Sandstone or Sandbagstone?

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.

Project Frustration

Q. Why haven't I written a new blog in a while now?

A. Becasue I havn't climbed anything new, I keep falling off the same climb over and over and over and over.

If you got shut down by a love interest time after time would you still go back for more? Probably not, neither would I, at least I hope I wouldn't. Then why do I keep getting back on my project at Little Si over and over again even though it keeps shutting me down?

Ever since I sent Californicator about 5 weeks ago (although it feels like 5 months) I have been trying (either literaly or in my mind) its extension Californication. On paper it doesn't sound too hard, 12d climbing that I have dialed to a great shake out at the chains then you head into the extension of Technorigine which is 12c climbing that I've got pretty wired, in fact I've warmed up on Techno couple of times this week. Add to that the fact that that when I sent Californicator I continued and got through the Techno crux and fell off just before the chains of Californication, I should get it done pretty quickly right? Wrong! I've repeated Californicator more times than I'd like to count, well I might not like to count it but I do - 5 times. And I've fallen off trying Californication over a dozen times. I was hoping to write a blog post today celebrating my successful ascent, but now I just have to wallow in my self-pity. Yesterday I got on it for the 3rd day in a week, I got to the Californication chains rested up then went for the crux move, which shouldn't be that hard, missed the hold but managed to catch my fall on the jug, I went for the hold again hit it and came off! I had a mini-tantrum hanging from the rope to let off some frustration (sorry guys). It wouldn't be so bad if I didn't do the exact same thing on Sunday and then again on Wednsday of last week. What makes it worse is that I feel like I have a lot of pressure to climb it soon, school starts up in a week and I don't think I'm going to be able to make it out there as much. When I send it (not if but when) it'll be one of the most gratifying climbs I've done, its easily now the most effort I've put into a project.

I just got a text from Micah asking if I wanted to get back out there tomorrow, I want to but I don't know if I can take the rejection again, I feel like the victim of an abusive relationship. What do I do?

Me on the cruxy cross through move to the typewriter hold at the seventh clip of Californicator, a move I am now far too familiar with.

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.

Dodging the rain at Tieton

I couldn't believe it had been 3 years since I was last at Tieton with Laura and Doug. For one because it doesn't seem like I've been living in the States for that long, and for two becasue the climbing there is so good, I shouldn't have waited so long to get back there. Micah, Laura and I headed out there on Thursday night for a 4 day weekend. On Friday we sampled the great rock at Lava Point, its a type of textured basalt with lots of small grippy edges, and small gas pockets. We warmed up on a 10a, then Micah put the draws up on an 11a, which Laura promptly flashed, it was some tricky climbing up to a really reachy move, to some more tricky climbing. We got 4 routes in before it started drizzling, the dampness only lasted a few minutes, but we took the opportunity to head back to the campsite to have some lunch.

Micah warming up at Lava Point

In the afternoon, we went to Honeycomb Butress, see Micah's blog for some great photos of this crag. The crag has horizontal pillars piled on top on each other that keep going up for over a hundred feet. We warmed up on an 11a slab, then I climbed a 2 pitch 11c 11a linking it into one monster pitch that was pretty full on. Next up was the 12a slab there, which I managed to onsight without too much difficulty. Micah also got it on the flash. The crag is also home to one of the most inspirational lines I've ever seen, an overhanging blocky arete with a lot of bad holds and the occasional jug. its listed as a 5.13 project in the guide, but it has hanging draws on it now and it looks very doable, I didn't get on it this trip, but it feels like I have given the amount of time I've spent thinking about it. We finished off the day at the Beehive across the road where Laura onsighted a 10d! At this point we were feeling we accomlished quite a lot for the day so headed back to the campsite for a raging campfire.

On Saturday our friends from Olympia, Erica Melody Sarah and Caitlin joined us, but they brought the rain along with them. It was really wet, we had no chance of climbing so we headed to Yakima for some wine tasting instead, so the day wasn't a complete write-off. The next day was more of the same weather-wise, I felt pretty bad inviting the girls out here just to have it rain all weekend. Laura and the girls went out for a walk in the rain while Micah and I moped around the campsite. In the afternoon the clouds parted very briefly and we got a call from Laura saying she spotted dry rock further down the valley. So we picked her up and ran up the hill to a crag called The Oasis, the other girls were skeptical anything was going to be dry so it was just the three of us. I literally ran up the first route a fun10c, grey clouds were looming above us so we didn't know how long we'd have. We did get a little rain, but we found a climb that stays completely dry in the rain called King Tut's Tomb, it was an 11a and one of the best climbs I've done at the grade, or maybe we were just so happy to be climbing that day. Laura managed the flash of that route and onsighted a long 10c afterwards, spirits were so much higher than just a couple hours earlier. We were headed back down the hill as dusk approached, when we realised that we can't pass up a dry moment like this so we ran up one last long 5.9. It almost turned into an epic involving stuck rope, loose rock and downclibing in the dark, but we all managed to get up and down it safely and headed back to the campsite. When we got to the campsite the girls had packed up and decided to cut their losses and head back to Olympia. We decided to wait it out and hope for more dry weather on Monday.

Micah on King Tut's Tomb at The Oasis.

