Glacial Erratics

Made a midweek trip to TheRed with Danny, one of the regulars at HoosierHeights. I had a very good time exhausting myself following Danny on some possible first ascents, doing some relatively easy trad leads for the first time, and getting on some brutally hard (especially after the other stuff) sport routes.    (3X2)

Read the whole (lengthy) thing for the full story. Just want the pics? TheRedDannyThumb will get you that.    (3X3)

(If you don't like route beta, here's your warning: spoilers ahead.)    (3X7)

We arrived in the gorge around midnight. Danny prefers to camp out in the woods rather than Miguels to get the most quiet and comfort as possible. He picked an excellent campsite. Weather reports called for morning rain which would constrain our plans.    (3X8)

We woke to a beautiful morning that turned into a gorgeous sunscreen-requiring day. No rain meant wide open opportunities so we went to FunkRockCity to visit some moderate, well-established trad routes and look at a sport route called Orange Juice.    (3X9)

Funk Rock is one of the lower elevation crags. The long approach follows the river upstream along a gentle trail, crosses through the river (no problem in sandals) and heads uphill to a lengthy cliffline of mostly vertical walls with less of the pockety nature found in other areas. My guess is that the majority of the iron is higher in elevation.    (3XA)

First order of business: Observe Chris following an easy crack climb to get a gauge on his ability. We chose a nice crack in a right facing dihedral called JoeCamel    (3XB)

+ ++ T    (3XC)

that has some fixed gear as anchors about 40ft up. It's 5.8 to there.    (3XD)

Both Danny and I look up and see that the crack continues up above the anchors and with a bit of a traverse can be linked up to a right leaning narrow crack that goes to the top of the cliff. "That'll go", we both say.    (3XE)

Danny racks up and starts off.    (3XF)

Me: So, uh, you planning to put in any gear?    (3XG)

The first 40ft go down without issue, then the next 20 or so. It's the 20 to 25 after that where things start to get hard. This was supposed to be our warmup. A straightforward finger crack turns into a series of bouldery moves, a few exciting catches, and a "please don't fall now, please don't fall now" top out including a dead tree of considerable proportions crashing into the valley behind me.    (3XH)

Danny sets an anchor, puts me on belay and off I go.    (3XI)

I try to remember all the things I'm supposed to remember: stemming is good, cracks are your friend, look for your feet. I get to the original anchors and up to just before the hard part where I find a knee bar that gives me a no hands rest.    (3XJ)

It doesn't help. I pull into the hard section, fussing, whining, blowing and stop before the true crux. After flailing through several attempts Danny tells me to do a butterfly. I thought I knew what a butterfly was so I tried to do that. That was wrong. Then I did what a butterfly is and I was through, up to the top and into the anchors. Fabulous view, camera is 100 feet below.    (3XK)

Exhausted, and that was just the first climb of the day. We reckon the top half could be somewhere in the 5.11s, maybe even 12s.    (3XL)

Apparently I can follow a crack, so now it is time to lead one. Further down the crag is a lovely corner containing RiteOfPassage:    (3XM)

+ ++ T    (3XN)

Perfect hands up to near the top and then some tricky combination of fingers, laying back, smearing and wishful thinking.    (3XO)

Me: Which gear should I take?    (3XP)

Danny: It's your lead, you decide!    (3XQ)

I fiddle. I fret. I pick and choose.    (3XR)

Danny: I'll tell you if you haven't got what you need.    (3XS)

I feel relief.    (3XT)

I go up, I place gear, I reach the anchors, I rappel down, I clean.    (3XU)

By the end of the day I will have a powerful sense of satisfaction, but at this point I'm still somewhat bewildered.    (3XV)

Danny doesn't do RiteOfPassage. He's been thinking about OrangeJuice.    (3XW)

+ ++ T    (3XX)

