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holdplease2
Feb 4, 2004, 12:04 AM
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Registered: Dec 18, 2002
Posts: 1733
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Hypothetical Balls - Moonlight in Winter
(Moonlight Buttress on Angel’s Landing)
Vegastradguy has posted his trip report, as well.
Partner Selection: Contrary to my particular habits, I selected my partner for Moonlight sight-unseen. Vegastradguy and I had been bantering for some time and I enjoyed his perspective on climbing. I had wanted to solo moonlight, but I wanted to have a belay for the first pitch (5.9 free).
And with a belay on any pitch, well, it isn’t a solo ascent.
So why not have a partner along for the whole thing? John, with his experience on exposed committing trad routes and caving experience, was the perfect partner.
Evaluating Conditions: John and I were so anxious to climb that we decided to climb Moonlight in January. Following is information about the conditions.
Sunrise: 7:43 AM
Sunset: 5:45 PM
Sunlight: Sees first light, but is shaded by 1 or 2 pm.
Average High: 52
Average Low: 29 Yeow!
We decide that as long as we can avoid precipitation, we will be fine. However, with short days, we would probably top out well past sunset, and in cold temps. I decided that I could lead the last two pitches in the dark. I didn’t mention the hanging belay to John…
Day 1: Scoping the Climb, Humping the Loads
Due to John’s work schedule, it was my job to find the climb, scope the first four pitches, and shuttle loads across the river and up the 4th class terrain to the base.
During the time that I was lost circling the empty parking lots around the visitor’s center looking for the Scenic Drive (no shuttle bus system in winter), I began to wonder what business I had finding a route up a (sort of) big wall…heck I couldn’t even find the road leading to the base of it.
The ranger that I asked for directions was thinking the same thing.
I eventually found the climb, an “obvious” white pillar just left of Angels Landing.
The FA of Moonlight was completed by Jeff Lowe and Mike Weiss in October of 1971. In 1992 Peter Croft and Johnny Woodward achieved the First Free Ascent. Apparently the route goes free at 5.13. While certain guidebooks claim that “competent parties can do it in a day”, super competent parties, such as Flyin’ Brian and Ammon McNeely, who hold the current speed record, can do it in 1 hour 57 minutes…by the way, on that same day they also climbed Prodigal Sun and Lunar Ecstasy.
I shuttled the extra crap, like, uh, the ropes, across the river, up the 4th class ledges to the base of the climb. Sitting down in the snow to put my shoes on after crossing the river for the 4th time, I felt oh-so-hardcore.
Competent parties can locate the climb and shuttle the loads in, well, a day.
Day 2: The Climbing Begins
Pitch 1, 150” 5.8+ - John: John (the optimist) had asked to lead the first pitch, which is a tradition of his. Having been spanked on my fair share of Zion free climbs, I happily relinquished the lead.
John roped up boldly and lead the pitch in such great style that I decided that I might as well second it carrying an 11mm static line and 4 liters of water. Well, I have never pulled so hard on little sideways holds in all my life.
My bad judgment of carrying the load meant that I was so cranked by the end of pitch 1 that I had blown my shot at achieving one of my objectives for the climb…freeing pitch 2, which goes at 5.10a
Pitch 2 - 100’, C1 or 5.10a - Kate: I started the pitch by freeing a quick move and slamming a .75 Camelot in under the roof. I fifi'd short into my daisy and looked around. Then, well, I was stuck. I tried to cram every piece of small gear I own into the next pin scar in line to the right under the roof…ballnut…offsets…alien…tcu…thrash thrash thrash swear thrash…you know the drill
I could tell that John was impressed. Very Impressed.
Whilst hanging my head in shame, I spied a glowing white spot low and to my right. A big chalky hole. A hook hole.
I reversed my moves went over to the hole, top stepped it (right off the deck!)
Of course, I demanded that John take a picture of this, my triumphant moment of genius and bravery, and include it in his trip report, which he did.
However… after getting short-roped by around-the-corner-out-of-sight John a couple of times (or so I thought), my arrogance got the best of me.
I gave the rope a quick tug to teach my (theoretically) slack-hoarding belayer a quick lesson (sorry John!). Yup, I yanked it good ‘n’ hard.
Brilliant. I am such an ass.
Come to find out…John wasn’t hoarding slack at all…the rope was catching in the crack in the corner of the roof thanks to the green camalot that I didn’t back-clean. And my yank was just enough to perma-wedge it there!
