the route made us wait to try and get on it after it had a chance to dry out. We ran into a nice guy who just moved to the area to work as a snake handler at the local reptile zoo (which doubles as a snake venom milking facility) who we made loose plans to climb with. Don and I then packed up and went to the hotel and realized the restaurant was closing so we then went down to Miguel’s to revel in the Gorge’s climbing scene and plan the next day.
Don on the lower section of Earthsurfer (5.11d)
3.31.10
We decided to head into Muir Valley with our new found snake handling friend. Specifically we went to The Hideout for the 5-star route Boltergeist. We climbed the following:
- Moots Madness (5.10a 3-star Sport)
- Boltergeist (5.10b 5-star Sport)
- Bushwhacked (5.10+ 3-star Mixed)
- Preemptive Strike (5.10c 4-star Sport)
- Earthsurfer (5.11d 4-star Sport) [Greg only w/1 fall; Don climbed first half of route below crux)
At the end of the day, we hit up Miguel’s again with our reptilian wrangler friend and had a good day overall (probably my favorite day of the trip; mellow, enjoyable, and no stress)
4.1.10
Don and I resolved to trad climb today and we set our sights on the Long Wall specifically the two 5-star routes Autumn & Rock Wars. I think this is when things started to catch up to us. I know I didn’t sleep much that night and we were directly in the sun and the temps were over 80 degrees. We didn’t get a lot done, but we were also climbing “harder”. Here’s what we did:
- Autumn (5.9- 5-star Trad)
- Rock Wars (5.10a 5-star Trad)
- The Gift (5.12a 5-star Sport) [Greg led to 6th bolt (above first technical crux, below upper power crux) after two falls and then bailed]
After I bailed on The Gift we wasted a lot of time trying to figure out what to do and then finally settled on just running up a nearby 5.10b sport route, Boom! Boom! Out Go the Lights. We both made it only to the second bolt and then finally bailed on the route due to sensitive skin and what felt like incredibly sharp rock that took any pleasure out of the experience. I just want to say the the Trango Squid is an awesome device that allows you to clean fixed quickdraws with ease. I think you can make a similar setup with a work clamp, but for $30 the squid is worth it to me. We retreated back to the hotel restaurant for dinner and made our plan for the next day; to climb for a half-day and then pack it up and head home.
4.2.10
We woke up early and headed off to Pebble Beach with Central Scrutinizer (5.9 5-star Trad) & Brontosaurus (5.10b 5-star Trad) being the main objectives. Here’s what we did there:
- Scabies (5.9+ 3-star Sport)
- Central Scrutinizer (5.9 5-star Trad)
- Environmental Impact (5.7 4-star Trad)
- Straight-Edge (5.12a 3-star Sport) [Greg attempted, bailed at the first bolt…no go juice]
- Brontosaurus (5.10b 4-star Trad)
I pretty much hit the wall on Environmental Impact. My feet were really sore and I was climbing horribly to do whatever I could to not use my feet. I made it to the first bolt on Straight-Edge and just didn’t really feel like I had it in me to try and push through, so rather than hijack the rest of the day I bailed, only to get schooled on Brontosaurus. I just didn’t have the go juice to get through that without falling, thankfully seconding the pitch. I didn’t sleep well the night before and the aggregate exhaustion of the trip and the 80 degree weather of these past two days hit all at once. Thankfully, after Brontosaurus we were heading to the car and the airport.
All in all this was a much better trip for me in terms of performance. I didn’t suffer from the fall anxiety of the last trip at all and I managed to push myself on to a couple of really hard (for me) climbs. Don and I discussed it and I agree with him that the next trip I need to bang out as many 11s as possible to become rock solid at that grade. In all I took back a greater sense of what I’m capable of and a bigger ticklist for some climbs I want to try to attempt here at the home crag in the Adirondacks. We’ll see how this goes.