Orange Juice is a combination of little pockets and tiny crimpers interspersed with out of reach pleasant flat ledges all on a beautifully orange, 95 foot long, overhung wall that goes at 5.12 c or d.    (3XY)

It's all hard, but there are three definite cruxes: getting to the third bolt; the lower dyno; and the higher maybe it's a dyno from a one or two fingered pocket, maybe it's a layback on a teeny weeny little lip move. Danny, who's had three hours of sleep, makes a prodigious show with a miss of the dyno and then a few what the hell's at the upper crux and finishes it out. We leave the draws hung so I can come back to it later. I'm trying to maintain an I'll try anything attitude.    (3XZ)

Next in line is my next trad lead, HeadstoneSurfer.    (3Y0)

+ ++ T    (3Y1)

Headstone Surfer begins with an easy flake to a ledge followed by awkward thin stemming to another ledge, then pretty, happy stemming to the anchors. 10c in the printed guidebook, 10a in the online guide.    (3Y2)

I head for the first ledge, loose my feet, scramble to stay on.    (3Y3)

Danny: Now you'll place some gear.    (3Y4)

So I do. Nice big fat cam. Seems like maybe I'm using one that's a bit too big, but I find a spot and move on.    (3Y5)

I get through the crux thinking: stem, stem, stem, the feet love friction. I start moving into the easier parts and I'm getting tired. I can't remember how long the route is. I can't see the anchors. Am I going to have enough gear? Are these placements any good? I seem to be running it out a long way.    (3Y6)

Then the anchors show up and I'm greatly relieved. Danny's going to clean this one, so I'm lowered and he goes up.    (3Y7)

That cam, the big one, it's stuck, so Danny leaves it behind to get it on the way back down.    (3Y8)

+ ++ T    (3Y9)

I feel shame to have done such a thing to another man's cams, but he gets it eventually.    (3YA)

Danny graciously provides commentary on my placements as he cleans. Exactly the sort of thing I was hoping to get. My main problem is a tendency to orient the cams too much in an outward direction rather than the down they need.    (3YB)

Despite my stress Danny reports that I looked like a pro. I dealt with the stress the only way I knew how: concentrate on doing the right thing. An essentially meaningless phrase that seemed to work in this case. I've yet to fall on gear I've placed myself. I hope that inevitable happening does not harsh my mellow.    (3YC)

My turn for OrangeJuice. Prior to this climb I had never touched anything in the 12s on lead outside, and only two 12as on top rope, neither of which I completed clean (but I did make it to the anchors).    (3YD)

I get through to the third bolt and up just below the lower crux (5th or 6th boly maybe?). I'm looking around--looking, wondering. There's nothing there. I take.    (3YE)

Danny gives me the beta which amounts to put your hands on some non-existent holds here and here, and your feet like so, suck in your butt and go boom into the dyno. Shnook, I popped my hand up to the hold and miraculously (it seemed to me) stuck it.    (3YF)

Then came the upper crux. I'm not sure how many times I tried. The fall is lengthy. The jug back up exhausting. The moves all wrong: off balance, painful, position absolutely critical and requiring more power 80 feet up than I generally have on the ground. I finally gave up after an extra long fall positioned me for a landing that tweaked my ankle with an over extension. If I had pulled the move I would have made the next clip and then it was the anchors.    (3YG)

Danny: That was the straw that broke off your penis.    (3YH)

Me coming down meant the already tired Danny had to go back up to fetch the draws. Again with my shame, I was supposed to do that. But it is brief: Up at the high crux Danny susses out a new sequence that probably means success for him in the near future: observe the blood I left in the mono for your right hand; don't use the tiny layback flake thing; instead adjust the left-handed pocket below into an almost undercling and dyno for the ledge.    (3YI)

After all this we head back in the direction of the approach trail saying we will stop at a couple of cracks we'd like to do. Auto pilot kicks in and soon we are back at the car, the cracks avoided by our bodies that know better.    (3YJ)

