East Side 3/28

Hit the East Side on Saturday with Seth. Man, we're getting lucky with this early spring weather. The cliff is in great shape- even the Diplomat wall is dry at this point. Let's hope the weather continues to hold. Last summer's July/August washout was the worst in years.

Can't wait to get out and climb on a sunny day!

Seth and I headed up to the Blunt Force area to warm up. I decided to hop right on Scavenger and hang the draws to see if I'd be able to redpoint it. The rock was actually a bit warm (amazing for March) and the holds we're not as crisp as they'd been. I think I've gotten used to climbing in 30-degree weather; it's actually pretty nice when you get used to it.

I linked up to the last clip hanging the draws, but I was feeling a little tentative. I'm not sure why- I guess it's kind of a hard warm-up and I still haven't logged enough falls this season to have them out of my head. Seth decided to give it a top-rope run after I topped out. It was Seth's first-day out on rock for the season (other than his Black Dike / Whitney-Gillman link-up with Alden the previous weekend). Seth decided to work the early-season kinks out on solid 5.12. Good man!

On my second go, I fell on the last holds. I didn't have enough in the tank to jack up my feet for the final toss to the top. I pushed pretty hard on that attempt and was planning to move on to another route (figured it could wait for another day) but Seth suggested I rest a bit and give it another go. "Dude- you were at the last move!"

About this time, Jeremy Dowdy and his girlfriend(?) showed up with Tyler Sandberg in tow. Tyler had seen my red shirt from Duxbury and decided to come over to see what we were up to. Tyler ran off with his pads to find some boulders and Jeremy took his girlfriend up to Bubbles. Having had a decent 20 min rest, I saddled up and sent Scavenger. It felt very good. I used a new cross-under hand sequence on the crux and found myself on the final holds before I even realized I was there. It was funny to be on the last holds, trying to adjust my right-hand so that it was perfect, not even realizing that I was only one big move from the top. It was great, I'd totally let go of my attachment to sending the route. I was one move away, calmly fiddling with my grip, trying to see how to best get my fingers on it when suddenly a thought came rushing into my head, "SEND IT YOU FOOL! YOU'RE THREE FEET FROM THE TOP!" I hiked up my feet and made the big dead point to the jug at the lip. I think the route's probably about 5.12b. I asked Dave Vuono, who sent it last fall, and he suggested 5.12b as well. Looks like we're on our way to a consensus.

Seth Maciejowski- my "lucky belayer".

After Scavenger, Seth and I headed over to the Pastry Rage project. Getting to the first bolt is a little scary. Not sure if a stick-clip, a cam, or just getting used to it is the best approach. It's just a little too loose and a little too 5.7ish to feel totally secure when looking at a 15' backwards fall onto the slab below. I dogged my way up, stick clipped the crux bolt and trolleyed up to brush off the holds a bit. I found a few interesting crimps (a neat left hand quartz edge and a right hand square-cut which looks a little "impermanent". With these holds, the move isn't too bad. Though it might be a little exciting to do pumped. The bolt is a little high. I think I should be able to link a lot of the bottom and put the rope on top of the cliff next time I make it up there. I don't think this route will take too long to put together.

After Seth's go on TR, we went down and looked at the problem Tyler was working on. Looks tough. He said, "It might be double-digits". So, V10, or something. it's a super-powerful 2-move chuck. Out of my league for sure.

Tyler Sandberg working on a hard new problem...