We drove two hours from Montpelier, Vermont to Cathedral Ledge in New Hampshire and climbed three challenging routes today. We chose to make it a cragging day instead of a long multi-pitch day out of concern that the weather might turn bad sooner rather than later (there is rain in the forecast for the evening of June 27 and all day/evening on June 28). We spent our time at the North End which has a comically short approach.
 |
| Staring up the second half of They Died Laughing |
They Died Laughing (5.9) - Tons of gear. Mostly finger jams and hand jams. Some corner action near the top. It was my lead, and I fell halfway up onto a black totem. I pulled myself back on and climbed to the top. After Wes had climbed it, I climbed it again (cleanly this time) on the pre-placed gear.
The Slot (5.10b) - Wes led this and fell on his first attempt at the crux halfway up. I followed and fell at roughly the same place. I completed the route and came back down so that Wes could take another shot at the route, which he did cleanly this time. I tried to follow it again and again fell in the exact same spot when my foot slipped on the polished rock. Wes kindly lowered me back down to the start so I could make one final attempt and I did it cleanly. Three times is the charm! This climb is almost exclusively finger locks and thin feet. I really had to trust my feet and put as much pressure as possible on them. Many of the finger slots/pods are very good, but some are pretty useless. Trying to apply pressure on the feet while using these almost-useless finger locks didn't work well. On my final attempt I bypassed these and tried instead to reach higher for better jams.
Bird's Nest (5.9) - My lead. Lots of finger pockets. The bottom was harder than the top. Wes says I should have used the face more for my feet and I was making it more difficult for myself than it needed to be. Full value 5.9.
No comments:
Post a Comment