Chasing the Shade at Tieton

Well if the theme of last weekends trip to Tieton was dodging the rain, then this weekend it was seeking the shade. Micah and I decided to head back out there just the two of us since there was still so many crags there we wanted to check out. Laura couldn't make it this time because she had already committed to play a gig with her band this weekend. We left Oly around 4pm on Friday, and had just enough daylight when we arrived to get in a couple of pitches at Lava Point. Micah managed to onsight an 11d there, which is a big deal for him, it was good to see Micah keep his cool on the onsight. We set up camp at a sweet free spot we scoped out last week and got a raging fire started when our friends Greg and Sarah arrived.

Saturday morning we decided to take Greg and Sarah up to Lava Point, we figured it was a good intro to Tieton. They got in a couple of pitches each despite suffering from giardia. Unfortunately we couldn't stay there long since it the cliff was basking in the sun, the guidebook lied and said its shady til noon. Micah and I did get in another 11d though, a hard bouldery start to a cruiser finish, we both sent it second go. After a midday siesta we headed up to a new crag South Fork. The approach was a lot more involved than we expected, it took about 45 minutes from our campsite most of that on dirt roads. It didn't leave too much time for climbing which was too bad cause this cliff is amazing. Its 100+ft tall and gently overhanging, very reminiscent of Word Wall I at Little Si, but maybe even more inspiring. Micah and I warmed up then got on a sweet 14 clip 11b which Micah onsighted. There were a few projects with hanging draws to the right that looked in the 5.12 range but we just didn't have enough time to check them out if we wanted to get back to the car before dark. Definitely a wall to come back to.

Sunday morning we said bye to Greg and Sarah, and headed down the road to check out another new crag, Rainbow Rocks. The guidebook describes the approach as 20 minutes hike up a game trail, which is seriously misleading. I would describe it as a 45 minute slog up loose rubble, it was brutal. When we finally got to the cliff I wasn't even psyched to climb. The climbs were decent I guess, I would probably go back if it were roadside. We got a few pitches in before the sun hit and we hiked/slid/fell back down the slope. In the afternoon we headed up to Honeycomb Buttress to get on the 5.13 project there that was in the shade. I got on it and was immediately impressed, the first move is a huge reach (or dyno) from jug to jug, then its 3 clips of powerful yet intricate 5.12 climbing with strenuous clips, at the forth bolt there are a series of bad slopers on an overhang with no feet. I hung a lot here and couldn't pull off the moves, after that there are a few more hard big moves then another 5 clips or so of sustained 5.11+ climbing which feels pretty hard when you're pumped. We worked it for a couple of hours and I managed all the moves on it except for the heinous sloper sequence at the 4th bolt, definitely an inspiring line and one to come back to when I'm stronger. Micah wanted to get in another climb so headed up a nasty 11b slab which he pitched off of below the chains, I went up to finish it and just barely held on, it wasn't pretty. That evening we decided would be our last here so we collected a ton of firewood and got a raging fire going, I had an 18 pack of Keystone Ice we had to get through, we made a valiant effort but it was probably a good thing for our climbing that we couldn't finish them all.

Monday morning we woke up surprisingly sober, the cooler temps and refreshing breeze helped. We packed up and headed out to The Cave climbing area. The Cave is a sweet crag that has three distinct walls, all of which are good, and hard no matter what the ratings say. Micah struggled up a 5.8 and fell off an 11a, while I had a battle with a 10b, I got up it but I swear it must be a typo in the guidbook it felt 11b at least. The Oak Wall was in the shade so Micah picked out a hard looking 12a to go for the onsight of. The bouldery crux was low on this climb and you could stick clip the first bolt. Micah screamed his way up it, I was sure he was coming off on every move, but he held it together for the onsight! Probably his hardest onsight to date, to say he was pleased would be an understatement! We finished up the day with a couple more 11's, there are still plenty more to get on here, some of which look absolutely amazing. All in all it was a productive trip I got in 20 new routes which takes my tally for the year up to 188 and counting. Below are some photos from the trip that I'm too lazy to caption, so you can make up your own captions.

