Beer Walls Lead & Junkyard New Yosemite

New Yosemite kicked my ass.  I went in thinking I had this 5.9+ in the bag.  Wrong.  A little humility and a pulled groin muscle.  I'm still limping a little.  I tried to climb a couple of days after I got back, Tuesday, but that wasn't happening.  I got seriously spanked!

The lead climbs, however, were epic.  I lead on three sport routes at the Beer Walls in Bubba City.  One was a 5.7.  I do remember being scared at one point, quite scared.  I thought I had made a bad decision, and I couldn't down climb, so I was basically screwed because I couldn't see my ascent up the wall.  It was a moment when I realized this was much more a mental exercise than a physical one.  And a specific type of mental exercise, one that combined judgement, risk and creativity.  It was a defining moment in my climbing career.  I realized this was why I was out here.  This was the reason I was climbing.  It's a very memorable moment.  I can think back right now and recall just how I felt at that point up the route.  When I looked back on the climb later that weekend, I remember thinking I wanted to try something even harder, push myself even further.  I wanted to experience that risk and subsequent fear that makes you insanely focused on the task at hand.  A surge of adrenaline and a rush of fear immediately followed by the knowledge that the best course of action was to breath and think slowly and carefully.  This moment of razor focus is pure zen.


Wunderkind    5.6, onsighted, lead
Near Beer     5.6, onsighted, lead
Gilded Otter  5.7, onsighted, lead

New River Gorge & First Lead Climb

I'm so friggin' pumped.  Andrew and I went to the Craggin' Classic event hosted by the American Alpine Club at the New River Gorge climbing area and had the most phenomenal climbing experience yet.  I've never met so many climbers, sent so much badass rock, and had such a concentrated amount of activity squeezed into one weekend for as long as I can remember.  We did boulder problems, top-roped and even did two sport lead climbs for the first time ever.

The lead climbs were a spontaneous "extra" feature of the weekend.  I was half joking with Andrew about getting some quickdraws at the local climbing store in Fayetteville.  I figured, I could buy some and have them for when we eventually got up the courage to do sport.  After mentioning it a couple of times, I think Andrew started getting excited.  Next thing you know, we're on a 5.7 with 6 bolts, and I'm doing lead.  I'm very excited about our progress.  We also did another one where Andrew lead.

Aside from the biggest highlight of the weekend we also did some bouldering in river bed by the damn.  I didn't take any pictures because I was so caught up with climbing, but that place is phenomenal.

The American Alpine Club just purchased some land next to the climbing areas and is setting up a new camp space (near Junkyard).  We camped there over the weekend.  It's a nice location, and when they get facilities there it will be even nicer, ie. bathrooms, showers, etc.

Here are the routes we did.

Friday

Bridge Buttress

• Chockstone (TR) 5.9+ onsighted

• Zag (TR) 5.8 onsighted

Junkyard

• Jumping Jack Flash (TR) onsighted

• Four Sheets to the Wind (TR) 5.9+ [did not send]

Saturday

Hawk's Nest - various boulders including a V2 (flashed)
Cotton Top - various boulders

Sunday

Sandstonia (aka Tattoo Wall)

• Shady Lady 5.7 (SP) onsighted

• Bobby D's Bunny 5.6 (SP) flashed