Seeing easy gear ahead and easy protectable free moves, I asked john to tie off the lead rope to the anchor and put me on belay on the static** haul line. I then placed 3 pieces of pro, clipped the line through each, and tied into it. (3 was plenty for my purposes) I untied the lead line from my waist and clipped it into a piece. I continued through the remaining aid moves into the free section without back cleaning for safety’s sake.
**note: If you don’t know, a fall on a static line can be disastrous over distances of more than a few feet or over particularly bad pro. Knowing this, I made short moves over C1-bomber pro for the final 2 feet of the pitch, risking no more than the equivalent of a static daisy fall, which is bad, but happens sometimes. There were other, more time consuming options available, but I calculated the risk and managed it. In retrospect, I should have probably done it differently to be on the safe side
So aside from bailing on my goal of freeing 5.10, wasting time off route, getting the rope stuck, and risking a static fall, I was off to a fantastic start.
Pitch 3 – 100’, C1, 5.6 -Kate Sport Aiding at its Best: I had read warning that Pitch 3 is reachy. I don’t know who defines reachy, but if, at 5’4, I don’t think it is reachy, then reachy it is not. All of the bolts were bomber and this was sport aiding at its best.
I took the opportunity to climb with great speed and flair, to impress upon poor John that, indeed, I was an aid climber to be reckoned with.
All went well.
Until the little free section at the end.
I made noises that only old men who are off of the prune juice can make.
I made faces that only the old women married to them can make.
Nonetheless, I delivered the goods, after completing what must be my first-ever real pull-up on the chain that holds the rocker block in place.
Show-stopping style, I tell you.
Pitch 4 – 180’ C1+ - John: The Grand Dihedral With 2.5 hours remaining before sunset, John prepared to start “The Grand Dihedral”, the primo pitch of the route. I think I that am getting a deal and sit back to enjoy the show. Heh Heh. John has never aided a dihedral.
I said “Climb as long as you want. If you get too tired or want to come down, or it starts to get dark, just build and anchor to rap and we will take care of it tomorrow.”
Yeah right.
I meant: “You bloody well better climb and complete this pitch now, or we will be spending the night on the wall tomorrow.”
John headed up what turned out to be a smooth and rewarding pitch for him. I enjoyed watching the sun fade. He reached the belay at pitch 5 and rapped/cleaned back down to me just as the last light disappeared. The belay was chilly but fine. This was the first time I had ever belayed an aid pitch, and, come to think of it, it wasn’t so bad.
Day 1 Decent: While scooping the route prior to climbing, I had searched for an “interim rap station” methodically scanning the face with binoculars.
Well, I didn’t find the rappel station with the binoculars, and I didn’t find it on rappel, either.
I rapped the line into the void, scanning the wall for the station. Rap, stop, scan, rap, stop, scan, swing around looking. I find a station, fix, and rap again.
Of course, I reach the end of the last line and am still 50 feet off the deck, but I do find a couple of drilled angles. I carefully examine and then clip into them and radio the situation to John.
We decide that John will remedy the situation by splicing our two ropes together on his way down, passing the knot, and rapping to the deck. We had reviewed this skill before the climb, but due to…uh…gym crowding, John had never actually done it before.
I would have been pleased to ascend my line, gather the ropes from the false station, and go looking for the real one, but thanks to John’s exceptionally cool head, strong rope/safety knowledge, and our excellent communication, this time consuming activity wasn’t necessary.
Day 2.
John and I woke at 6 am. It took 1.5 hours for us to get out the door, as we were a little sluggish (just a little) from the prior day’s exertion.
Jugging 101:
I have tried traditional jugging, and jugging with a gri-gri and an ascender. This time I tried the “frog” system with a Petzl Croll and a foot loop. It went much better, however, jugging three lines took us 30 minutes longer than expected.
This put us a full two hours behind schedule.
We had 3 nearly 180 foot aid pitches and a 1 free pitch ahead of us.
We had just 5.5 hours remaining until sunset.
Sportos (if you made it this far into the trip report) would say “no problem”. Traddies might be OK with it, but Aid Folks know that a long moderate aid pitch can take 3+ hours for a low-end team of the likes of John and me to lead and clean. Add an hour to each pitch that is led in the dark, and the duration of the climb grows exponentially.
