Mileage

Last weekend I went climbing at Tieton and Vantage, putting a lot of miles on my car driving solo. I've added 15k to my car since getting it in August. The climbing trips have been worth it, but at current gas prices I'll need to carpool more. On Friday I drove down to Tieton and met up with a couple of Olympia old-timers Doug and Duke. It was a lot of fun climbing with them, and we got a lot of routes done for climbing in a threesome. They showed me Moon Rocks and The Chunkyard, both nice little crags which are definitely worth a return trip. I cruised a fun 10a trad route at The Cave, and sent another 10a crack at Moon Rocks with a lot more effort. I’m loving trad climbing right now, but its nice to mix it up with sport routes as well, which seem so much easier in comparison. Having said that I did fall off of an 11b at The Cave called Casting Stones. I don't normally fall off routes this grade but this one was pretty tricky, I had to do a full-reach deadpoint to a mono at the crux. Felt at least 11d to me, but it was nice being challenged and good for me to clean it up on my second go. Friday night a group of Olympia folks were headed over to Vantage, and the weather was looking a lot more promising there. So I said bye to the guys and drove the hour and a half up the road to meet everyone.

A few moments before falling off of Casting Stones, 11b

A 60m isn't quite enought to toprope Moonstruck (10a trad) so I had to belay from this tree. The jacket is Duke's.

At Vantage on Saturday we climbed at Fat Man Wall and M&M wall which were not nearly as crowded as some other areas. It was me, Sierra, Melody, Laura, Gretchen, then Shannon and a couple of her friends joined us out there, then Micah and Steph met up with us later that night. Despite waking up with a bit of a cold, I got a lot of routes in. Some of my favorites were The Pod, Cold Cut Combo, and Ridin' Sidesaddle. Although a lot of the routes at M&M seemed pretty tough for the grade. I finished up the day with a smooth send of Snake Crack a fun short 10c layback crack. 

Sierra, Me and Gretchen having a good time at M&M wall.

Sunday we weren’t sure what the weather was going to do so we headed over to Zig-Zag Wall in case we had to make a hasty retreat, but the weather turned out to be perfect all day. Zig Zag doesn’t have the most solid rock at Vantage, but despite this there are a few worthwhile routes. I got 10 routes in that day including all the bolted routes at the crag that were in my guide, and one that wasn’t. Nothing hard, but it was nice to get a lot of mileage in. Special mention should go to Micah who managed to get up quite a few routes, despite having to climb in a hefty boot because of his injury. It was a fun first big group trip of the year, I’m looking forward to more to come. This weekend I had to stay home and get school work, but I’m hoping if I pull 12 hour days this week I should be able to get out next weekend. Its only 7 weeks til I graduate, then I’ll have a lot more time to climb. I’m feeling pretty strong right now, which can only mean good things for the rest of the season.

The obligatory group shot

Trad is Rad! Sport is fun too.

Trad climbing is awesome, especially the next day. Yesterday Chas and I tradded it up at Vantage. We started out at Sunshine Wall which was a circus. It seemed like every climber in seattle and his girlfirend was out there. Chas and I both led the classic Party in Your Pants 5.8, then I did a good 10b crack. I felt good on it but there was a lot of loose rock in the crack so I wasn't to confident in my gear. It was pretty hot out in the sun and the crowds were rediculous, so we headed to Middle East Wall. I'd never climbed there before, but its a sweet wall, stays a lot cooler since its north facing, and there was barely anyone there. We led an awesome 10b finger crack called slim and curvy, we both loved it. I did a 10d trad route next, it was pretty tricky. The crux was in a shallow corner double gastoning in tiny crack that was just big enough for a size 1 nut, but not for my fingers, I was ready to take a whip, but I held it together and somehow made it to the chains. I wasn't having fun at the time, but thinking about it now my hands sweat and I want to do it again.

Today Chas had to be back in town early, but we still got out and did some fun sport routes. We did 5 routes at Moonshine Wall and Fat Man Wall and made it back to Olympia by 2. They were all really fun routes, it was a totally different feeling from climbing trad though, I actually enjoyed myself while I was on the route. I have another spring break this week, so I'm hoping to get out on another short trip later in the week, I'm psyched to get on more trad, but I'd happily settle for sport. And maybe this time I'll remember my camera.