Back at it

Headed to the Gunks today with a group of Coles climbers: Jess, Joanna, Miguele, and Gregg. As I have not climbed in about 2 months and was not certain of my toe (which I broke a little while back), I made sure to start slow. We first did Short Job, 5.4, G-PG, *. A two pitch climb, the first pitch is a shot 5.3 and the second 5.4. The second pitch was interesting, and plenty for my comeback with some strange moves to ledges on the side. After that we headed to Double Chin, 5.7, PG, **. A single pitch of crack, ledges and corners. It was hard enough to get me nervous and happy I didn't tackle anything harder. The end is particularly bizarre. It now seemed ludicrous that I once took Evangeline there to learn to belay a leader (http://www.themonkeyclub.org/2010/09/double-chin.html).

Given the size of the group and how busy it was, that's all we managed to do. But to be frank, I was happy we did not do more. My head was not ready for more, and my toe had enough.

A beautiful sunny day where now one got hurt, can't ask for more.

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.