Craggin'

ON such a hot day, it's hard to sit on a belay ledge in the baking sun. So Matt and I decided to do some single pitch climbs today, or, at least the first pitch of a lot of climbs. We started on a 5.9- pitch called Higher Standard. I led it, and boy was it fun. It is pretty facey, and lots of crimping, with some exciting runouts. Also, the crux, I felt, was really beta intensive. I tried so many different variations of pulling it, and I couldn't seem to figure it out. I had really good gear, but I was still really nervous to take a fall. After getting completely pumped, I had Matt take. I didn't want to do it, but I just had to. After resting, I tried a different sequence, and pulled it with relative easy. I just had to have the right feet and right hands. Really cool climb.

After that, we met up with Matt's friend from Mohonk, Marc, And Matt led MF, which is THE 5.9 Gunks standard. He looked really good on lead. Pulled the crux with no problems. I followed him, and actually didn't pull the crux. I got up too high into the roof, and couldn't reach the sidepull, and fell off. I went back to below the crux, and pulled it on the second try. Marc went up third and pulled it with no problems.

After that, Marc led a the first pitch of Birdie Party, which goes at 5.8+. The crux is real close to the bottom, and is really fun. Marc had a bunch of Micro BD cams, so it was fun to see those in action. (I want some.) I followed it and it was a really fun climb. So fun, that I actually decided to let the rope get half way pulled through the chains, with a knot in the end. I got to re-lead the bottom part of the climb. That crux is spicy on lead. Woo hoo!

After that Marc suggested a climb called The Spring. Matt lead the first pitch, which goes at 5.9. He led it with ease, and Marc and I toproped it. After that I clipped a directional and we toproped a climb called The Fall, which goes at 5.11a. I went straight from The Spring onto the Fall, so I could get a nice pump, and sent it, no takes, no falls. Yeheah!! Awesome day of climbing.