10,000 Restless Virgins / Carbs and Caffeine

On one of the really hot days last week, Matt and I rode our bikes from the parking lot at the cliff way down to the other end to the Sleep Hollow area. There is a climb there that we saw last fall that just looked so good. It's called 10,000 Restless Virgins and it's a 10d. It's is more or less 5.9 corner climbing for 50 feet, and then you pull an enormous roof followed immediately by another small overhang. Matt gave it the first go, and with one hang (at the roof) he sent. He came down and then top roped it and cleaned the gear out so I could lead it. I sent it first go -- turns out that having beta (both gear and otherwise) is extremely helpful. Super fun climb.

After that we went to the Yellow Wall. There has been a climb there that I have been eying for quite some time. Carbs and Caffeine 11a. The first crux is protected by two bolts, even if they are a little manky. The climb itself is steep. Really steep. And the holds are small. So you're climbing up this jug haul at the start, and you start to move up and left, and then the first crux is there. Big moves on small holds and steep rock. But its protected by bolts, so it's not really that scary. (There were actually three bolts, one was rusted and chopped off. The one that replaced that one was pretty shiny, but it was spinning quite a bit. And the third one looked to be about as old as the first one, only it hadn't been chopped. Consequently, I backed up the first bolt with a micro nut.) Once through the first crux there are some balancey moves there are pretty run out. Then you get into some steep stuff again. In the book, this part says 5.10c if you are short, 5.11a if you are tall. You more or less have to get up under a roof, and then traverse out underneath it. But the cliff drops off after like 2 feet, so you are sort of crab-walking out under this roof with tiny hands and smearing feet. The climb went really well. I fell once on the first bolt -- beta; and I fell several times at the second crux -- pump. And actually, there is an optional belay right before the second crux. After trying the moves and falling off a couple of times, I gave the lead to Matt and he finished it.

Super fun day. And now I have a project.

What about boulders?

I like bouldering. I've recently been on a bouldering kick, and one problem in particular grabbed my attention. It's called the Village Idiot, and it goes at V7. I'd seen some video of it a while back and thought to myself "That looks good." But it kind of wandered out of my mind soon after that. On a recent trip to Peter's Kill, however, my interest was re-sparked. I'd never actually seen the problem in real life before, but on that first viewing, I knew it was a beautiful line. I decided this was going to be my first summer project.

The first day I worked on it, I was with Matt. It's got kind of a sketchy landing at the top-out section, and the spotter has to be right on. So the first session I just kind of worked out the moves and Matt worked out spotting beta (Matt has some tendonitis flaring in his elbow, so he hasn't been bouldering much). It's got great moves on it. You start under this roof on huge holds, feet kind of thigh-mastering/smearing on each side of an arete. Then you reach up over the roof with a cross onto a pretty good hold. Match your heel on the same hold your starting hand is on; crimp; mail-slot; heel hook; through to a small half-pad three finger pocket/crimp; heel to toe; up over an over-hang to a crimp; match; bicycle feet; throw for a jug; top out! That's what I'm talking about. After about half a dozen sessions and probably about 50 tries, I sent it. Woo Hoo!!

Here are some photos:

Crushing.

So, I haven't been very devoted to the old blog as of late. But that's because I've been busy climbing! With Charlie, Connor, Ian, Matt and myself all living in the same house, there is never a time when someone doesn't want to go climbing. We have been climbing all the time. Climbing climbing climbing climbing. And when we aren't climbing we are talking about climbing. This of course has been very productive in the way of getting strong. It is so much fun pulling on hard climbs in the Gunks. Recently we have just been crushing 5.10s. We have done Beatle Brow Bulge, Face to Face, Birdie Party, Stirrup Trouble and Fickle Fingers, all of which are 5.10s. Last week we set up a photo shoot for Charlie and Connor on Modern Times. We got there via Directississima (Doubleissima). It was a revenge climb for me -- two weeks before that I led it and took a massive whipper at the crux on my second smallest piece of gear. On my second go, I crushed it. It's certainly the most sustained 5.10 I've done, and it's probably my most favorite send of the season.

Speaking of setting up photo shoots, just a couple of days ago we all went out and we set up a photo shoot on Welcome to the Gunks (5.10b). This has been a climb that has loomed in the distance for me. It has been there, staring at me, waiting. It's got a certain reputation of being scary, airy and hard. There are a total of five roofs on the route, all pretty substantial. And on top of that it has a 5.9+ R section where if you blow it, you could hit a ledge. The gear you have is more or less at your feet, and you have to sort of mantel on some slopers right before the second roof. I think that was both the mental and physical crux of the climb -- I'd say all of the roofs go at like 5.9+, none of them as hard as, say, Grim-Ace Face. My best on-sight to date. For sure.

And continuing with the crushing, just yesterday Connor and I got up at like 6:30 to beat the heat, and we did Art's Route (5.9), Wegatables (5.10a), Simple Suff (5.10b) and Birdcage (5.10). Yay crushing.

Here are some of the photos from Welcome to the Gunks.