Slick Rock!

Went to Slick Rock last weekend and had another great day there.  Every climb I have done on slick rock has been memorable and just plain chill.  

Slick Rock is a 1200 foot tall slab of solid granite set in the lick creek sub basin.  The perfect U-shape of the valley, easily observed from a belay ledge 600 feet up, is a great visual of how a glacier slowly moved through annihilating everything in it's way.  Lining the valley are huge stands of Ponderosa Pine and Tamarack, while numerous waterfalls work their way down the other side of the valley.  On either side snow capped peaks with large unclimbed faces tempt the adventurous climber.

We left Moscow at 8 am and headed towards McCall.  The scenic drive down highway 55 always seems to go quick as the Salmon River keeps the eyes busy.  After losing an hour at "Time Zone Bridge" we made it to slick rock around 1 pm and probably got on the rock around 2.  This trip we had decided to do the Classic route (5.6) with many comfy belay ledges.  It was Bridget's first multi-pitch climb and she did amazing!  She climbed quickly and didn't have any problems removing gear!  Also by the end of the climb our transitions where super quick.  I've never done this route with my 70 meter rope, but we made it up in 5 rope stretching pitches.

The decent didn't seem as bad this time (I guess after 6 prior times, one gets used to it). 

Also Bridget kicked the descents ass! She is one tough lady.  After meeting a really nice couple from Boise and talking to them for a while on the road we headed into town to go swimming at the MOSS beach.  After swimming it was time for the post slick rock ritual burger and pbr at Paradise Burgers.  For those that are going through McCall and haven't heard of Paradise burgers, check it out!  

On Sunday there was free boat trials on Payette Lake so after making some bomb breakfast burritos at Adrienne's we headed to the lake.  Eventually it was time to head back to Moscow, blah.  Overall a really great weekend!

Multi pitch efficiency

I haven't been out on any climbing trips for the past few weeks while my fingers slowly heal.  This agonizing process has given me some time for reflection.  Inspired by a post on rc.com I've been trying to sort out my strengths and weaknesses as a climber.  My conclusion is that many of my weaknesses, (finger strength, endurance, overall fitness), can be contributed to the amount of beer I drink.  Which isn't going to stop anytime soon.  I enjoy beers with friends, and often I enjoy beers at the crags. 

So for now I will focus on my strengths.  I consider myself above average on quickness and also feel that I have a fairly strong lead head.  The later which probably contributes to the quickness

My first years of climbing where infused with mini epics and a lot of learning by experience.  I feel like these mini epics and years of learning before committing to something larger have prevented me from having big epics.

Some tips I've found for being fast on multipitch.

1. Quick transitions-  Work out a system with your partner for making the transitions as quick as possible.  I like to have my partner put all the extra gear on the rope in front of me so I can rack it at the same time.  Also I try to take drinks, eat food, go to the bathroom, when the other climber is getting ready to climb, as to not waste time.  

2. Rope management- This is key, time spend dealing with the rope will only slow you down.  I like to stack it as neatly as I can right under me so I can push it down with me feet.  For hanging belays a rope hook or over the leg works really well. 

3. Placing efficiently and not too much.  The more comfortable you feel on lead the less gear you will place.  This equals less time placing and less time cleaning.  The only place I put in tons of gear is to protect my second on traverses.

4. Use some sort of auto locking belay device.  This will allow you to belay from above with ease and be able to lock off the climber should something happen.

5. Study the topo, route, and decent before you get on the rock.  

Projecting at Granite Point

The first weekend I arrived in Idaho 4 years ago, with new friends, I set out in search of somewhere to climb.  The closest place was Granite Point.  Coming from Laramie, WY, home to over 1,000 routes within a 30 minute drive, it was quite hard to stomach what I saw when I turned down into the canyon that held the snake river.  Needless to say I was expecting more than a 50 foot tall by 300 foot wide, slick, graffitied, chunk of granite with hoards of drunken college students partying on top.

Over the years I've kept coming back though.  Why?  For me it is the gradual progression of routes that take me a long time to get clean.  I'd never really projected routes until I moved to Idaho.  This was a whole different style of climbing and I've learned to appreciate it.  

For almost two years I worked on a 5.11a, stiff in my opinion, called Hand over Hand. 