The Fan Route on Jack-O-Lantern Wall that we squeezed before it got dark

It was a good decision, Monday morning we woke up to sunny blue skies. We headed back out to Lava Point and got in a bunch more routes. Laura managed to lead her second ever 11b, on her second go, a crimpy technical masterpiece called Long Strange Clip, this was now officially her most successful trip ever. I think the key for her was taking a fall at Nevermind a couple of weeks ago that has done wonders for her lead head. Six amazing routes at Lava Point later we decided to hang up the ropes and finish off the day bouldering at the Caldera.

Me onsighting a juggy 11d at Lava Point

The photos of the bouldering in the guide looked really good and we were not dissapointed. The Caldera is one of most scenic areas I've bouldered at and its only a 5 minute walk-in. The rock quality is variable from great, to a bit snappy, and there is not a huge amount of harder boulders, but we had fun climbing on the established problems, I think I did 2 V0's, a V1, a V2, 2 V3's, a V4 and a V5. It was great way to finish off the trip. Reading through the guide book back at home I realised how much more there is to check out, so expect to hear more trip reports from Tieton this fall.

Laura bouldering on the Nakedness Boulder at The Caldera

Micah on a fun V1 arete

Group Shot

Here's a cool photo I stole off of Erica's Facebook page of our group that got out climbing on Sunday.

We went to Exit 38, it was a pretty chill day, I think most of us were still recovering from Sarah's birthday party the night before. Nevertheless we got a lot done. I got in some good 5.10's and 11's that I hadn't done before at Nevermind. Laura did a new 10b, c, and d in a day. Melody led her first 5.9, and Bill showed us how it was done with some relaxed flashes and onsights of everything he tried up to 12a. Its been really fun to go out climbing with more people and a more varied group this summer. I hope we have more days like Sunday. Here is another photo I took on Sunday of Laura at Nevermind.

Payday at Little Si

Yesterday felt like a payday at Little Si. All my work on I have put in on Californicator this summer (and last) finally paid off with the send. In the end it didn't feel that hard, its funny how something can change from feeling absolutely desperate to not that bad at all.

Laura and I decided to head out to Little Si just the two of us, since we were up in Seattle for the weekend anyway. We warmed up in the woods area, where we ran into Andrew, his girlfriend, Eric and Jimmy, and Micah and his brother and cousin. It felt like half of Olympia was out at the crag. Laura's main objective of the day was to get on Violent Phlegms, an 11b that she had toproped a week ago, and felt pretty good on, potentially her first ever 11b lead? I put the rope up and she toproped it again, rehearsing the moves and the clips, she said it felt a lot harder than she had remembered, but it is 11b so it should feel pretty hard. When she was happy with her beta she pulled the rope and tied into the sharp end. She got off to a shaky start at the first crux, where she almost came off on a greasy hold, but she held on and kept climbing. This climb is fairly sustained, there are about 4 crux sections you have to battle through and its not over til you latch the jug at the end. It looked like she was off again after she almost barndoored at the last clip, but she got it clean. Way to go! It was her hardest ever lead, and it was a long time coming having already done 11 11a's in the last couple of years, a well deserved send.

After Laura's big send it was my turn to get on my project so we headed up to WWI and I hopped straight on Californicator. On my first go the moves flowed really well and I floated up it without overgripping or feeling too pumped, I got to the typewriter hold feeling good, crimped hard on the smiley face hold, crossed through to the sidepull, but my feet weren't set up right and I barndoored off. I really thought that was the go. I clipped the chains in one hang came down and rested for another attempt. On my next go I wasn't quite feeling as smooth, and had to try a bit harder to stay on, I got to the typewriter hold, made sure my feet were right, crossed into the sidepull, got my feet up, made a couple of crimpy moves and latched the jug rest. I knew I had it in the bag, just another 3 clips of 11b-ish climbing, I wanted to make sure though so shook out on the jug for a good 5-10 minutes, its such a good jug its hard not to hang out on it and recover. By the time I left the jug I was feeling totally recovered and the top part felt easier than it had ever felt before. I got to the chains, and it was kind of an anti-climax, I didn't even feel that pumped, so I shouted down to Laura "I'm going for the extension". The extension Californication (13a) is the top part of Technorigine, a climb I had done a couple years ago, but hadn't really got on it since, its basically another 4 clips of pumpy 12c climbing. I shook out on the jug at the Californicator chains for a couple of minutes then busted up into the 12c climbing. I was able to remember the moves pretty well and it wasn't as bad as I had expected, I made the first and second clips then kept on fighting through the steep terrain to the third, and fourth clip, I was getting pretty pumped by this point, but I could see the chains just ahead. I just had a few crimpy moves to get through, but I couldn't remember the sequence at all and the holds felt pretty bad, I tried to pull through, but I got spat off. Oh well, I can't really complain, I wasn't even planning on going for the extension so its really just a bonus to get that far. Now I have to decide whether its worth the effort to put in more work to finish off Californication or move on to Chronic, or give Little Si a break and check out other crags. My routes score on my scorecard is looking pretty good now, so I feel like I have more options for what I want to do next, its a good place to be.

The view of Californicator from below.

Back on Top

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!