Yesterday Laura and I had a nice day out just the two of us up to Port Angeles. We borrowed Jimmy's Olympic Mountains climbing guide and checked out the sport crag Elwa Wall. It was a two and a half drive to get there, but the drive up the Olympic Peninsula was beautiful and listening to NPR made the ride go by really fast. The approach to the crag is awesome, you get out of your car walk across a dam (which is slated to be dismantled soon) and your there. It is a beautiful crag, a very scenic setting with cool rock formations. The rock is sandstone which we don't get to climb on much around here. However the rock is not of the highest quality it is very sandy, which makes the routes feel quite a bit harder than they should. For example what should be a good flat jug feels like a nasty sloper covered in ball-bearings when its sandy. We warmed up on a 5.9 that I had to shout down to Laura to watch me on it a couple of times (not a good sign), she led it as well but decided she'd be happier on toprope for the rest of the day. There were some great climbs though, I did one called The Breeze which the guide lists as 5.10, it felt about solid 10c to me, great steep climbing on a meandering wall that gives a good pump. I also did a fun 5.11 (felt about 11c) called 'It Goes' that had a bit of everything, thin face climbing, jugs, and gave a good healthy pump. The most memorable route of the day was Empty Space which the climb lists as 5.10b?, and says "The most outrageous climb at the Elwa! Undercling the roof's edge until your feet are above your head-then what? Local beta may help on this one." I got on it and managed to get to the chains with a combination of body bars, head jams, horizontal mantelling and a very painful wide stem. The only thing I've done that comes close to it would be the 5.12 horizontal roof climbs at Ozone, but this one felt harder! This climb is the definition of a sandbag! Below are a few photos of me cleaning the draws on it on toprope.
I lead 8 climbs in total, which is pretty good for a few hours. It was nice just going out the two of us, since we climb very efficiently together and its less stress. We had dinner in at a place in Port Angeles called The Cornerhouse which I would recommend before we drove back down the road to Olympia as the sun set over the mountains. It was a good day out.
