Saturday, September 4, 2010

Double Chin

Today I finally went back to the Gunks (second time this summer... yes I know: pathetic). It was me, Evangeline, Sandrine, and a brand new 70m bi-weave. We found an empty and relatively easy lead for Evangeline to learn to belay a leader on, namely Double Chin: 5.5 **. No picnic and Bunny were taken. 5.5 was more than I first thought we would tackle, but as usual, on my way there, it started to seem like nothing. Ouch, was I in for a rude awakening. The climb is fun, but it involves 2 roofs, which you avoid by climbing the side corner. A typical Gunks rating. The second roof puts you in a very strange position, with you feet out left and your hands to the right. It's a very nice climb, harder than bunny, and definitely stiff at 5.5, but still lots of fun, and easy to protect. I only wish I had not picked that one to train Evangeline. She did great, however, and instinctively took just enough, and gave slack when needed. A great second in the making.

Sandrine gave the climb a few tries, but she really was not trying.

Evangeline gave it two tries, and got to about 7 feet from the anchors, but just couldn't pull the end. Brave effort though, with a few swinging falls.

4 comments:

brian said...

Nice G, sounds like a great day. Did you go Friday? It was super-windy here in the city.

g said...

No, on Saturday. It was a beautiful day, sunny but not too hot.

We have to get all get up there before the end of the season.

kenny g said...

Nice job G! I think 5.5 sounds just about right for a return to form, and it seems Evangeline was up to the task - congrats to her!

g said...

5.3 or 5.4 would have been better for me mentally with respect to her belaying me, but in terms of climbing / leading 5.5 was a good choice after not climbing for so long.