Climb Time Calculations: (3 hours x 3 aid pitches) + 1h (5.7 free pitch) = 10 hours
Darkness Calc: 10 climbing hours – 5.5 daylight hours = 4.5 hours of night climbing
10 hours + 3 additional hours due to darkness = 13 hours.
I advise John that we will summit at 1 am if all goes well.
The skies were clear, we had thick insulation layers, Gore-Tex rain/wind gear, space blankets, and duct tape. I was comfortable with leading in the dark, and we were both happy to spend the night on the wall.
We decided to climb on ‘till the job was done.
Pitch 5 – 160’ C1- Kate - The Devil’s As*crack Dihedral If John’s pitch 4 was the Grand Dihedral, then my pitch was the Devil’s As*crack Dihedral. It was hairy, there was a lot of sh*t in it, and there was just one hole, appropriate for hooking.
John’s radio communications during my proctological excursion went as follows:
• 30 minutes in “Well, the sun is almost gone, I’ll be in the shade soon”
• 20 minutes later “Hey Kate, I’ve been completely in the shade for awhile now”
• 20 minutes after that “I’m freezing down here”
My thoughts were “well, you are the jackhole who wanted to climb a wall with me in January. And you are on a ledge having snacks whilst I am trying not to get shat out of Satan’s Arsehole.”
My words were a somewhat softer “Dude ,if you complain one more time about being cold, I am going to set you on fire with your own lighter when you get to the belay station…I don’t mean to be mean but…” then silence.
I did mean to be mean.
I shouldn’t have said it, but I did.
I try to climb by the unwritten rule that the second never complains while the leader is leading. The sharp end is called the sharp end for a reason, and the only thing worth complaining about while climbing is imminent death. And as far as my experience goes, death is often (though not always) more imminent for the leader.
In reality, Death was car camping in the back of her Subaru in the Sahara and I was only 600 feet off the deck, wedged into a crowbar-tight into a chimney above, er, beside good gear.
I was decidedly more ashamed of and annoyed by my slow grovel up the closterphobic chimney/dihedral than I was justifiably fearing Death.
Pitch 6 - 180’ C1– John: John and I figure that he will have dispensed with his pitch by sunset, that gave him a generous 2.5 hours for the lead. John led his pitch in fantastic style and we bantered back and forth on the radios. For bonus points he made good enough time that I was able to clean the pitch before total darkness set in.
John hunkered down in the Yates (yeah, they want to sponsor us, for sure) belay seat to belay me for the next 170 feet, which was sure to take me 3.5 to 4 hours in the dark.
Pitch 7 - 170’ C1+ - Kate: Definition of an Epic
With moonless night fully upon us and the temps dipping into the 30s already, I placed my first piece of pro at around 7:30pm. From his seat in the hanging belay John asked me
J “Hey Kate, is this an epic yet?”
K “No, John, this is not an epic, this is a smoothly executed, albeit unpleasant…plan”.
All I needed to do was deal with the psychological aspects of leading in soon-to-be-freezing temperatures in a light breeze above the yawning black maw of Death…er the valley.
But the real risk was manageable, the perceived risk was in line with the real risk, and I was ready
And my man John? he was about to learn the meaning of the word cold.
…and the word dark.
I shifted my weight onto my first piece with my heart in my throat.
I stood high on the piece…then a little higher…then top stepped.
Hmm. Crappy slot, a watermelon seed placement for a #3 HB offset.
If you don’t know what I mean by a ‘watermelon placement’ next time you are eating watermelon, place the seed between your thumb and forefinger. Now squeeze. That’s a watermelon placement.
No Go.
I top step and find a pin scar. Great. Yellow TCU. Nope. Ballnut. Think not. Alien. I already know better. WTF?! I find an edge for a hook and pull out my talon. The two lower feet rest on…nothing. The edge has never been used for hooks before, I can tell. Something is wrong.
This is supposed to be C1+.
I sat back down on my piece.
My heart rapelled the line from my throat to my stomach.
When I stood up to look at the placements again, I wrapped my left arm around a corner for balance. My fingers found the crack.
About 10 moves into the pitch I realized that climbing by headlamp has 2 interesting effects:
1) With a headlamp shining straight into the crack, the crack it appears flared when it is not. This makes a good placement difficult to differentiate from a flared placement.
2) Every time I moved my head, the shapes and shadows shifted suddenly, resulting in vertigo.
Vertigo and flared-crack placements. Nope, not making good time. When I passed a belay at 100’, I was on pace for an…er…4 hour lead.
