October/November Eldorado Canyon with Malcolm and Derek

Friday October 30, 2022

Malcolm touches the top of Rebuffat's Arete

Rewritten (5.7) with Malcolm. I climbed the standard start, not the Great Zot alternate. Malcolm was apprehensive at the traverse on pitch 3 but climbed it easily once he got his courage up. Rebuffat's arete gave him all the excitement he needed for the day! Done in 4 pitches (1, 2, 3&4, 5&6). We were happy to have Derek's descent beta (see track on Strava), because some rockfall events have significantly altered the terrain back there.

Saturday November 1, 2022

Kenton after completing the pitch-one traverse on Rosy Crucifixion

Rosy Crucifixion (5.10b) to Ruper (5.8+) with Derek. Rosy was a real challenge. With a stiffie I was able to clip the first bolt right at the start without much trouble. The traverse was pumpy and exhilarating, but doable. I stayed low the entire time. We combined pitches 1 and 2. The second pitch felt as hard as the first one to me, and I fell doing the very last sequence of moves to get up onto the belay ledge (I was protected by a solid #3 so it felt plenty safe here). The final pitch felt much easier. Tons of fun. We finished by simuling the upper pitches of Ruper, then walked down the East Slabs descent.

September Linville Gorge with Malcolm

 

Malcolm savors the view midway up Maginot Line

On Friday September 16, Malcolm and I drove up to Linville Gorge for a weekend of multi-pitch excitement. We spent the first night in Morganton, then drove up to Table Rock on Saturday morning. We had some trouble with the Mummy approach. After leaving our packs at the big flat rock, we proceeded downward just a few feet and took a left instead of backtracking up the trail a bit and branching off there. Our approach put us near the Mummy as desired, but at the bottom of the gully was some 5.2 scrambling that I wasn't super happy about. We both rappelled, and then I climbed back up and down to retrieve the rappel anchors. We later figured out that we should have stayed higher on the ridge line heading south (as discussed above) before dropping into the descent gully between the Mummy buttress and the main wall (where there are rappel rings at the bottom).

We climbed The Mummy (5.5) and it was a lot of fun. It felt like the perfect kind of route to be putting Malcolm on at his current level. We had wanted to climb the Daddy as well but didn't feel there was enough time at the pace we were going by the time we finished The Mummy. So, we traversed over and exited up The Prow. Again we had some trouble finding the actual "start". I ended up doing an extra pitch from down low which put us on the ledge where most people start The Prow. The last pitch of the Prow is money!!! It definitely gave Malcolm some excitement to finish the day. The entire climb was far better than I had expected based on the grade.

Malcolm near the top of The Prow

It was dark when we got back to the car. We fixed some dinner and then started driving northeast on FS Rd 496. Halfway up we found a pull-off with a campsite and plenty of water in a nearby creek. We spent the night here, refilled our water bottles, and left in the morning for the 45-minute drive to Wolf Pit to begin our Shortoff Mountain day of adventure.

For Shortoff Zach's approach directions were on point. We didn't get lost at all this time, at least until we were at the bottom of the hemlock rappel. The rappel anchor could use some love. One of the fisherman's knots was starting to get chewed through, and I re-tied it on a cleaner section of cord. It also only had a single quick-link which I backed up with an (aluminum) locking biner which is still in place.

We had a bit of trouble finding the start of the climb, Maginot Line (5.7). The trail at the bottom almost doesn't exist anymore. Is trad climbing a dying art? So, we were bushwacking and not entirely sure we were going the right way. But the climb itself was made obvious enough when we arrived by comparing to photos on Mountain Project. This climb was spectacular. It gave Malcolm some of the most exposure he's ever experienced, and I think he was truly thrilled at the top of each pitch. 5.7 perhaps seems a bit like a sandbag, but hey, it's old-school, right? Finding our packs at the top was easy enough. Again, we didn't have time in the end to do two climbs (we had to make the drive back to Atlanta before too late), and I was a bit worried about getting stuck down at the bottom of the wall. Zach later told me that it is possible to climb out of the gully relatively easily. Anyway, we made our way back to the car and drove home.

Malcolm nearing the top of Maginot Line

It was memorable trip for both of us. I'll be going back.

August Rocky Mountain National Park and Clear Creek with Nick

 

Kenton wishing there was more oxygen halfway up Magic in the Middle on Zowie

August 13, 2022

Climbed Zowie in Rocky Mountain National Park with Nick. We were in the Park by 4:45 AM. Approach was just under 5 miles from the Bear Lake parking area. Weather was so hot that I was on fire in my long-sleeve shirt, t-shirt, and pants. 1.5 liters of water were definitely not enough even for just the morning, and I spent a good part of the day dehydrated. The altitude also seemed to make me lighter in the head and give me headache more than it has done on previous excursions to the Park, perhaps also because of the heat. This was such a huge contrast with my experience of feeling frozen on previous trips! I would have stripped to just my t-shirt but had not applied sunscreen to my arms and feared the sunburn that would result.

