Pushin the envelope!!

WE both have been feeling really good about our leading recently, so Matt and I decided to try to break into the next grade. We started the day with a beautiful 5.8 called Son of Easy O and it's definitely one of my favorites in the Gunks. I led the first pitch, which follows this thin crack, up about 80 feet. It is pretty facey, and the crux is low and pretty spicy.
Matt led the next pitch, which goes through a series of roofs. Pretty pumpy, way fun.

It was so freakin hot in the sun on those two pitches, that Matt and I decided to look for a climb in the shade. And there just happened to be a perfect 5.9 in the shade for me to lead -- Ant's Line. Ant's Line is, as you can see in the picture, a perfect crack that goes straight up a dihedral. The climb is pretty vertical, and so it's pretty pumpy. Luckily, the pro is really really good. I sank in so many good cams that I felt fine climbing above my gear. It would have been a clean fall if "anything happened." In the picture, I'm just before the crux. I struggled at the crux for a while, trying to get in a good piece of gear. I had a piece in a few feet under the roof, but I wanted something directly under the roof. I fooled around for to long up there, and decided to leave what I had in there (a very marginal alien), and go for the crux move. Pulled up over the roof, and into the sunlight. It was smooth sailing from there. Woo-hoo!!

Over the summer I had heard from a guy that Wegetables was a good 10 to break into the grade with. I mentioned that to Matt, and we decided to go check it out. It's waaaaaay at the far end of the cliff, which was pretty cool. It's a whole different place down there. So Wegetables is a climb that works up face with little pro, and then immediately goes through two big roofs. There is a pretty bomber hand jam through one of them, which is always fun. Matt worked through the beginning part with no problems (I think he must have just reached through everything, because it was harder for me). He got up past the first roof well, and then got up to the second one and was trying to get in a piece of gear. He struggled for a minute, and then just went for the move. He pulled up over the roof, and finished the climb with no problem. Even though this climb is only 50 feet, it's pumpy and fun.




Here is a way cool climbing picture of Matt and me at the top of Son of Easy O