GroupWBench

Ivy, Tom, and I went up to Moore’s Wall for a day on the rocks Sunday. The weather was great and we had a good time on the rock.

We started with Washboard, A 5.6 that Ivy and I wanted to climb the last time we were here. It turned out to be too cold on the mountain that day and we decided to give it up before we even started climbing. It was plenty warm on Sunday and we had fun on the climb. It is pretty easy and has a nice steep section with big incut holds.

 

Here is a picture of Ivy moving to get around the big roof.

After rapping back down and have a minor bout of goat ropery in pulling stuck ropes down, we went over to do Air Show. Air Show is in the book as a hard 5.8. It is pretty hard compared to most climbs at that rating. It is very overhung and exposed almost all the way up. I have been on easier sport climbs that were rated 5.10.

 

Tom did a great job of leading the climb. He took a while, but never faltered. Ivy started up the second pitch of the climb but had some trouble at the first of the two crux sequences. She got pretty tired and decided to lower off.

 

I started the climb feeling strong and pulled through the first crux easily. Then I had to down climb it half way to try to pull a piece of gear that had walked way back into the crack. I ended up having to lower down even more so that I could finally get the cam out by pulling it down and around. When that was finished I had veins popping in my forearms and ninety feet of overhanging climbing to go. I got up to the second crux, a big open book dihedral and spent roughly forever thrashing around and hanging on the rope. I decided to try one last time before prussiking up the rope. Somehow I back stepped and chimneyed and ooched up. I don’t know how I did it now. By the time I got to the top, my hands were so tired I couldn’t hold on to anything for more than a few seconds. Tom had a laugh as I struggled over the edge at the top.

 

Here are a few pictures Ivy took of me putting on an Air Show. This one is me pulling the first crux spot.

 

This next one is me in the middle of the second crux as I finally pulled through it. What you don’t see is the dozen or so shots of me falling and hanging in my harness there. Also, notice the very straight line of the rope I’m trailing. It is hanging straight down, well away from the rock.

 

 

I’ll have to come back and do a better job on that climb, but I think my forearms need a month or two of rest first.