It's beautiful outside, let's climb inside!
Early morning climbing session with Kenway, Joana and the newly christened Dr. Joe. It was Joe's first time climbing (safely anyways), but we got started pretty quickly after some basic knot-tying and safety. We were at it for a long time (~4 hours) and everyone sooner or later found a route that stumped them (it's probably no coincidence that they were all set by Obe). At some point, we took a break from top-roping to boulder. I mostly lay on the mats in exhaustion, but Joe and Joana tackled some problems in the cave. I think Joe got enough of an adrenaline rush sending his first boulder problem to come back for more. Oh yeah, Kenway crushed the peanut.
We finished it all off with a fine meal at Chickens Gone Wild.
Q: What's another activity where one uses products to keep skin dry?
A: Pole dancing
And since a Gunks climb cannot be far off, here is some trad inspiration (Didier Berthod):
5 comments:
Props to Joe, he really kept hopping right back on (even on the slabby route, which is frustrating enough for an experienced climber). I think we might have a convert!
Neat Didier Berthod clip with some at-the-limits trad climbing. They only touched on it briefly in the video, but there's a clear undercurrent of the bolts-or-no-bolts ethics debate, which we talked about at lunch. Apparently the crack was bolted originally, and Berthod chopped the bolts before doing his trad ascent.
It's a little murky, I think the general consensus is that the first ascensionists have priority and the route shouldn't be retro-bolted or retro-chopped afterwards, as long as the protection style is consistent with the "ethics of the area" (whatever that is). Berthod's crack is tricky - apparently even bolted nobody had completed the route, one of the original bolters had since passed away, and bolting a route where natural protection is obvious (like say, um, a crack) is frowned upon as unaesthetic and unnecessary.
Ces't la vie, but proud send either way. Check out this clip of Didier on Cobra crack at Squamish. Especially the one handed undercling fingerlock (yeah, that finger). Sonnie Trotter actually got the first free ascent.
Man, my palms were sweating watching that fingerlock! Patagonia produced a video of Trotter's first ascent. Also worth watching, check it out here.
converted I may well be. I was just looking at my finances and trying to figure out how much money I could blow if this turned into a full blown addiction. A big thanks to all three of you for your belays and beta. next time maybe I can learn enought to pass a belay test and give something back. like wednesday? next saturday? tell me where to be and when. I am there...
Not sure if this was the one you sent, ( I was having some flash player issues) but I watched a pretty gnarly climb of a route called dreamtime, which is also at squamish I gather, by chris sharma. certainly inspirational.
Good to see you onboard, Joe! Yeah, the wallet can take a big hit once the gear-collecting takes bite. Actually, starting out, you really don't need more than the basics: harness, shoes, chalk bag.
Almost everything else will be on hand, either at the gym or by somebody else when you go outside.
OK, so who's up for a Wednesday trip? (Joe, feel free to ask Joana)
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