We climbed Magic in the Middle (5.9). This was a shorter climb than I had done in the past, and I was perfectly happy to finish only around 12,000 feet instead of even higher. Nick led the first pitch, and I led the rest, linking pitch four with pitch five and pitch six with pitch seven. There were several runout slabby sections, but the climbing was chill enough that I wasn't too concerned about it. The route-finding was also pretty straightforward. My favorite sections were the traverse from the corner onto the arete in pitch two, and much of pitch seven which felt more technical than much of the rest of the climb.

August 14, 2022

Climbed a few sport routes in Clear Creek Canyon. The day was cut short because of an impending thunderstorm.

Grizabella (5.7) - warmup

MacCavity (5.9+) - one hard move getting over mini roof, got through it with a high left foot

Crystal Cat (5.9+) - crux near the top felt very difficult, much harder than 5.9. I was really splayed out with a high foot and smearing with fingers on small edges

Jellicle Cats (5.10a/b) - Felt pretty hard for 10a/b, and had more hard moves than Crystal Cat. This slabby stuff was really pushing my abilities! But none of the moves felt as hard as the Crystal Cat crux.

July Sunset Rock with Derek

Date: July 10, 2022

Partner: Derek

Location: Sunset Rock

Weather: Hot, humid in the morning, rain around lunchtime

We got a few routes in at least before it started to rain on us in earnest

S'More (5.8+) to Flagstone (5.11a). Hung on the draws near the top. Then avoided hard move to last bolt near the top by moving to easier ground near the arete on the left.

Either Jug Mania (5.7) or Afternoon Delight (5.7+). Derek's lead. Kinda a choose your own adventure from right to left.

Pancake Flake (5.9-). My lead. Chimney down low was unprotected but was a chimney so hard to fall from. Higher up the crack was well protected fists then hands. Struggled to find anchors at the top. Initially tried straight up, then right, then finally went far left and found them. 

July Little River Canyon with Derek

Date: July 9, 2022

Partner: Derek

Location: Little River Canyon, Lizard Wall

Weather: Hot, rain

Lizard Wall is overhanging with a big roof, so despite the rain, it stays completely dry. 100% humidity means that the rock is kinda seeping in these conditions, but there is no direct rainfall hitting the wall.

Cedar Poke (5.10c/d) - I fell between the first and second clips. The move here felt hard for 5.10c. It also felt hard at the top.

We made a stick clip out of an old dead stick. For this, we held the gate open with a rock, and used a loose loop of tape to attach the spin of the carabiner to the stick.

Lemonade (5.11a) - Start felt pretty hard but otherwise grade felt OK. Much easier at the top.

Bon Voyage (5.11c) - Fell between first and second clip. Felt sustained, clipping from crimps.

Stella Blue (5.11b) - Very hard climbing. Are holds missing? Was a blank face between clips 2 and 3, I was forced to stick clip the second clip from below and jug on the rope. There was also a bat in the jug above the second clip, I was scared about getting bitten. Again I was forced to stick clip the third clip and jug on the rope to get past the bat. Finally beyond the third clip the climbing got easier. Not recommended.

Sodomy (5.11c) - Tons of fun. Bouldery first few moves. Easier in the middle. One move side pull wonder at the top.

Robyn's Route (5.12b) - Hard Boulder problem near the start. Hard move near fixed draw. Hung many times but finally did all the moves. 

June Sunset Rock with Zach

June 25, 2022 trip to Sunset Rock with Zach

There was light rain in the morning, but the clouds kept the temps down to a tolerable level, and the heavy treecover above our first few climbs kept us dry enough (and the routes dry enough) that we could still climb.

Nuclear Blue (5.10a) - my lead, fell on a black totem at the crux.

Unleashed (5.11-) - toprope. I tried the route twice and fell at the crux both times.

Harassic Park (aka Devil Dog) (5.9) - Zach's lead, I followed.

Stan's Crack (5.8+) - I led the first pitch to set up a toprope for the next climb.

Toothpick (5.11b/c) - toprope. I fell at the crux the first time. I had been trying to grab at a sloper on the right wall rather than a positive sidepull to the left. I tried the route again and did it cleanly.

May Foster Falls with Bryan

 

Kenton on one of his many takes while ascending Bottled Up Warrior

Went to Foster Falls on May 29, 2022 with Bryan and his two sons Brendan and Aidan.

Narcissism (5.10b/c) - Hard for the grade. Top crack was cruxy.

Dihedral (5.9 trad) - A fun little climb in the corner.

Bottled Up Warrior (5.12b) - Crux clearing the big lower roof. I hung on the rope many times on this climb, but made it to the top eventually. This was fun.

Lynn's Route (5.11b) - The start of this felt quite hard to me, and I was glad to have stick-clipped the first bolt. I got nervous about taking a big swing (and potentially cutting the rope on an edge) when I was being lowered, so I kept a draw between me and the rope to my belayer the whole way down. Not my favorite climb.

Moonscape (5.10b) - Short, but not easy. Quite a hard move at the top. I ended up using an undercling and moving my feet high up to reach the last holds.

On The Side (5.8 trad) - Felt hard for 5.8 to me, I was struggling to place gear in the fist crack near the top. Many face holds looked good but weren't as good as they looked.