What better way to spend winter break than in sunny California, shreddin the gnar? That's why I signed on to lead a week long climbing excursion to the monzogranite filled mojave with Vandy's Outdoor Rec Center. It was a great week filled with slabby faces, sparse protection, fine cracks, and lots of relaxing.
My goals for the trip were to develop my trad leading by leading a lot of moderate gear routes and to push myself on some harder routes. All things considered, it was a very successful trip. All together I led nine climbs between 5.6 and 5.9. I completed four of six routes on my tick list:
(1) Southwest Corner of Headstone, 5.6 - a very exposed corner hanging
out over air. We topped out and enjoyed one of many stunning sunrises.
(2) Overhang Bypass, 5.8 - this intimidating two pitch route ascends easy cracks and slabs up to a big roof. After belaying from a stance, the second pitch takes one across a hand traverse under the roof and up onto a finishing slab. That second pitch is short but full value, and the views and belays are awesome!
(3) Walk on the Wild Side, 5.7+ - I decided to do this route about two months ago as soon as I saw a CLIMBING magazine article about it. It is two long pitches of smooth slab. The first pitch is the crux pitch while the second is pretty cruiser. After starting as a party of two with my buddy, we combined with a party of three and TRed their leader. Sitting at the belay, I couldn't help but hum the namesake tune. "Hey man, take a walk on the wild side."
(4) Colorado Crack, 5.9 - This is near the VERY enjoyable splitter crack Gem, 5.8, in the Conan's Corridor area of Jumbo Rocks. We waited about 2 hrs to climb due to a party of goobs who had problems rappelling the route and then insisted on climbing it over and over. One woman sounded like she birthed twins on route. She took long enough to go through labor, as well. Finally, I got on it. It was a sweet and varied route. The bottom was pretty easy on some flakes and crimps. The middle has a wide crack and a strange pseudo-chimney section through a scoop. It then tops out on a nice hand crack. I was psyched to complete it as my first 5.9 trad lead! After I put in my first piece, I had to down climb and grab my slings which I left on the ground (doh!). Upon topping out, I had only stoppers and a 00 C3 camalot. Therefore, I slung a big boulder and sat down to belay the second with more gear. While shivering in the cool breeze, I was inundated with more goobs who could have killed themselves with their ineptitude. It makes me cherish the solid program that Vandy has!
Some other favorites include: Fun Stuff (5.7), Toe Jam (5.7), Lickity Split (5.7) and Gem (5.8).
Our groups was awesome! It worked out where a friend and I led the moderate group while our boss led some of the more difficult climbs with others. I was really pleased with the climbing, the location, the groups - everything. It was a great trip!
Las Vegas
I don't like Vegas, and I don't like being around a lot of people. Therefore, the airport experiences and Red Rocks were not awesome. Getting to Vegas, we were delayed several hrs when one participant's luggage was lost. After buying stuff from WalMart and Goodwill, it was all found and we set out to drive through the creepy Joshua Tree covered Mojave bye moonlight. We came back to LV for 1.5 days of climbing at Red Rock Canyon. We didn't have time to do the classic multipitch lines, but we got some good single pitch stuff at the Magic Bus and the Black Corridor. I led 5.9 and 5.10a sport routes along with some others. I'd love to do some of the long classics like Cat-in-the-Hat, 5.6, in the future. Maybe over spring break.
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