February Tennessee Wall with Zach

Zach ties in at the base of In Pursuit of Excellence

February 20, 2022. Climbed with Zach at T-Wall.

Mad Hatter (5.9) - Warmup. Zach's lead.

Multiple Use Area (5.9) - Toprope (shares anchors with Mad Hatter).

Prerequisite for Excellence (5.8) - Toprope (shares anchors with Mad Hatter).

Love Handle (5.10) - My lead. Lots of fun. Sling through the handle. Tricky face climbing above the handle. Then a chill roof.

Infinite Pursuit (5.10c) - Zach's lead.

No More Tiers (5.11a) - My lead! Only my second time leading 5.11 on trad. This route pushed me, especially through the final roof, both physically and mentally. But I managed to hold it together (there are plenty of rests) and do it cleanly. We linked both "pitches" (there is a large ledge in the middle of the climb). It was a hard lie back rock over to pull the first roof off the deck. Then a beautiful finger crack to the top of "pitch 1". From there it was a thin finger crack which I fell on during my first attempt. I lowered back to the ledge at the "start of pitch 2" and then led it clean to the top. It ends with a long series of tiered roofs. These are not particularly difficult, but it is a long and pumpy stretch of climbing, and at times it wasn't easy to see where the next jug was, so I would need to place gear high to trust that I could go up to explore further for good holds.

In Pursuit of Excellence (5.9+) - Zach's lead.

Dirt Bag (5.8) - Our cooldown on toprope (shares anchor with Pursuit). This felt hard for 5.8. Was I just tired after the rest of the day?

January Tennessee Wall with John and Rachel

 

John and Rachel at the base of T-Wall

Sunday, January 30

A chilly day to start but it quickly warmed up. It was sunny and a perfect day for being outside. Temps were in the 20's when we parked but probably hit the 50's by midday. We were climbing in just long sleeves starting at 9:30 AM and for various other portions of the day.

Open Sesame (5.9 or 5.8+) - A juggy warmup, this route had me being extra careful when traversing right under the roof where the feet were more smears than holds. I wish I had double-extended the piece near the wall in the crack under the roof to avoid rope drag.

Crack Attack (5.10a/b) - A very crack-centric climb. There was tons of good pro. However, I went left about 2/3 of the way up instead of right. This seemed like the easier way to go, and someone told me later in the day that by going that way I had avoided the crux.

Espirit Nuvo (5.10c) - The bottom section was very easy but quite chossy. The finger crack felt really tough for me, especially at the top. There just were no good feet, and it had me thinking that I need to practice my slab climbing some more. Traversing to the right after the finger crack also felt very challenging. The top was easy but I was exhausted by the time I got ther. I ended up using all 14 double-length slings. I rested twice on the gear while leading this route.

Electric Rats (5.10c) - This one was tons of fun, I really enjoyed it. This climb starts hard but gets progressively easier. There is a big roof to pull at the beginning, then a smaller roof with a heel hook into a corner after that. It was tricky getting up from the ledge into the crack. From there it works up into a hand crack and is basically a hand crack all the way from there to the top. I could have brought one or two #4 cams and would have used them. I placed all the larger gear except one #1.