Then, I got The Call.
J: “Kate, you there?”
K: “Yeah, John, What’s Up?”
J: “I just lost my headlamp”
*silence*
K: “Do you have your spare?”
J: “It’s on the desk in the room.”
*loooong silence*
Something I have heard is that when a climbing accident happens it is because of 2, 3, sometimes 4 things going wrong simultaneously.
We are now on the wall with two strikes against us. John has no light and no space blanket (it was in the room with the extra headlamp). Oh yeah, and the belay station was kind of a mess. And we are cold and getting tired. What is that, anyway, 5 strikes?
Definitely, the winds of change were eroding “The Plan”
K: “No worries, John, this will be just fine, we will get you up here, no problem”
J: “OK, Kate”
I know that John trusts me to fix anything, which I think I can, and I know he has the skills to help. Death, for her part, is still lounging in the Subaru, but I wonder how fast she can find his keys…stop thinking that, dork.
What if John is not comfortable leaving the belay station in the dark…if I have to rap down to him, work this out, then jug 180 feet, will I have enough mental and physical energy left to lead the 5.7 free to the summit? If I can’t do it, will John be OK without a Space Blanket?
John was being a real champ and keeping it together, and I needed to do the same.
Warrior’s Way (according to that weird, cerebral rc.com forum that I never understand) suggests rather than shouting up to your leader “Come On! You can DO it!” or “yeah, yeah! Go for it!” that one should, rather, provide constructive advice, such as “don’t miss that foothold to your left” or “your pro is at your waist and it is really bomber”
Well, John couldn’t see sh*t, but he decided to help.
Echoing up from the void I heard all the beta I needed to hear.
J “Kate, you know, you are one badass motherf*cker.”
And I trusted my belayer…I envisioned myself as that guy in Pulp Fiction…any guy in Pulp Fiction. This time I am…
Not a lonely motherf*cker.
Not a drunk motherf*cker.
Not bitter motherf*ker.
Not broke motherf*cker.
For once in my life I get to be the good kind of motherf*cker.
A Badass Motherf*cker.
After more than 4 hours of leading, I wallowed through the final free moves like a spawning salmon ascending a waterfall. Not pretty, but effective.
I examined the ledge for signs of other belay setups, not sure if the pitch was done. Sure enough, I found deep grooves from haul lines pointing from the main crack to the belay below. The free climbing between me and the summit looked more than a little foreboding.
I didn’t want to think about it.
Death locates her keys in yesterday’s pants pocket…wonders how much gas is in the Subaru.
Thankfully,she gets distracted by a bag of Doritos under the passenger’s seat…
I set the belay.
John and I decided that the safest plan (for a variety of reasons) was for him to just jug the haul line rather than try to clear the belay and clean the pitch in the dark on a moonless night. We would hike 3 miles up the frozen the Angel’s Landing trail the next day and recover the gear and the haul line, but so what.
The clean-up would be a just punishment for not having an extra headlamp, but not a disastrous one.
Pitch 9: 30' 5.7 - Kate - Summit Pitch: I had been dreading this pitch for a long time. Months, in fact. Two pieces of gear in 30 feet. Zion 5.7 slab.
**don’t read this if you don’t want detailed beta on the summit slab**
Before I knew it, my rock shoes were on, I was up on the slab, placed a piece of pro (an off-kilter blue DMM in a triangular hole) and was standing on a wide rail with the cam at my feet looking at the possibility of traversing right on the rail…I had heard something about this.
Damn. . No hands….a balancy, no hands 5 or 6 steps right.
Gear at feet…feet 8’ from the deck. With a few sideways moves, I’d be in decking zone for sure. Hell, my gear sucked, I might be in decking zone right now. The fingers of my left hand were frozen numb after only a minute of holding onto a small crimp.
There was another problem…a bulge above the foot rail.
My instinct told me that this bulge would be just enough to throw my balance off backwards and that I would fall without handholds.
Oh man. I don’t think I have this in me.
k “downclimbing”
Dude. I was letting us down.
k “take”
F*ck.
My heart rappelled out of my body and walked away.
We had made it so far. And I had said I could lead this pitch in the dark. I even practiced for it.
John had the balls to exit the station and ascend the lines in the dark to make my ledge. And my hypothetical balls weren’t even big enough to get through the 30 feet that lay between us on our freezing ledge and the cold pizza in the warm room.
