What did you last climb?

On various usenet mucic groups, it's not uncommon to see a post asking 'What are you listening to now?' It's fun to see the variety and sometimes you can find some interesting stuff by reading through the notes.

In a bit of an offtake, I'd like to ask something a bit more on topic, you know, to see if we can get things back on track here. So with that, here goes:

What was the last route you climbed?

In responding (if in fact you do climb), let us know if the route was worth doing, if it was a sandbag, or any other interesting things you might have seen along the way. Cheerio... :- k

PS. For me, the last route I climbed was 'Between a Rock and a Hard Place' at the Pinnacles. While I've done the route about a dozen times, I always find it interesting. For the Pinns, it's long (about 10 - 12 draws) and it has a couple of nice steep sections. Although it's rated .11a, once you have the moves down, it seems easier (as do all routes at the Pinns). If you're ever out that way, I'd recommend it. God bless.

That was the buckets route in the bouldering cave at my gym. Easy, greasy and a couple of spinning jugs... But at least I'm regaining some strenght and endurance.

And my last rock route was... Horseman or Ken's Crack during the last Gunks rec.climbing meeting. (I don't remember which one I did before the other). Horseman was quite steep and the last moves offered nice exposure for the grade (5.5) Ken's Crack was, well, cold to say the least. I don't like to ice climb while wearing rock shoes. Everybody I met at the meeting was great, it was really worth it.

I'm really itching to go back on the rock. I guess we'll have some warm (well, warmer: 35F) sunny days not toooo far away. Grands-Jardins, here I am!

Since you left it vague, the last climbing-type thing I did was snowshoe up to Panarama Point (near Paradise, Mt. Rainier). A few weeks ago.

It was totally worth doing. (As hundreds of other people also thought....) The sun was bright, the sky was clear, I could see to Mt. Hood and beyond. It was, in fact, a sandbag, because I only needed the snowshoes when I was off the well-packed trail up to Camp Muir.

Interesting things along the way

David Grey....oops...wrong question....

see http://www.geocities.com/geoffjennings/tripreports/ lastgasp.htm

for the last climbing trip I did, ending monday.....

An FA in a little canyon in the So. Az desert last saturday. Route *bakes* in the afternoon sun. Maybe I'll call it 'Heat'. Or maybe 'The Fury' which is a play on the name of one of my partners.

Nice rock. Perfect weather.

Nice thread....

Feb 4th at Pieshop (south lake tahoe CA) Just solo tr on a really nice sunny day. Fluted Crust, Crepes, and some other nasty chimney thing. Plus a memorable nap on a big ledge in the full sun.

The routes were ok..the ledge-nap is a MUST...

Saw 2 other rec.climbers.......and a very attractive woman sunning her midriff on Lunch Rock.

nathan (sloth and inertia are underrated) sweet

I'm not sure if you could call it a route. Monday before last I went out with someone I met in the gym to his project in 'the wildest backyard'. It was a 10K bike ride and another hour uphill through canonical forest. As we left the woods to cross wet slabs above a creek I realized that I wasn't going to feel completely safe that day.

The first two pitches of his project were a waterfall. We contoured the hillside a ways and then roped up and started climbing a series of rock risers and treed steps. The rock was wet, mossy, and cold. I belayed first and my hands chilled enough so that my thumbs wouldn't close when it was my turn to climb. I made do with elbows.

After a few pitches we tried traversing back towards the line my new friend had wanted to work on. Below us some dihedrals dropped into the mist and we could hear the roar of a stream. The traverse ended at a stack of big blocks too loose to take a chance with.

My friend then led up a steep slimy unprotected rib, which I would never have let him do if I could have foreseen how tricky it was. How do some of us get ourselves into these things? Several similar pitches followed. My friend showed himself to be a true Pacific Northwest climber by using two slings hitched around a tree for aid. You push the upper sling as high as it will go, sit back on it, move up the lower sling and stand in it, and repeat. He was fast, too.

We came to a tilted slab whose overhanging side would provide fantastic boulder problems in warmer weather. If it's ever found again.

We arrived at a shoulder on a buttress and could see into the basin above the proposed climb. The mist intervened but we saw some good rock above the previous high point. We tromped around in the snow for half an hour waiting to see if the weather would clear. My hint about building a fire got nowhere.

We rapped back down through the trees. Somewhere along the way I noticed that the pull on me seemed odd. I found that my device was clipped to a gear loop rather than the belay loop it had been on most of the day. I had unaccountably transfered it to the gear loop and then unforgivably not checked it before starting that rap. It was hidden under my jacket. Always check: 1) anchor, 2) harness, 3) device.

We got lost and couldn't decide which tier we had left our packs on. We saw footprints and figured we had come down far enough. We ditched our gear and went looking for the packs. We got lost and couldn't find our gear or our packs. The gray-green maze relented and gave us back our belongings and our connection to the world below.

The bike ride back out was mostly uphill. It was worth it.

Andy Cairns

Jan 2 in Joshua Tree I did both Momma and Pappa (something) before I left the next day on my way back to PA. They are both good routes, .10b, .10a I believe but they were listed differently in other books. Lots of friction and a few good rests. Never before have I used a single crystal as my only handhold on near vertical sections of rock.

Unfortunately the last time I was climbing outside was way back on Friday, October 13th while it was still warm. Down at Jackson Falls in Southern IL. The last route I did was called Morning Beers. That was a great route, starts with a little slab work, then in the middle becomes a dihederal with a crack, then after another 20 feet you have to move to one of the faces, and then finish it off coming up around an overhang. I definately recomend it, it's pretty easy at 5.8+, but a lot of fun.

When Marc says it was worth it, keep in mind that he drove, what, 10? 12? hours to get there. For one day of climbing. Cold climbing.

Me? The last thing I climbed was the Adirondike, a single long pitch of NEI 3+ ice with ice that was (left to right) brittle, aerated, and too thin. It was a wake-up-at-4:00am two and a half hour hike each way on a beautiful trail on a crisp cold clear Adirondack day. Totally worth it.

-steven-

Yeah, this is a fun thread. The last route I climbed was at the local limestone ranch crag known as Reimer's. I had just walked under my friend Kevin and cajoled him for cursing during his lead. I then proceded to try onsighting a reportedly sandbagged route called 'Mikey Likes It.' Although it it rated 5.10, it seemed to me more like a 5.11-. It was the end of the day and I struggled a quite a bit, whereupon I pitched off repeatedly at the crux. Cursing ensued, which amused me quite a bit since it reminded me of someone. I then fessed up to Kevin later after coming down.