Boulder Rock Club Report

Went to the BRC early today because I thought I had a meeting at 1 p.m., but I
guess not...

Anyway, I climbed with Steve Merschel. He's a friend of Jeb's (my cycling buddy)
and quite a load as he packs a duece. I warmed up on a 5.9 and then onsighted
a 5.10+ that I knew was hard and had the beta on the crux. So I guess that's
a beta flash and not an onsight.

I then went to my 11c project and hung on the second bolt (I skip the first clip
so this is my first piece of pro). I was disappointed because I had climbed
higher on Wed. But I did send the route from there without any more hangs.
I tried it again and got within one hold of clipping the third bolt, but fell and
was hanging from the same bolt again. I sent the route from there again.

The crux move is grabbing this small vertically oriented hold over a 1-foot
roof (the route overhangs the entire way, but gently). To really grab this
hold I need to pinch it a bit and that was hurting my left thumb badly. I
decided that wasn't in the best interest of my thumb and moved on to the
5.12 route on the Mary Jane Wall.

This overhangs the entire way and there are no features to help out. It
starts with a hard boulder problem, but I think I have it down now. I get
up to the second bolt clip, then I ran it the third bolt, figured the next
hold was better for clipping but was wrong. I fell nearly to the ground
because Steve believes in very soft catches. I hung and then went
again, this time clipping from the two-finger pocket a bit lower. I went
clear to the upper crux and fell off again. Then I finished the route.
Alright. Just two hangs.

On my next try I got up to the fourth clip, but couldn't clip and, once again,
nearly fell to the ground. Exciting stuff with big soft catches by Steve.
I hung and then made it nearly to the top before peeling off for another
grand fall. So, I did the route with two hangs again, but nearly one hang
and I'm getting further up the route on the first hang. I'll get both of
these next week, I hope. I have three days to get it done...

I eventually talked Steve into trying a 5.10 and he hung on the thing
for 20+ minutes. I was about to just lower him. I don't think you should
take that long on any route. You have to take turns. He never finished
the route. I'd have gone off route to at least clip the next bolt and that
way he'd make progress the next time he fell. Oh well.

Bill

Ran the Brook Loop this morning with 4 inches of snow. It was tiring, like running uphill in sand. It made for a slow loop (48 minutes).

I went to the gym at lunchtime and climbed mostly with Trashy, but everyone was there: Hardly, Judy, Scott Conner, Sonya, Bobbie Bensman, Lynn Hill, Chip Chace, etc. Bill Briggs was just leaving as I was coming in. He hung his head in shame! He doesn't like being spotted in the gym. Hilarious.

I warmed up on a 5.9+ and then had to hang once on an overhanging 5.10d. Then I tried a 5.11 that was really hard at the top and I hung on that one as well. Dang. I moved on to my 5.12- project, which better suited my style (not so thuggish, tricky, slopey, and overrated, of course). I got to the penultimate hold clean and then it spun on me! Ack! I tried to finish not using it, but fell off. Still a good effort. Hardly threw up the wrench and I cranked down the hold. On my next try, I sent it! Sweet. Only four total tries for that one. Probably 5.11
something.

Then I tried a 5.12- on a wall that is merely vertical. It was really tricky, hard clips, small holds, etc. I hung a few times getting up it, but figured out some tricks on TR on the way down.

On my second try I got within one move of the top before falling off. On my third go, I sent it! Two 5.12's clean in one gym visit! This route is soft to be sure, but the climbing is really excellent. Some trickery makes it definitely easier than 5.12. I like both of these 5.12 routes a lot. I bouldered up the start of another 5.12-, but the overhanging part above looks completely brutal! I'll start working on it on Monday.

The bad part is, at the end of my workout, I tried the self-belay on the 10d and 5.11 that I fell off while warming up and I still fell off them! Those routes are hard for me. They are pumped, physical, and require the use of a left thumb somewhat on a couple of pinch holds. That hurts me somewhat, but they are tough routes for me to be sure.

Anyway:
5.9 1 route
5.10d 2 routes (one on TR)
5.11 2 routes (one on TR)
5.12- 5 routes

When I say "routes" I don't mean different routes, but leading a route from
the bottom to the top in some fashion. Even if the 5.12's were really soft, I'm pretty excited about this gym visit. Good for the ego and motivation. You guys would send these routes without question in less than ten tries.

Bill