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Yesterday I had a great day out at Ozone. It was hard to find partners to to go with, so it ended up just me, Jimmy and Eric, from the climbing team. It was Eric's first time doing routes outdoors, I kind of felt bad for him knowing that most of the day was going to be me and Jimmy projecting 5.12s. But he had a great time, he got on quite a few routes including his first lead, a 13 clip long 5.8 called No Nuts, and got a taste of some cracks on toprope.

My main objective of the day was to go for the onsight of Grace the 12b there. On my last trip there I had gone around the corner when Jimmy was working the 12d which shares some of the same moves so I wouldn't see any of the beta. I'm glad I did because I managed the onsight! It was a battle, the first part took a lot out of me then I figured out an opposing heelhook sequence to get through the main crux, and from there I was able to keep the pump at bay before I clipped the chains. It was a really good route, maybe the best I've done at Ozone so far.

I also tried the 12d, which isn't too bad, but has a very powerful crux that I couldn't do. And I went for the onsight of Angle of the Dangle, the 12c roof crack. I got up to the the crack and was feeling good, but at that point there is a fixed micro cam that you have to clip that protects the crux. I was very weary about falling on the cam since it looked pretty frayed and unsafe, I ended up just pulling on the gear to get past this part, and I got to the chains. Its a shame there isn't a bolt on the roof instead of the fixed cam, cause I felt I could have committed and really gone for the onsight. Jimmy decided to go for the flash since he saw me manage all the moves. He got up to the roof clipped the fixed cam, but couldn't commit either, he decided to just lower off the cam and clean the draws below. Just as he cleaned the last draw and was about ten feet off the deck the cam snapped! He landed on top of Eric who was belaying him, luckily they were both fine, but I'm glad I didn't commit to the crux and fall on that cam. I inspected the piece that broke and it was actually the wire stem that severed, I guess it was rubbing against the edge of the crack, it didn't look in good shape when I saw it up close on the route. The head of the cam is still stuck up in the crack, which blocks any other gear from going in there, I hope someone just sticks a bolt up in the roof, fixed gear on routes is whack.

Me on Angle of the Dangle

What was left of the cam after Jimmy decked on it

After that our motivation was pretty low, but I led a fun 5.9 trad finger crack, and Jimmy flashed Grace the 12b, and gave the 12d another burn. The 12b flash for Jimmy will help his score on 8a a bit, but my onsight of that route, and with the 12a onsight I got at Little Si on Sunday and the 12a I onsighted at Squamish last week has put me back at the #1 spot in Olympia in the route rankings on 8a.nu. We both still have some room for improvement, so we'll see what happens between now and the end of the year, no doubt it will be close!

A weekend of onsights

After a tough week back in class I really wanted to get outside climbing so Laura and I decided to go out just the two of us to Bob's Area at Exit 38. This time the hour walk in didn't seem so brutal, maybe we're getting fitter or maybe we were just better prepared for it this time. Once we got up we started out on the Peannacle, a short outcropping with lots of easier fun climbs. We did a few, my favorites being Peanut Brittle (5.8) and Gallivant (10a). Then we headed up the hill a bit to Alpina, I had never climbed on this crag either, its a really good little crag with 4 routes on it, a 10b,11a,11b, and 11d. Laura onsighted the 10b (nice job!) which I think makes that her 5th 10b onsight in a little over a month, not bad. I onsighted the rest of the routes at Alpina, they were all great, deceptively technical and harder than they look from the ground. I finished off the day with another 11a at Slumbersome Ridge, I think I led 10 new routes in total, and there's plenty more at Bob's Area to go back to. It was really great to get out just the two of us, sometimes 2 people is just perfect for getting a lot of routes done and enjoying the peacefulness at the crag.
The view from Bob's Area

Saturday we took a rest day, and I finished off some homework, we planned an early start the next day to go climbing. But that didn't stop us from going out Saturday night (see photo below).
Laura showing off her karaoke skills

Sunday, we didn't get out quite as early as planned, but the days are long so there was no rush. Micah drove me Laura, Jimmy and Chaz, south down 1-5 to check out a new crag, Ozone. Ozone is in the Columbia River Gorge near Portland on the Washington side, it has just been developed in the last few years, and is a really fun crag. Its a very different style to what we're used to climbing, the rock is basalt similar to the rock at Vantage, but with more friction, and its less columnar. It was our first time there for all of us, so we started out on some easy stuff, the climbing is very ledgy with short cruxes. A lot of the routes are mixed trad and sport, which I was surprised I enjoyed, it did limit the routes available to other people in our group who didn't feel confident placing gear.
Laura warming up at Ozone

After a few warm ups, I got on a 12a The Humbling, it started out quite easy then has an obvious crux boulder problem at the top which puts you in a really cool horizontal position going over a roof. I was psyched to onsight it, it didn't even feel that hard. I also flashed a couple other 12a's as well, it would have been nice to onsight them, and I think I would have managed them no problem, but I was happy to share the onsights with Micah and Jimmy. My 12a onsight was my 3rd onsight of that grade this month all 3 at different crags with different rock types, it feels good to be confident onsighting at this grade, I don't think this is my limit either, I look forward to trying harder onsights. There was some cool looking steeper climbs to the right as well that I'd like to go back to. I don't think I'll have too much of a problem convincing people to go back there though, I think everyone gave the place the thumbs up.

Jimmy on the horizontal crux of The Hurting (12a)