First and foremost, we saw snow for the first time on Whiteface. The mountain is covered all the way to mid-station. Woah. The weather here has been spotty, but since it is also so localized, we have been able to climb pretty much every day.
Yesterday Rich, Colin and I went to Poko. Rich had never been before so we started with the Sting, the classic crack line just next to Gamesmanship. He crushed it, no problems. Colin followed to warm up for Karmic Kickback which we had done last week. He wanted to lead it, having sent the other 5.11b dihedral (God's Grace) just next to it. Karmic is awesome. So sustained...all the way to the top. He got up past the eighth bolt, just one bolt away from sending, and just barely came off. Definitely a great effort though.
After that, Colin had to leave, so Rich and I decided to get some mileage in and planned on simul-climbing The Snake 5.4, 380 feet. We simuled the first 280 feet (awesome) until I ran out of slings. I belayed at a tree ledge, and spotted a sweet looking line of bolts. It looked doable, so I went for it. Such a fun climb. It felt like Kentucky sport climbing. Steep rock, good holds for the most part, sustained, with a definite crux. Really great. It even had a series of moves that involved three separate underclings. 'Dats what I'm talkin' 'bout. Turns out, we climbed the third pitch of Pandemonium (5.10b). Highly recommended pitch.
As for the new route. The day before yesterday, the weather forecast was bad. Rich had some life errands to run, and Colin had the morning off, so we went for a quick session at Beaver Brook. I climbed the last route I hadn't done (Good to the Last Drop), which was excellent, and Colin climbed Save a Tree...
When I got back to the house, Rich was already back from the DMV/bank. "Let's go up to Potter and do Leroy," Rich said. "Done," I said. It was already 2:30 in the afternoon at that point, so we needed to hussle. Furthermore, we had hear that this route was haaard, so we brought all the aid gear. Rich hadn't aided anything before, and it had been a while since we did and FAing, so we were both super psyched to head up there.
Leroy Brown is a crack climb in the "Ghetto" of Potter Mountain Cliff. It follows a right slanting crack system that also forms a little roof. Sustained, no feet, steep, sometimes good jams, sometimes not -- and a hard crux low. We only did one 100 foot pitch, but there is definitely more above. The 100 feet that we did do was awesome!
Aiding is slow. And we didn't get started until late. We had planned on Rich aiding and cleaning, and then I would try to second it cleanly. First of all, the climbing was too hard for me to onsight (but it will definitely go soon), and by the time Rich had finished, it was dark. Like, I put my headlamp on while Rich was still climbing. So by the time I was climbing, I couldn't see much. It's gonna be sick.
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Rich had this write-up of the new climb...
News from the Ghetto. Yesterday, with the colder temps and shitty weather, Jesse and I headed up to the impressive Leroy Brown crack, previously tried by Joe and Tom, and were successful in aiding the pitch and getting the hard parts of the climb scrubbed while on aid. That makes for +1 to the team nasty first ascent list, and the game is now underway for this thing to be free climbed. As a result of a late start and some pretty serious scrubbing efforts, Jesse seconded on TR but was required to use his headlamp. He completed the pitch primarily free climbing, but for the sake of time he pulled on a few pieces of gear. Even if it had been warm and sunny, our thoughts would remain the same: this crack is beautiful, and due to its serious traversing nature under a roof, a-typical for silver lake. And It is definitely going to be hard, probably 11+. Jesse made the potential comparison to "It's Only Entertainment" at the web. The crack offers decent jams simply because the pitch is so steep, though it will certainly be strenuous and sustained climbing for the first 65 to 70 feet. During this section of the climb the feet are fairly non-existent, forcing the climber to make some hard lay-back moves while bringing their feet back into the crack. The climbing and the angle ease up for the last 30 feet, but this section still offers an excellent 5.9+ hand crack that currently requires a bit more cleaning.
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