My two new projects there are Steroids to Heaven a soft 5.12c (probably 5.11c/d at most), razorblades a sharp and crimpy 5.11c/d, and psychosynthesis (5.12a, seems much harder for me)

Here are some pictures of Tom and Zach working razorblades.  I've heard Tom got it and I think Zach will get it soon.

Tieton Canyon

I went to Tieton Canyon with Bridget this past weekend.  It would be about a 3.5-4 hour drive from Moscow.  At first arrival I was very pessimistic about what the climbing would be like.  Upon first sight it looks like a bunch of chunks of columnar basalt.  From past experiences climbing on columnar basalt I've known it to be not very solid.  The basalt at Tieton is VERY solid and makes for really good climbing.  The first day we went to Royal Columns and spent the first half of the day on the side closer to the trail.  We did some really fun routes including Jam Exam 5.9, Orange Sunshine 5.10b, and Western Front 5.3.  The cracks while not splitter are quite interesting.  I found after fiddling with cams a lot that passive pro works very well here.  I was still happy to have my cams, but equally as happy for the passive stuff.  We had heard that the ratings at Tieton are sanbagged, I found it to be the opposite.  I felt most of the ratings up to 5.9 were fair, and that ratings after that were inflated.  We found a great free camping spot by the river, and had a really fun weekend!  Below are a few pics of the climbing there.

McClellen Rocks

 For a very long time I'd wanted to go check out a place called McClellen rocks.  What had enticed me to this area was the supposed "best crack in spokane".    We spent the next three weekends there checking out the area.  First, it's definitely a Spring/ Fall shoulder season area.  During these times there are, less ticks, less mosquitos, no poison ivy, and no rattlesnakes.  We had a really good time there and got on a lot of routes.  Here are a few photos.

  Conrad on someone else's open project 5.hard 

  Me on middle finger of fury V5/6 with a 20 foot topout.

             fell from the top move 4 times, but finally got it! Should have brought more pads.

Me on "The best crack in Spokane"  Was it the best crack in Spokane????  Out of all the cracks I've climbed in the area probably!  It's hard to grade this climb, but if it where on a roped climb it would probably come in somewhere around 5.11.  The climb starts about 2o feet back and climbs out of the cave eventually turning totally horizontal.  Perfect hand size pods the whole time.

Tum Tum

Since my awesome spring break trip to red rocks I've been getting out a lot.  I think I have been out climbing 10 weekends in a row now!  My fingers are paying for it, and I will have to take a break for a few weeks, but it's been a great spring.  Some highlights have been.

Tum Tum:  Went to this place a few weekends in a row and got on a few really cool cracks!

Pictured above an old lead route called battleship gallactica? I think.  5.11+/V5- if you jam it, and probably V6 if you face climb it. The great part is this thing tops out at like 25 feet.  I worked on it for a few hours and finally, barely, barely, sent it!

Next we found a pretty long roof crack, that started out as hands and widened to offwidth at the crux.  I came really close to sending but chickened out.  Since if you fall off the finish you tumble 30+ feet down a cliff.  But, none the less really cool crack. Heres a picture of Elise on it below.

This place has some great face bouldering, and a shrine on the top of the hill with a neat deck, pretty cool.  Heres a few pics of some friends on the face routes I suck at.

Red Rocks

An overview of my trip is long overdue. Not only was it a great trip, but my first big climbing trip back after being sick for two months.

Red Rocks:

Lotta Balls- 5.8 - 4 pitches - This great route follow a crack and face system up for about 500 feet. The second and namesake pitch climbs a face up small ball-like holds. Its a unique experience climbing 10 feet above the last bolt with holds the size of marbles. Lots of fun, hope to go back and do more climbs in the area.

Frigid Air Buttress- 5.9 - 1o pitches - Located in the Icebox Canyon I feel this climb deserves to be a classic. It has 10 pitches of trad climbing separated by stellar belay ledges. The highlights of this route for me where the rope stretching 200 foot hand crack into offwidth, the lower chimneys, and the final headwall. After climbing 9 pitches below climbers get one last treat in a black varnished headwall with only one option of a way to climb. A splitter 5.9+ finger crack reaches the rest of the way to the top, SOOO AWESOME! The rappel route on this climb is also fantastic. One must climb up over the top of the formation and then loop around back to where the rappels start. Four double rope rappels lead the climbers down into a gully with a 100 foot waterfall and clear pools of water as a backdrop. Midway through the rappel you escape the heat with the mist of the waterfall. After this only a short 30 minute walk back to the car. Sweet climb, and great day with friends. On top of that the route rappels a route called Burlesque, which appears to have some sweet pitches of offwitdh/squeeze chimney, and is high at the top of my list for next trip.

