A full rainy day

SUNDAY night I had made plans to go climbing with a guy named Ian. Matt had met Ian (a student at St. Mike's) in Mexico on a climbing trip, and found out later that he was going to be living in the gunks, post graduation, as a climbing guide. So, what's a climbing guide do on his days off? Goes climbing, of course!

The weather, however, was not very cooperative. It had rained all sunday night, and I figured there was no chance of climbing. There was even some rain early morning. I called up Ian though, and asked him what he thought. "Definitely worth checking out" was the response.

I was feeling pretty good about leading and decided I was ready to try out a 5.7. Matt was at work and was going to meet up with us later, so Ian and I decided to get on Arrow and Limelight. These two mega-classics are right next to each other, and both have some sick climbing.

We did Arrow first, which is rated 5.8, but the first pitch goes at 5.6. I led this, but was never really sure if I was on route (later, we figured I was on the whole way). Good climb. Gear was sparse at times. I'm starting to realize that that's what Dick Williams PG gear rating means. Ian led the second pitch, which has a real saucy crux, right at the end, above a nice spinning bolt. Woo-hoo! Oh, and also, the clouds were whipping right over the cliff when we got done with Arrow. You could see all the thermals that the birds play in -- very neat!

Got down from Arrow, took a few steps to the left, and got on Limelight. Limelight is a 5.7 PG, and Dick Williams describes it as "Wonderful climbing on beautiful clean rock!" He's right. Ian led the first pitch, 5.6-, with no problems. At one part of the climb he got to place the #3 and #4 BD cams consecutively. Pretty bomber. I got on the second pitch and handled it fairly well. It started to rain a little bit when I got up to the cruxy spot, but that just made it all the more interesting. It took me a while to figure out the crux, but eventually I got through it, hakuna matata.

I think 5.7 is a good spot for me right now. My homework for the week is to figure out all the 7's I want to do. (Not bad homework, aye?) Limelight was just saucy enough to get me excited, but not so much that I was a head case.

After getting down from Limelight, we went and met up with Matt. We decided to stay in the Uberfall area, in case it started raining. Matt led Ken's crack, which is a 5.7, but nice and sustained climbing through the whole (albeit, short), climb. Williams is funny in his description: "A beautiful crack climb that is often the toprope scene of exasperated beginners, who will use desperate face holds to avoid the seemingly insecure finger crack. Ken led this with just one long ice piton placed about half way up -- wow!" I seconded it, and we scrambled down.

In passing, Ian had mentioned earlier that there was a 10b that he wanted to get on that had a G protection rating. After Ken's I causally mentioned, in passing, that he should get on it. He said sure. The climb was called P38. It's a two star 5.10b with a G pro rating, and it is a very heady climb. The first 40 or so feet of climbing is where all the fun is, and it's mostly this weird shaped crack next to the smooth facey stuff (a lot of water runs over this spot). Ian started the climb, grunting and slamming in pretty bomber nuts, and an alien. He got up to the crux, sank a #8 stopped, and started to climb above it. "You got it! Come man, you're almost through it! Come on you got it!" I yelled up to him as he worked the crux. He was on the last hold, and he yelled,"I don't got, I don't got it! Falling!" I was looking up to a falling rack of cams and a big human body, and then the rope tightened, he swung to the wall and was caught by the #8. All in all it was probably a 10 foot fall or so. Pretty legit. I got to toprope it after and did it clean. Very exciting!