Super Dope

This was a long day, 1 hour of driving in the city in the morning, with 1 parking ticket on the way. Then a long drive to TRC with traffic jams at three different places along the way. Followed by a drive to Stone Ridge then back to get something I had forgotten and needed. To make it worst, God must have been angry at me for something as NPR was having a fund drive and every other radio station seemed to have agreed to play the worst music on earth, I had: the Jackson 5, Boy George, Def Leppard, George Michael, etc. But in the end, it was all good, just because of one climb...

The Kenway, Brian, Joana trio was heading out while Miss Psst McDonald and I were getting ready to climb. We started by doing Miss Psst's new traverse which is actually a better warm-up than the other one as it doesn't completely pump you out. This was followed by a nice warm-up lead 9- with some strange clips around the middle.

We then decided to top-rope, starting with an 11(d) right in front of the entrance: ouch! Miss Psst made it to the top with only one break. I on the other hand got stuck on the 3rd move. It might be slightly easier to make that move for someone slightly taller. Then we moved a couple of feet to the left to top-rope a new Heart route (12) which like the other ones was impossible. We both struggled our way to the top, with a couple of moves we couldn't really pull.

I then suggested we should try something different, like an easy lead, to get back in the groove of things. Next thing you know, Miss Psst is leading a 13 that starts under the arch. She worked her way to about 3/4 of the way with a few pauses. At that point she is above the arch, but the route follows the arch from around the corner and involves a lot of hooks and a crazy move she couldn't quite pull. While she was working it, some father told her son to look at her, he had exactly the expression of that boy stuck on his face (for almost 20 seconds). I then tried it, after the first 2 clips, I struggled for the next one which involves doing a move from a finger pocket to another finger pocket. After a while I cheated my way to the next clip, but could only work the next 2-3 moves.

This was followed by a green 12 set by Jason that follows a similar path to the 13. That was, for me, the highlight of the evening, it was hard, but felt feasible. We both worked our way to about the point where she abandoned the 13, above the beginning of the arch. We made the first 4 clips I think, but then both needed to pause before the next moves which are burly. The route involves many heel hooks. The point where we ended was rather scary as when you fall you catch the rope which is almost horizontal and under tension because you fall between two clips. I definitely want to try this one again.

Then we did some bouldering, or rather Miss Psst bouldered while I was falling apart. She sent two V4s and one V5 while I fell clumsily on everything I tried. We also tried an orange V5 in the far most corner of the gym which looks like it could have one nice hook that would need to be done very slowly with super core tension, perfect for Brian.

Also of note, Miss Psst earns a few new names and other stuff:

1. Super Dope: an employee put a sticker on her back that read "My name is Super Dope", and indeed she was.


2. Cutesie Balancy: after she finished the hearts route I said I was surprised as it seemed to be her style, balancy. She said it was not "cutesie balancy", but [insert grunt sound] balancy.


3. Mean Old Lady: She told a bunch of kids who ran through the gym that if they did that again, she would fall on them next time she climbed, and thus became, the Mean Old Lady.


4. Cow udder cream: once again I tried to help someone and instead received strange, slightly confused, looks. Psst, look here.