5.13 Eh?

On Saturday I climbed Crawling From the Wreckage my second ever 5.13 rated route, my first in North America. It all began last Friday, I caught a ride up to Exit 38 with Micah, Nick, Erica and Greg. We hiked up to Bob's Area where we warmed up on a couple of 10's at Lost Resort. Micah really wanted to check out the 13a there that we had seen a couple of years ago. It was a lot different than I had remembered, a lot steeper and harder looking. Its 20 degrees overhanging the whole way, very featured but it looks like all the holds are sloping the wrong way. Once we were warmed up I volunteered to go first and put up the draws. The start is really nice, the first three clips are technical 5.10+ climbing to a good rest below the third clip. Then from there you bust straight into the crux, which is a V4 deadpoint move to a small three finger crimp, except that on my first go I had no idea how to do the move, it wasn't until later that I figured out a sequence that worked there. From there you make a series of big moves off of small but positive holds, its really fun climbing. Then you get to a point where you have to use two bad opposing pinches to slap up to a big sloper, that is probably the redpoint crux, then from the sloper you have to make a hard clip and then its a series of crimpy moves up to a victory jug, which is still really hard when your pumped. I managed to put up all the draws and get to the chains on my first go which was a good mental barrier to overcome so quickly. Micah took his turn and we exchanged beta, refining our sequence. Nick then showed up from warming up with Erica down below, and he hopped on. He loved it as well, making good progress using our beta. We were all feeling pretty worked by then so figured we better move on and try some easier stuff. I decided to toprope it one last time, to take out the bottom draws and replace some so that we had leaver draws for the next time we got on it. I surprised myself by getting it clean on toprope, which was definitely a confidence booster. We moved on up the hill to some other crags, but Micah and I vowed to come back to work on this route more. Up at Slumbersome Ridge we did a handful of other routes which were good fun, we had the whole crag to ourselves. Erica had the idea to bring a stove and food up to make a curry which at first I thought was pretty crazy, but it was really nice eating some good food and some wine before the walk down.

Micah on the technical start of Crawling from the Wreckage

Mmm dinner!

The next day Micah and I were really tired, but we knew we had to go back up there and strike while the iron was hot. Laura came along too and the three of us made the long hike up again. The day got off to a good start with Laura redpointing her project at Amazonia on the way up, an 11a that she looked really smooth on. When we eventually made it up to the climb I was absolutely exhausted, I wasn't even sure if I would get on the climb. But after a bit of a rest and some food, we warmed up on some other climbs then went for it. I had been going over the beta in my head the whole walk up so I knew I had the sequence dialed. I got up to the rest at the 3rd clip took a shake, looked up at the moves ahead and went for it. The next few moves went by so quickly and before I knew it I was on the sloper making the crux clip, just a few more moves to go, I wasn't even feeling that pumped. I got up to the victory jug, but I didn't celebrate yet, I wanted to make sure I clipped the chains first, and I did! Project sent! It was more of a relief to have it sent first go of the day, as I knew I probably couldn't match that attempt again on that day, its short but really intense. Micah was shocked that I did it so quickly, and part of me felt that I had let him down in a way by not working on it longer with him, but I was really glad to have it done. Micah gave it a few goes with long rests in between, but he was having trouble keeping the pump at bay going into the crux. We tried a couple other climbs at Peannacle during his rests, and Laura managed an onsight of a 10d there! This was her hardest onsight in over a year, so understandably she was really pleased. Micah didn't manage the send on that day, but he has the sequence down, so it is only a matter of time now.

You'll get it soon Micah!

Double Whammy

Friday was a beautiful day outside, it was one of those days that makes you glad to be a climber. There were five of us heading out, (the third trip in a row where I went out with 5 people in a car) Me, Laura, Melody, Micah and Greg. The plan was to do both Little Si and Exit 38 in a day. We had a late start cause it was really hot out (90 degrees) and we wanted to wait til the crags were in the shade. It worked and we were the first to arrive at World Wall I just as it was going in the shade. Micah gave PC7 a good burn, falling just two moves from the victory jug, which is really good considering the temps. Laura stepped up and repeated both 5.9's there, Reptiles and Devil's Advocate, she cruised them. It was an important mental barrier for her to overcome since it had been so long since she had led them last. And I did the 2nd pitch of Dreaming of a Life of Ease which is a really fun route, I can't believe I hadn't done this one before. I also got a good burn on my project Californicator, and got to a new highpoint just before the 6th clip. I figured out better beta at the 4th clip, and only came off cause of a foot pop, I didn't even feel all that pumped. We wrapped it up there and headed down the road to Exit 38, where we spend the second half of the day. Sorry for the lack of photos, I forgot my camera, check out Micah's blog for photos.

