Doubleissima/Lakatakissima are hard...

THERE comes a time in a trad climber's life where one loses his or her grip, or, maybe he gets pumped and can't hold on any more, or, maybe even the hold she goes for isn't as good as she thought, and -pop- of they come, falling in the air, hoping that last piece of gear was as good as it looked. I learned that first hand yesterday. So did Matt.

I've been kind of pushing Matt a little, and I convinced him to get on Directississima (or as it is sometimes called, Doubleissima). It's a 10b right next to High Exposure on steep rock and little holds. Super good climb. I led the first pitch, which goes at 5.8. It is a short guy that just gets you ready for the meat pitch. I led it no problems, and built a belay. Matt started up the second pitch, and was able to plug lots of gear in real low. He had some trouble almost right away and did some hanging. He eventually worked up to a ceiling, and got a good nut in, started to climb up over and was half way over and tried to place a cam. His hold wasn't very good, and so he quickly clipped the cam he was trying to place back on his harness, and almost at that exact moment popped off the climb. The nut held, I got pulled up a little bit, and in the end everything was good. It was probably a seven foot fall or so, so not too bad. He tried the move again and this time was successful. After that he cranked to the top. Aside from getting super pumped, I followed with no problems.

We decided to finish on Lakatakissima, which is a 5.8 pitch just to the right of the third pitch of Doubleissima. It's a finger crack that pulls through a roof. It has a great gear rating, and it nice and steep. I rested a bit after the pump from Doubleissima, and then started up. I got up to the roof no problems, and got in a marginal .4 cam. I started to pull up over the roof and slammed in a .5 cam right above the roof. I started to pull the roof, and I was on horrible holds, and I just popped off. I knew an instant before it was going to happen that it actually was going to happen, so I yelled 'Falling!' The cam held, and Matt caught me no problems. The experience wasn't nearly as scary as I thought it would be. One minute I was on the rock and the next I was hanging from the rope on a cam. The second time I tried to pull the move I found an awesome hold that made the move almost easy. After that it was smooth sailing.

Three cheers for the gear actually working! Who woulda though?!