After saying goodbye to J in DC, I drove to the Red and to meet with D and K from the Chicago meetup for a long weekend of climbing at the Red. On Friday, we went to Muir Valley. Seeing that the parking lot was fairly empty, I joked, "Did we miss the notice that this was take your toddler to the crag day?" We rolled up to the Land Before Time Wall and what do we see - toddlers! Apparently, this was the first time they got to pee outside, which the boys seemed to be fans of and kept wanting to do it, but their mother told them they wouldn't need to pee again for at least another 45 min. After one of them got into the kids full body harness, he declared "I think I'll climb after my nap." The parents nixed this idea. We did a few climbs, then went to Bruise Brothers. Had fun putting up Send Me on My Way then another group let us climb on the 10.c (Working for the Weekend) they put up while they climbed on Send Me on My Way. We ended early and had another fabulous meal at the Rockhouse. Later, I had a snack of pizza at Miguel's after T arrived.
On Saturday, we went to Fortress Wall for some trad climbing after stopping off at a spring for water. T led an easy pitch and then went to set up a top rope on a harder route. It wasn't as easy as he thought, abut eventually he and D figured it out. However, there was lots of loose rock near the top of the route, which D knocked off when setting up a directional. One went whipping over my head while I was off using the facilitrees (fortunately, I still had my helmet on) and another bounced through T's legs. After well all made it up whatever that route was, we moved over to Bedtime for Bonzo, a multi-pitch 5.6. D led the first pitch, then we all followed. T led the 2nd pitch, which had a couple of interesting moments, but he made it. The view was great from the top, but none of us brought the camera. Oops.
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| K on the first pitch |
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| D & T on the first pitch |
We went back back to Bruise Brothers because the forecast called for rain. This turned out to be a good call, because it started pouring, but we stayed dry. I took a nice lead fall on Stay Off the Radio Jeff. We waited until the rain stopped then hiked out, fairly cooked after three days of climbing. It did not appear to have rained at Miguel's as the tent was dry. Said goodbye to my friends and drove to Louisville to hang with M&L and deal with a cold that I felt coming on.
The cold I felt coming on arrived in force on Monday morning. Ugh. Oh well, at least it wasn't food poisoning. When I wasn't blowing my nose, I climbed at gym, enjoyed being indoors and celebrated M's birthday on Wed with friends.
Went back to the RRG on Fri night with M&L, stopping in Lexington for dinner at Hugh Jass Burgers. Mmm. M&L had rude awakening when setting up their tent - the air mattress that someone borrowed last year was put away wet and was now gross and the tent, after 15+ years of service, has seen better days. Fortunately, they were able to get a room at Miguels. We met up with J&A and some other folks and hit a new area for us on Saturday (Crossroads) and got on some nice climbs. The day ended a little early, since the last climb we wanted to do had a bunch on angry bees on it. We climbed at Muir on Sunday. A bit of a scary moment when the belayer (using an ATC) next to us thought she was going to pass out; J rushed over, had the climber go in direct and then got him on belay. I got caught in rain again, only this time I wasn't in a sheltered area, so I cleaned the route in the rain. The rain stopped, so we rolled the dice and waited for a climb to open, but it started raining again. As the rock was now going to be too wet even if the rain stopped, we hiked out, getting absolutely soaked. Not fun.
I spent the next two days drying out the gear, then M and I went back to the Red on Tuesday night to meet J&A, who were there for the week. We stopped for dinner in Lexington at Sidebar Grill. Delicious fried pickles. Wednesday was hot and humid, 90+ degrees and 90+ humidity, not great conditions, as even the rock was sweating. We managed to get up a few routes at Chica Bonita, The Shire and The Gallery, but it wasn't the best climbing day. There was rain in the forecast on Thursday, so we went to Bruise. It didn't rain until after we got there and stopped at some point. The rain soundtrack apparently was just what A needed, because she was on fire as out rope gun! After we climbed everything in that area that was dry, we hiked out and just made it back to the shelter when the skies opened and more rain came down. Dinner at Rockhouse tasted good - love the chips and guac! J&A stayed and M and I went back to Louisville, since she had to work on Friday. We were back down on Friday eve, for some more climbing. We spent Saturday at Chica Bonita, where we climbed several routes and wasted a lot of time looking for a 10b the guidebook said had sweet holds. We never found it. After our hike, we did a few more climbs, including the nice Baby Blue Eyes; I am looking forward to doing that one again. M took the honors as our rope gun, with five leads, three in the 10's. Sweet! On Sunday we did a trad clinic with Torrent Falls, which was awesome, right up to the point where we got rained on. T and stayed another day and did a few climbs at Tectonic and Johnny's Walls. T did his first 10 leads and took his first lead fall. A fine day of climbing was capped with delicious nachos by L when I got back to M&L's house.
I spent the next two days drying out the gear, then M and I went back to the Red on Tuesday night to meet J&A, who were there for the week. We stopped for dinner in Lexington at Sidebar Grill. Delicious fried pickles. Wednesday was hot and humid, 90+ degrees and 90+ humidity, not great conditions, as even the rock was sweating. We managed to get up a few routes at Chica Bonita, The Shire and The Gallery, but it wasn't the best climbing day. There was rain in the forecast on Thursday, so we went to Bruise. It didn't rain until after we got there and stopped at some point. The rain soundtrack apparently was just what A needed, because she was on fire as out rope gun! After we climbed everything in that area that was dry, we hiked out and just made it back to the shelter when the skies opened and more rain came down. Dinner at Rockhouse tasted good - love the chips and guac! J&A stayed and M and I went back to Louisville, since she had to work on Friday. We were back down on Friday eve, for some more climbing. We spent Saturday at Chica Bonita, where we climbed several routes and wasted a lot of time looking for a 10b the guidebook said had sweet holds. We never found it. After our hike, we did a few more climbs, including the nice Baby Blue Eyes; I am looking forward to doing that one again. M took the honors as our rope gun, with five leads, three in the 10's. Sweet! On Sunday we did a trad clinic with Torrent Falls, which was awesome, right up to the point where we got rained on. T and stayed another day and did a few climbs at Tectonic and Johnny's Walls. T did his first 10 leads and took his first lead fall. A fine day of climbing was capped with delicious nachos by L when I got back to M&L's house.