*silence*
…Wait a minute. I forgot. I am a badass motherf*cker, John said so.
And badass motherf*ckers do not back off of 5.7 slab when they know they can on sight 5.9 almost anywhere. But the move didn’t look 5.7…wait a minute… I looked around.
Sure enough, my hands needed to be where my feet were, and my feet needed to be on a micro rail that was low enough to let me move sideways 4-5 feet without risking groundfall. When I made those moves I found a bomb-proof #1 Camelot placement, right in front of my face.
Schweet! I can do this!
Now, normally, I am a stickler for style, harkening back to my sport climbing roots. (you know, hangdog, redpoint, headpoint, toprope, pinkpoint, onsight, flash, stickclip, the list goes on…)
F*ck that.
…so I don’t know if I did it for good reasons, like wanting us to be safe and done, and getting us to somewhere warm, or if I did it because I was being wussy and wanted an easy way out. Regardless, I slammed an aider on that red Camelot, stood up and looked around.
Two free moves to bomber hands!
I collected myself, styled through the moves…got some more gear, and used the aider again.
(damnit)
A leg hook, a belly flop, and I was crawling (yes, folks, crawling) to the pine tree!
The!
Summit!
Pine!
Tree!
Yes! The Summit Pine Tree!
I slung the tree, tied john off, lowered the headlamp to him, and within minutes we were on the summit of Moonlight Buttress!
Afterthoughts: This is my personal view, and I don’t want anyone to feel that I am “pushing” it on them…so please don’t take it that way.
We had a plan and stuck with it. John was a great and equal partner on this adventure, I’d climb anything with him, anytime. For a couple of gumbies we didn’t do so poorly. However, I was a little disappointed with a couple of decisions that I made.
For example, I used the stick clip twice, both with the mental excuse of saving time, but I really did it to reduce risk which (importantly) was negligible to begin with. In my eyes this was totally cheating.
There is a corollary in the free climbing world… it is one thing to say you won’t clip a bolt that you don’t agree with on a trad route…and another thing altogether to not clip it when the going gets rough.
The same is true with stick clips on aid routes (perhaps different from an “equalizer” for us shorties) IF I carry a stick clip (of the 3’+ size) on an aid route, I have found that I will use it, making stupid excuses all the while.
So for me, bringing a stick clip on an aid route is akin to carrying a single-use personal-bolt on a trad climb (no rock damage, but you know what I mean)…I lower the overall risk and commitment of the climb for myself by making the stick-clip option available. …and using the stick clip was, for me, like clipping the bolt that might not be required for success on a trad route. (some bolts are fine by me, others have bugged me, and it is up to me to exert the self control in this situation…)
I did wus out on this route, therefore I will be climbing it again. But it won’t be like doing it right the first time. The moral of the story (for me) is, you only get one first time, best to make it count 100%. It sucks that (my perspective on) compromised style has impacted my climbing experience yet again, but that’s who I am, for whatever reason.
Sometimes the style matters as much as the summit, if not more. And if I let my style dip below what my climbing ability will allow? That is when I have crossed the line.
Still, we achieved our main objectives...to stay alive and have some fun...so can I really complain? Nope.
**again, the last paragraphs are just my perspective, please don’t argue it here, there are other places for that in the forums**
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vegastradguy
Feb 4, 2004, 12:15 AM
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Registered: Aug 28, 2002
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Excellent report, Kate! I just had to read it again, because, well...it's just good reading!!!
Thanks again!!!!
ps- LOVE the subject line!
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iamthewallress
Feb 4, 2004, 12:37 AM
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That was hysterical! Excellent story telling! And congrats again on a badass motherf*cking winter ascent of such a great wall.
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mandrake
Feb 4, 2004, 12:37 AM
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Registered: Jan 7, 2004
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Great TR! Very enjoyable read, you write well (actually, both of you do).
Devil's a*crack dihedral, that's great! I didn't lead it, and that made me verrry happy when I saw my partner on it...
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nagatana
Feb 4, 2004, 5:00 AM
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Kate, you and vegastradguy should link the other's thread at the bottom of your reports. I loved reading about all the psychological challenges you faced, and when I followed up your experiences with vegastrad's, it shone new light on the trip, turning it into a fascinating epic.
This pair of threads is like watching your favorite movie with the commentary.
Thank you two for sharing such fine stories.
