November Denny Cove with Malcolm and Will

 

Malcolm approaching the chains on Room for Cream

November 19, 2021

Malcolm, Will, and I drove to climb at Denny Cove, only my second time at this crag. The weather was cold but dry and sunny. The first two routes were cold on the fingers, but by the third route we were warming up. This is definitely a good winter destination. 

Last Dance (5.10a/b) - Sharp conglomerate, felt slightly painful on the cold hands! 

Tulip Poplar (5.9-)

The Drippler (5.11b) - interesting start, it required jugging up the rope after clipping the first bolt to reach the first moves. Very overhung, this route was pumpy.

Vitamin C (5.10b) - interesting side-to-side movements working with the arete. 

Room for Cream (5.10c) - my lead. A bit runout (only four bolts on this climb), but not overly challenging, so it didn't feel uncomfortable. Tricky to see the holds when it transitions onto the upper lichen-covered face. 

Voyer (5.10d)

November 2021 Tallulah with Jacob

 

Jacob begins his rappel down Primitive Paradox

November 8, 2021

Trip to Tallulah with Jacob, the first time I have been able to climb there in many years. I had forgotten almost everything I might once have known or remembered about this place.

If you rappel down from the top, you come down right at the base of Digital Delight. Punk Wave is 60 feet to the left.

I led Primitive Paradox (5.9). This climb had two or three hard moves but was pretty chill. The hardest move for me was the mantle near the very top.

I led Punk Wave (5.10a). I had some trouble route-finding right after the pitch-1 belay. I ended up sliding directly left of the bolts around the arete and then up onto the fact. I struggled a few feet higher trying to establish myself in the finger crack, hung on gear once, and then took a fall. Eventually I pulled on a black totem positioned in the bottom of the crack, but once I was above this the finger crack actually felt very secure. I will be able to get this the next time I try it if I go into it with more confidence and just reach as high as possible as soon as possible into this crack.

Both after our first rappel (down from the summit) and after our rappel down Primitive Paradox, we struggled with the (double) ropes becoming so twisted that we had to climb back up to free them. So, unfortunately, after Punk Wave we were already running out of daylight.

We finished as quickly as possible up Digital Delight (5.8) with Jacob leading the first three pitches in one go and me sending us to the top. It was aerobic following Jacob's lead with the backpack on!

View from the start of Primitive Paradox

October 2021 Tennessee Wall with Noel

 

Kenton and Noel

October 31, 2021 Halloween! Misty day, chilly. We weren't really nice and warm until mid afternoon, when the sun finally came out.

Art (5.8) - Warmup. Noel's lead. Always fun. Brings back memories of my trad fall 2/3 of the way up on this route a few years ago.

Finagle (5.9) - My lead. Bouldery start, basically two campusing moves. Traverse left to face climbing with thin cracks. Poor protection on the face, better protection higher up. 2nd "pitch" was mostly lichen, felt sort of hard for 5.6. We did both pitches in one go.

Hidden Assets (5.10) - Noel's lead. Easy down low, tricky section 2/3 of the way up in the corner. Pretty classic hand crack. A long route, definitely needed the 70 m rope.

Golden Gloves (5.10) - My lead. Bottom half was chossy, making me nervous about the quality of the protection. But the climbing was very easy. Second half was challenging, but the protection was very solid. Pulling out of the roof was the first crux, and I needed to hang on gear to regain my composure after freaking out about the dripping wet hand/finger crack. The second crux was keeping stable in a flaring hand crack very near the top of the route. The entire route was a good deal more difficult than I had anticipated because all of the cracks were dripping wet today.