More 5.8s...

ANOTHER beautiful day, more awesome climbing. Matt and I got up early again, and went out to do Three Doves (5.8+) and Annie Oh!(5.8). We have been recently using the stairmaster, which isn't even too bad, and it saves a bunch of time.

We got to the parking lot, which was empty, walked up to the carriage road, and found our trail to the cliff no problem -- as if we were locals or something. We didn't even have to use the guide book! Woohoo! The pitches for Three Doves, which we decided to get on first, are 5.8- and 5.8+, and so I led the first pitch, and Matt led the second. It had nice fun sustained climbing the whole way with a somewhat spicey crux. I felt totally comfortable on it the whole way, which is really encouraging to me. I've also noticed that I am getting much better at knowing what piece of pro can go where. Instead of spending eons on a hold, trying to figure out how I can protect my moves, it's more that I am climbing, seeing a good spot to place gear, placing it quickly, and moving on. Very exciting.

Matt's pitch was really really good too. One of the better pitches we have climbed so far I would say. It starts off somewhat gentle, but then it turns into a nice facey, delicate climb the moves up under a roof and has a nice traverse. Really good climbing for sure.

Since Annie Oh! is right next to Three Doves, we were just going to do that right after. But, someone had started to climb it while we were on Three Doves. No worries though, there are lots of cool climbs in the Gunks. We decided to do CCK Direct, via Erect Direction.

Erect Direction goes at 5.10c, but the first pitch is a 5.8. It is a really cool and unique Gunks pitch. It has a vertical crack that goes all the way up, and it is also quite vertical. It's a 5.8, but it is pumpy. I got through it no problem, using all the draws I brought up, and placing almost all my gear too. I had a really good time on that pitch. Yay suns out guns out.

Matt's lead of CCK Direct (5.9) went beautifully. It is one of my favorite climbs that I have done in the Gunks so far, and he handled it with no problems. The only hitch was about three-fourths the way up he had placed a yellow alien, and started to climb above it. Neither of us know how, but somehow it popped out very soon after the put it in. This left him like 20 or more feet above his last piece. He placed another alien in another crack, and things were smooth again. Very fun climb!