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diesel___smoke
Feb 4, 2004, 5:41 AM
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Registered: Aug 9, 2003
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Great story, congratulations Kate and John.
Maybe I'll write up a TR for my solo epic on Washington's Column...
Jp
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hawgdrver
Feb 4, 2004, 6:01 AM
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Deleted
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epic_ed
Feb 4, 2004, 6:14 AM
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Kate!! That TR is so you. Like I said to you last week -- I'm PROUD of ya! Excellent job, and an incredible adventure. Do you remember that it has been just about exactly a year ago that you first stepped into aiders (Super Bowl Sunday)? And it wasn't too long ago that you insisted "that aid climbing stuff isn't for me." :P I remember when Jeff and I hiked up to Tom's Thumb. I seem to recal it was Jeff and I that were explaining what to do and how to do it. I'm looking forward to getting together with you soon so I can take some notes from you. :mrgreen:
Congrats on making a lot of progress in a very short period of time. So what's your next project?
Ed
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imnotclever
Feb 4, 2004, 3:00 PM
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Registered: Sep 8, 2003
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Great job!
Both reports were fun to read. It's great to hear both sides of the story.
I read John's first, and loved reading Kate's when she told us what she said verse what she was thinking.
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brianinslc
Feb 4, 2004, 3:19 PM
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In reply to: Great job! Both reports were fun to read. It's great to hear both sides of the story. I read John's first, and loved reading Kate's when she told us what she said verse what she was thinking.
Double ditto!
Thanks,
Brian in SLC
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calamity_chk
Feb 4, 2004, 4:53 PM
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superb writing!
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joe
Feb 4, 2004, 5:46 PM
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excellent kate. one of the best TRs i've read in a while.
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ricardol
Feb 4, 2004, 5:59 PM
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top notch adventuring ..
-- ricardo
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holdplease2
Feb 4, 2004, 6:16 PM
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Thank you, Melissa, John, Ed, and everyone for the feedback! Makes all that typing worth it, for sure.
And Ed...ohhh nemesis Ed...I got nauseous on superbowl sunday this year, and I thought it was just due to that nasty offwidth that Melissa had me climbing in the rain...really it was just biological memory of that day with you and Jeff...I have a "next" project, but I ain't tellin you! Bwah ha ha ha!!!
Thanks, Ed and Smithclimber and all the RC.commer aid posters for the help in learning, btw!
-Kate.
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superdiamonddave
Feb 4, 2004, 6:21 PM
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That was fun reading. Nicely done!
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climbs4fun
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Feb 4, 2004, 8:10 PM
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Awesome TR!!!!!!!!!! Like Ed said.... SO you! You rock chica!
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epic_ed
Feb 5, 2004, 12:03 AM
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In reply to: I have a "next" project, but I ain't tellin you! Bwah ha ha ha!!!
I'm betting it begins with a "Z".
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holdplease2
Feb 5, 2004, 12:26 AM
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Wrongo, Ed my man...no "Z" for me...not ready for the Captain yet, thats for sure!
-Kate.
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smellyhippie
Feb 5, 2004, 1:06 AM
Post #19 of 22
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Registered: Nov 11, 2003
Posts: 155
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That was rad. Thanks.
Nate
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smithclimber
Feb 5, 2004, 6:08 PM
Post #20 of 22
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Registered: Feb 15, 2002
Posts: 338
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In reply to: Do you remember that it has been just about exactly a year ago that you first stepped into aiders (Super Bowl Sunday)?
I personally saw Kate standing in aiders in early December of 2002, so Super Bowl Sunday 2003 couldn't have been her first steps. Not only was she standing in her aiders in Dec., she was actually trying to solo a route.
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smithclimber
Feb 5, 2004, 6:10 PM
Post #21 of 22
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Registered: Feb 15, 2002
Posts: 338
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In reply to: Thanks, Ed and Smithclimber and all the RC.commer aid posters for the help in learning, btw! -Kate.
You're welcome.
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addiroids
Feb 6, 2004, 7:43 AM
Post #22 of 22
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Registered: Oct 11, 2001
Posts: 1046
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Good TR Kate. I hope some of the suggestions I gave you (taped open biner) helped speed you up. I look forward to doing some of that in the last week of February, hopefully with you on a couple of routes. Leading in blocks and short fixing is fun stuff and sure speeds things up.
Congrats on the great climb!!
TRADitionally yours,
Cali Dirtbag
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