Deadwater

So, I'm still working crazy hours. Many doubles and only a day or two off a week. But, I did find some time to get out to climb on Friday. I worked breakfast that morning and didn't have to work dinner. I met up with Alex and his girlfriend Phoebe and we headed out to Deadwater.

Deadwater is a pretty cool crag. It's out near Route 87 just east of exit 30. Getting out of the car and looking around, you wouldn't think that tucked just behind some trees is a 100 foot tall cliff. But, after an easy, almost entirely flat 15 minute stroll through the woods, you come upon a neat little wall. It's not, however a promontory as the name might suggest, as there is no actual water around. But for such a short approach the setting is serene and the climbing is great. What's more, the cliff was set up as a (once) secret local guiding spot, making it really easy to lower, top-rope, and just to climb in general.

We started out by doing the Variation to Geronimo (5.9). You start by climbing an offwidth (protected by bolts). Then you up to a roof with a hand crack through it. Climb that and the rest is yours! Very fun climbing indeed. I led it, then Alex did it, the Phoebe almost did it. Personally, I thought the roof was pretty tough.

After that, I Alex and I totally got spanked on Crazyhorse (5.12a), which is a mostly bolted line just to the right of where we were. It pulls three roofs, two of which are cruxes. Alex pulled the first one, and I couldn't even get established above the first roof. It was a slightly frustrating experience, given that I'd climbed the route (with some falls, of course) last year. I guess I'm out shape.

We wrapped it up by climbing Space Cowboy (5.7). It's a dang good route that follows a corner system and ends with an airy traverse. Phoebe like it so much, she climbed it twice!

I'm hoping soon that we can get out for some more climbing more frequently. There are some hard projects that are going to take some serious work if they are going to go down.

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