Off to Miguels. I went for shrimp, broccoli, black olive, garlic and pineapple. The recent addition of seafood style protein to the menu (there's also imitation crab meat) is manna.    (3YK)

Back to the campsite. I'm probably asleep by 10 local-to-me time.    (3YL)

Friday we choose to visit MuirValley.    (3YM)

MuirValley is a lovely place purchased by some retired and generous climbers with about 4 miles of undeveloped cliffline. The owners plan to offer it as a climbing and nature preserve.    (3YN)

With permission from the owners, we went exploring. Our goal: aesthetic cracks beckoning climbers for first ascents.    (3YO)

Note to self: next time take a guide who knows their way around. Yes we ascended a remarkable line. Yes we had a very good day. But, oi, did we ever do some bushwacking.    (3YP)

Going up, down and around steep, leaf-covered hills covered with rhododendrons is work enough. Doing it with some several tens of pounds of unbalanced gear and water on your back where any misstep will send you careening down the hill and maybe over a cliff--that's an adventure in hard work.    (3YQ)

But we found a lovely line.    (3YR)

+ ++ T    (3YS)

and had a lovely adventure. We have a name, I reckon it's a fabulous name, but protocol suggests that we save it for a free ascent.    (3YT)

Other note to self: Buy a helmet. Wear it while belaying. Wear it while climbing. Especially if, most definitely if, doing first ascents. Oh, the things that rain down.    (3YU)

The climb has a nice mix of moves. Definitely not a splitter crack dividing a clean face. After the do-whatever-you-can move to get to a ledge, move up into a sort of finger jam layback combo until you are tight up under a roof where there's a hand jam that lets you think about coming out from under the roof.    (3YV)

I fell back to the ground reaching for the ledge. The ground, mind you, is a series up upthrust sharp stones coiled around with rhodo branches. So I went a little further up, fell on the rope. Did that again. Got a little higher and then fell on the ground, further than any time before, narrowly avoiding non-consensual relations with the stones. Huh? Dirt, air, air, dirt. Some gear further up had pulled, lengthening the rope.    (3YW)

I start again and make it to the hand jam and contemplate getting around the first roof.    (3YX)

To do this Danny pulled a fabulous move with his legs. One leg hooked around, the other pasted against the wall. My exhausted, over-bushwacked legs refused to stick to the lichen covered wall under the roof; I never made it around the edge. My fall left me swinging out in space, with no way back in to the wall so I chose to jug up past those moves to just below the second roof where I exhaustedly flailed around and pulled a rock (what appeared to be the crucial hold) down on my head.    (3YY)

Yet another note to self: That which looks secure may not be. Tap, test, etc. before use. I know this already, but apparently not well enough.    (3YZ)

And then I made it to the top through a series of heel hooks, full leg hook whoosits, a little chimney action, and some shuffling about. A fine route I reckon.    (3Z0)

Not satisfied with our explorations of the valley we continued our treck. We had heard other folk would be in the neighborhood that day so we went looking. More bushwacking. No climbing (at least not the technical kind). No people. Many rhododendrons and slippery leaves.    (3Z1)

So we left there. Leaving is no easy proposition. Up a very steep and muddy logging trail. I was used to the down at the end style approach. Up is hard at the end of the day. I should get that kind of exercise every day.    (3Z2)

But we weren't done. One climb is just not enough. We went to TorrentFalls for the easy approach to two projects: BareMetalTeen? for Danny, and SeekTheTruth for me.    (3Z3)

Neither of us had the strength to be good little redpointers. Our leg muscles were gone. Our fingertips were shredded. But we finished them and started the long trip home.    (3Z4)

I had fun, I saw and did many neat things, learned a great deal, enjoyed the company and accomplished some things I'm proud of. Time well spent.    (3Z5)

(Is a writing instructor going to come along and bitch at my lack of tense consistency?)    (3Z6)

(Update April 11 to get PurpleNumbers in there.)    (3Z7)