At 38 we went straight to Nevermind, it had been a couple of years since I was last there which is too bad cause its a fun little crag, and there's a few routes that I've yet to do there. First off I put the draws up on Steep Street (11a) which is a great route to repeat, straight out of the gym. Laura tied into the sharp end and dispatched it first try of the day for her 2nd 11a of the summer! She had tried it a few times on lead and toprope a couple of years ago, but didn't have what it took then, so it was good for her to take care of old business. Greg then got the redpoint straight afterwards, it was an impressive lead considering it was pretty much his 4th ever lead outside. He needs to get on the lead more often now that we know what he's capable of. We did a few other routes down at the other end of the crag, Micah finished up a mini-proj of his, Shocklet which starts up Culture Shock 12a, and finished with the crux of Goblet 12b, he thinks it weighs in at about 12b. It looks like fun, I'll have to try it sometime, on Friday I tried Goblet. It was harder than I gave it credit for, I gave it 2 burns and I have the beta down now, so hopefully it'll go next time. As it started to get dark at Nevermind we headed down to Substation to finish up on some fun shorter routes. I don't know if I was just really tired by this point but I struggled a LOT on a 10d there called Subversive. I remember I had tried this climb on my very first time outside in Washington when I first arrived here 3 years ago and got shut down. Now I'm not surprised, cause it is HARD, I just barely got it by the skin of my teeth. Greg and Laura both led a cool short 5.9 and Melody decided to do her first lead on a route called Homo Erectus (5.6). Now anyone who has done this will know that this is not the best route for trying your first lead on, since it has insecure climbing on slopey holds and is quite run out in places. But she got in the zone and sent it no problem, props Melody! We were all pretty beat by this point so we headed back to Olympia, but not before stopping off for some dipped cones in North Bend. It was a really good day out, I think combining Little Si and 38 in a day is definitely the way to go.

A new project

I had promised myself a rest day yesterday after too many days in a row climbing. But then Micah offered a ride up to Little Si that was too good to refuse, so off we went. It took us three hours to get there because of a terrible accident on I-5 that we were stuck behind for a while, so once we got there we were in a rush to get things done. Once again we warmed up at Blackstone, then Laura and I moved onto the Woods while Micah and Greg headed up to World Wall I. I wanted to get on a route called Bioclamactic Quandry, its a mixed sport/trad route that gets 4 stars in the guide. I wanted to do it all trad, running out the bolts, I got past the first three bolts placing one wire, then there was a bomber finger crack for the middle section that took great gear. Then the crack ended and there was another 4 bolts of airy thin slab climbing with no other gear before the chains, I figured it just wasn't worth it to skip the bolts, it would be really scary, but it was still a great route I'd recommend it. Its listed in the best routes at exit 32 list at the end of the guide, which of the 28 routes listed below 13a I've done 24, which ain't bad. I did a couple more short routes on the far right hand side of the Woods, before we headed up to WWI.

I got on Son of Jesus, but was unsure what to get on after that, I'm not really motivated to repeat routes I've already done. I figured I'd check out a route called Judgement Day Direct or PC7 as the locals call it because its supposedly glued (although I didn't see any). I had tried the start briefly the other day, but wasn't really feeling motivated then. This time it felt a lot more doable, I got past the first crux then dogged my way up, checking out the holds. They were surprisingly good, small but very positive and crimpy. It goes up the steepest part of WWI probably 20 degrees overhanging, so you need good holds. I managed to figure out a good sequence and I clipped the chains, this might go I though to myself, it was a lot more doable than I was expecting for a 12d (7c).

I got lowered down and pulled the rope, I was going to give it a redpoint attempt, I said I'd be happy to get it down to one-hang, but secretly I though there was a chance I'd send it right then. I made it past the first crux, a big throw to a jug, then through the crimpy section and the big move going out right, I had to skip a bolt cause I couldn't take a hand off to clip, but the next one was close anyways. I got to a decent shakeout, only two more hard moves to go before the victory jug, I lunged up to the sidepull, got my fingers on it, but couldn't hold on, I was off. Man so close! I got back on and fired off the move next try and clipped the chains, at least I got it down to one hang, but I felt robbed, I could have finished it off there and then.

I got lowered off since it was getting dark and Micah wanted to give it a quick shot. He dogged his way up through the first bolts figuring out the sequence. He then tried the big move going out right off the small crimp, and disaster struck, he pulled off the crucial crimp! He took a bit of a whipper in the process, but was ok, but to be honest I was more concerned about the hold and whether the route will still be possible. He says there is now a smaller sharper crimp, so hopefully that will still be enough. I'm really excited to have this project now, and can't stop thinking about it I think I was starting to feel a bit jaded about World Wall I, but now I'm psyched to get back there and finish off a new project!

This afternoon I'm heading down to the quarry it'll be my 8th day climbing out of 9, 6 of those outside, tomorrow is definitely a rest day!