The Rain

It's raining again. I mean seriously what the hell? This has been the wettest ^$%#^%$@#$23!! year and it is really beginning to get tiresome. On average it rains like between 45 and 50 inches every year. This year it has rained at least 70 inches, maybe closer to 80. Absurd. Atrocious. Abhorrent. Contemptible. Offensively repugnant. Rant Rant rant rant rant rant rant rant. Angerzaurus Rex.

Hard climbing

So I've been working a lot recently. Like, a lot a lot. And while that is no excuse for not posting, I'm gonna role with that excuse anyway. That said, I have been climbing a little bit.

Last Wednesday I got out with a guy I recently met who lives in Patagonia. He does first ascents in the Torres del Paine region of Patagonia and is super hard core. He's also fun to climb with. He was up here in the Gunks to give a slide show and do some stuff at home and had a few free days to go rock climbing. And rock climbing we did.

We started out the day with a warmup on Boldville (5.8) and The Winter (5.10d), which are always super fun and super classic. I think The Winter could be one of the best corner climbs in the Gunks (although perhaps Simple Stuff could rival it). The other cool part about doing those climbs on that particular day was that Rich Romano was around doing some routes. It's always fun to watch someone climbing with a harness that is a swami belt made out of 1 inch tubular webbing. It's also fun to see a local legend as well.

After the warmup, I got on Uphill All the Way/The Man Who Fell to Earth (5.12a). I'd never been on it before, but I've been really wanting to give it a try. Since it was right there, I gave it a go. The line follows an arching crack/corner/roof feature. the crack itself is never very big, and consequently the holds aren't that good and the gear is small. After working up the initial 30 feet or so, you move right and do some hard stand up moves. After that pull the roof on some crimps and it's all over. Very much fun. On the onsight attempt I got to the hard standup move and wasn't feeling that psyched on the gear. So I took a hang, found another piece of gear and repositioned a piece, and then climbed to the top after that. Second attempt (with the gear still in), I crushed. Here is the vid:

After that, Andrew gave the Sting (5.11d) a try. I gave him the gear beta, and he got all the way to the last move on his first try. I cleaned it up, and we moved on to the Yellow Wall (5.11c). I'd only been on it once before, and I'd never led the first roof pitch, so I was psyched to get back on it. Boy is it fun. I sussed out the crux once, and came back to a rest, and then fired it after that. Romano was watching from a distance, turns out, and he came over and said "Huh. Left heel hook aye? I've always used a right." To each their own I suppose.

After that we cooled down on Ant's Line (5.9), feeling really quite worked. But all in all it was one of the harder days of climbing I've done in a while. 5.8, 5.10d, 5.12a, 5.11d, 5.11c, 5.9. All after seven days in a row of work!