Below: Route outline of Frigid Air Buttress

Epinephrine - 5.9 - Grade IV- 10-17 pitches?

3 years ago after topping out Frogland (another excellent 6 pitch 5.8) we were struck by the much larger (2500 ft) wall to the right, which we later learned was home to many classic routes, including the our climb for the day Epinephrine. I'd read countless trip reports of this climb and people's experiences varied. Some had 2o hour all night epics, while others got up the climb and down in time for lunch.

After much debate on what time to leave camp in the morning we decided on 6 a.m.
What seemed like moments late my watch was screaming at me and moments later I was grubbing on oatmeal and chugging water to ready my body for the climb. The sunrise welcomed us to Black Velvet Canyon distracting us from the overly rocky dirt road. The approach to Epi is a very nice 40 minute hike in a dry creek bed littered with car sized red/white striped boulders. Sersiously, it makes you feel like you are in Alice and Wonderland. For those that haven't been to Black Velvet Canyon, it is one of my favorite places and even if your just a hiker I highly reccomend it!

More water, and a short break later we had roped up and where ready to climb. We had decided to simul climb the first three pitches to save on time. For those that don't know what simul climbing is, it's when you halve the rope, and both climbers climb at the same time, trying to keep at least 3-4 pieces of protection in between them. You DON'T fall, but in the case that you do, it is hoped that those 3-4 pieces of protection will keep you on the wall.

I started to lead up the first 5.8 slab pitch and in less than 20 minutes we where at the base of the climbs 600 feet of black varnished chimneys. Conrad took the first lead and while the chimneys where a little slicker than I had imaged they definately wouldn't be 5.9 any where other than Red Rocks. I linked the second two chimneys on one 200 foot pitch, and arrived at the belay exstatic but physically exhausted. Epinephrine is supposed to be mostly in the shade so we had worm warm clothes, but we where climbing fast enough that we where staying in the sun. If you've ever climbed a chimney with a backpack on you know how shitty it is. If you haven't, I wouldn't reccomend it.

About an hour later we arrived at the top of the chimneys, very ready for the face/crack pitches above. The view from the top of the "elephants trunk" was incredible. 700 feet up with views of at least 3 other classic climbs we were able to take a break and watch other parties work their way up "Dream of Wild Turkeys" and "Prince of Darkness". I didn't know what to expect after the chimeny sections, but was soooo stoked to find super exposed 5.9 face climbing 1,000 feet off the deck, brilliant! We stayed roped up for 4 more pitches and then decided to simul climb to the top unroping totally before the 4th class traverse to the 3rd class scrambling. For me the mental crux of the climb was being unroped on the 4th class traverse with over 2,000 feet of air below my feet. Exhilerating and memorable.

Upon topping out we realized it had only taken us a little over 5 hours! This speed afforded us an hour long siesta on the summit. The descent, the cause of some major epics, proved to be quite straight forward and only took 1.5 hours. Back at the car we realized that our friends were still on the route and probably would be for at least a few more hours. The decision to drive to town and buy beer and ice cream was obvious.

So, for hours Conrad and I sat in the parking drinking beer, eating pizza and ice cream, and looking at the climb we had just done. A few beers does a lot after climbing over 2,000 feet in 5 hours, and it was a blast talking to other climbers finishing their climbs for the day. What an awesome and truly memorable climb. I will do it again on my next trip, the trip after that, and so forth!

Above: Conrad with beer and pizza Below: The red line shows the route



Chrysler Crack - 5.9 - 1 pitch

A pretty sweet offwidth on a rest day. Didn't have much to protect it with, and we found that big bros are hard to set if you don't regularly use them.

Great trip, can't wait to go back for thanksgiving! On the list to do

1. Cloud Tower
2. Dream of Wild Turkeys
3. Triassic Sands
4. Resolution Arete