 |
| Jason takes a break after his incredibly impressive lead of Orange Blossom Special |
November 29, 2025
I joined Wes and Jason for a late breakfast on this chilly but beautiful morning in November before heading over to Stone Mountain before lunch. With lows around 25 F overnight but the sun hitting the mountain all day, conditions were nearly perfect for friction slab climbing. This was my first time meeting Jason. He turned out to be an incredible climber with impressive drive.
Grand Funk Railroad - Wes's lead. P1 is a tenuous slab up 30 feet, then a traverse to the right across delicate terrain to a dyke. It finishes up and left along this dyke to the anchors. P2 follows the dyke farther up and left on easier terrain to another bolted anchor.
Amtrak (5.10 X) - Jason's lead. Delicate slab climbing the whole way. I was aiming for the next good foot or the next good hand, and sometimes even both! Protection consists of only a few very marginal pieces: a taped hook, a shallow small TCU, two shallow nuts... A truly impressive lead.
Orange Blossom Special (5.11a X) - Perhaps even more impressive than Amtrak, Jason's first pitch of this climb was free solo to the bolts. P2 followed with 5.10 climbing to a bolt, then 50 feet of 5.11 (thin!) to some OK but not great horns which Jason slung for protection. The climb finishes up some 5.8 terrain to a final bolted anchor. Absolutely incredible that Jason led this one!
No comments:
Post a Comment