A Pillar to Conquer

"I have a pillar to conquer" she said, and she did. Steph started on a 5.8 on the pillar. After having a hard time with the first and second move because her legs were getting in the way, she figured out that simply flagging her left leg allowed her to do the move. I did a 10 on the other side of the pillar. We followed it by a 9 and an 11 respectively; on the face that can be seen in the pic. Neither climbs were easy for us. Steph then tackled a 9 to the left (in an arch) that involved stemming on both sides of the arch. The climb looked interesting, definitely not an easy 9. I did a red 11 on the right side of that same arch. It involved some serious high stepping and finished with a two handed dyno from below the overhang to the top of it: really fun.

We then bouldered, something Steph usually doesn't get to do. We started in the back. She did a 0 and worked a 2. I did a 4 and a lime 5 that involved a strange mantel with a high right foot, really 1.5 critical moves. After that we went to the front. Steph attacked a 1 and a 1+, I worked a blue 5+ that was lots of fun. It went from left to right with an important downclimb in the middle. Another climber did it very smoothly and efficiently before me (its a long problem). I did it neither smoothly nor efficiently, but I did it.

Steph worked on her footwork. I worked on being less sloppy.

All of this was followed by steak, fries and beers at the Sheep Station. Farewell Stephanie from Indiana (via St-Louis).

If Only I can Get On the Apparatus

Headed to BKB tonight to climb with Steph, an economist from St-Louis who came to the conference at NYU last weekend.

We first got her certified and then attacked an orange 8 in a corner. We both had a easy enough warm up on it. We followed it by an interesting black 9 in that same corner that involved stemming and mantels, really using both sides of the corner and friction.

Staying in that same area, we followed it with a 10 that was also very interesting. Similar in style to the  9, but requiring more body tension to stop oneself from barn-dooring towards the beginning.

The following was a white 11. Vertical most of the way, with a small overhang at the end. That one was very tricky, it followed an arete, on which you often had to layback. Very few hands were solid, and one often needed to high step. Very tricky.

After that we went on the pillar, at which point Steph said, "if I can get on the apparatus, I'll be happy!" We worked two 11s that were fun, dynamic, and easier than the previous one. She also tried an 8.

I finished with an interesting overhanging white 8 at the beginning of the rope section.

Steph showed some great climbing, especially in the corner, where she used her feet very well. Things went ok for me, given I have not been climbing ropes regularly, but I was a bit too sloppy. I need to get back to more deliberate and precise movements.

This was followed by lamb sandwiches, poutine, and beer: nice!