King Wall

I've been working a lot, which isn't exactly conducive to climbing. But, I did have my (single) day off this week today and so we went out to King Wall.

There was a strong chance of rain all day, pretty much starting at 9am, so I convinced the boys to get an early start. We were up by 6 and out the door by 7, and charged up to the cliff through morning wetness. I've always heard that King Wall is the cliff that stays dry in the rain, so it seemed like a sure-fire bet.

When we got to the cliff everything looked soaking wet. Water streaks everywhere, steady waterfalls in section and just a general air of dampness. But upon closer inspection Kingdom Come (5.12A0) was dry as a bone, even with the waterfall behind it. The first pitch goes at 5.11b, and is steep and loaded with big jugs and positive crimps. A fantastic pitch of climbing. I went first and hung the draws, climbed it on-sight with no falls (woo hoo), and then Rich and Matt climbed it after.

After that we found a short trad climb that follows a right facing corner/flake. It's capped by a big roof so it too was bone dry. It was called Ellusive Dream and the first pitch was 5.10a. Rich led it and had some real excitement near the top. It's mostly a burl-fest of a climb -- strenuous laybacking on a slightly overhung feature with smeary feet. Rich plugged the last piece of gear in and went to climb up to the anchors and the gear disappeared a bit as well as the holds. At least there was a rivet in the rock that Rich could sling. He almost fell, before looking down and realizing how far away the gear was, and then decided to pull harder. He ended up doing the moves no problem.

After that we climbed Chronic Fixation which is a 5.10b clip-up. Short and pumpy with some good moves on it for sure.

'Twas a good day indeed.