Road Trip Part 2: The Rock

   Here it is, the moment you've all been waiting for!  An in-depth description of our SE Utah/SW Colorado climbing adventures!!  As a warning: lots of climbing terminology gets thrown about within, therefore if you have little to no knowledge of the sport but still want to read on, THIS may come in handy for you.

   Still grinning from the epic ride on Porcupine Rim, we headed south on Thursday to Indian Creek to show our Tahoe friends the abundance of crack climbing on their last few days in Utah. We climbed some popular routes on Friday including the Incredible Hand Crack and the 130' tall 3AM Crack, which was almost my undoing on lead as I lacked any endurance to climb something that tall (average climbs are 70-90ft). Somehow I stuck it out, happy that it was a corner dihedral with good rests and mostly great hand jams.   On Saturday the crowds descended and we wound up doing a couple of obscure off-width and wide hand cracks, neither of which are my strong point. Kit wrestled up the off-width on lead and ended up with some giant gobies (sandstone abrasions) on hands and ankles...ouch! Somehow I escaped unscathed, likely from not desperately scrabbling for friction while run out above a piece of gear. Climbing certain things on top rope is quite nice.  I remember an analogy overheard my last time at the Creek: climbing wide cracks is like flossing, isn't always the most fun but at least it's good for you!  Despite that wisdom, the newer climbers in our group opted to take photos and enjoy the scenery while the more seasoned individuals took turns on both cracks, climbing into dusk to finish the last route.  They drove back to Tahoe the next day with images of splitter sandstone burned into memory and a vow to return again.

5.9 warmup at 16z

  While hanging out in Durango, a friend of a friend of a friend (seriously) we were introduced to over beers suggested instead of going back to Indian Creek for the overly crowded "Creeksgiving" weekend, we should check out a newer sandstone crag in western Colorado.  Carpenter Ridge was originally suggested, with its beautiful Wingate fractures identical to those in the Creek, but most climbs required two ropes (!) to get off of, and we had only brought a single 70 meter cord.  His roommate was heading to 16Z, another area with some bolted sport climbs in addition to cracks, so we decided to tag along for an exploratory mission. The climbing did not disappoint, with a 5.11 sport climb that looked more in-your-face than it actually was--even I managed to lead it with some minor pondering and improvisation at the crux. Kit and I split off to find some nearby crack climbs, locating a fun 5.9, a progressively harder towards the top 5.10, and a 5.11 fingertip lieback that could be toproped from the same anchor. After climbing the polished rock at Indian Creek, the grip of the relatively unclimbed rock was impressive--one could actually smear a foot on un-featured rock and it would stick like glue! Both of us agreed that the .11 was the best line of the day, with a tricky changing dihedrals crux in the middle and an exhausting off-fingers section just after. The company was not quite as good as the rock climbing, however, and Kit suggested we head back to Utah before he got too fed up with our new acquaintance, so back to Moab the next day, via Paradox Valley to scope out Carpenter Ridge for future adventures.

Kit on the chossy 5.10 above camp

  Once in Moab we took a "rest" day that entailed trying a random bolted climb above our campsite on the west side of the Colorado River.  It was a little loose and chossy in places, and the actual climbing was somewhat sketchy feeling with hollow sounding blocks and flakes everywhere.  Kit had no trouble leading it, along with cleaning off some loose stuff that came flying past, making me wish I had worn a helmet to belay.  I cleaned the gear on toprope marveling at how easy he made it look. I found it rather terrifying, though the climbing was not too hard; just a mental trip wondering if my next handhold was going to pull off the wall or foot would skate off a sandy edge.  The next day we climbed at Wall Street, revisiting some classics that I had climbed on my last Moab trip. Surprisingly I must have gotten stronger, because I put away a couple of 5.10s on lead without much ado.  Kit got on a 5.11a he had his eye on the previous week, and sent that quite solidly. I cleaned on toprope again, cruising most of the climb but getting temporarily stumped by the final high-step/lieback move to reach the anchors. It was a tough move physically after completing the rest of the climb, and looked highly improbable, but just required commitment in the attempt. Sound like downhilling at all?

   We headed back down to Indian Creek that evening to prepare for a final round of jamming, pulling into the Cottonwoods camp just before dark. When morning came we let Pork Chop out of the van to do his usual business, and he returned with our neighbors in tow, a couple of guys from Washington no less. We hung out and chatted for a while, waiting for the sun to hit the Pistol Whipped wall above camp to the south, listening to stories about some cool climbs in the Cascades that should be done on our next trip up to the Northwest.  The Washingtonians took off for Moab, all climbed out and ready for a rest day, while we hiked up to the wall wondering if anybody else would be up there.  Nobody came up, so we had it all to ourselves the entire time!  Starting with the shortest, easiest 5.9, we worked our way through several .10 and 10+ climbs, all of the thin finger lieback sort and the last two were kind of burly for their rating.  Finally we came to Coyne Crack Simulator, a 5.11- that resembles another more popular climb in the Creek.  Kit's goal was to send that, and he proceeded to do so, despite the awkward .75 big fingers section to start. I found that the .75 size was not that terrible for me, having slightly smaller hands I could actually squish them into the crack a little, so Kit told me to shut up about it and lead the climb already... Ok, fine! I tried to jam the whole first part but started slipping after placing my second piece of gear,  got scared, and ended up liebacking through until it widened enough to get a hand in. I almost came out once, so the beginning was not all that graceful, but once I could stuff a whole hand into the crack it went much more smoothly.  The rest of the climb was cake, with good thin to wide hand jams all the way to the anchors.  That's the hardest trad climb I've led yet, without much climbing all summer and on only 4 days of climbing for the whole trip.  I've still got a long ways to go before I'm a solid 5.11 leader, but it's encouraging to see myself progress on this trip in such a short time!

My first 5.11 trad lead!

   Kit thought that since we had both done the Simulator that he should get on the original Coyne Crack the next day, a 5.11+/12a on the much more popular Supercrack Buttress.  We sat in the parking lot for a while trying to motivate, talking with a Canadian couple about climbs they recommend, but I personally felt like a lazy sack of potatoes and didn't want to do diddly squat for the day.  3 straight days of climbing sorta hard will do that!  Kit wanted to make an attempt on Coyne Crack, so I agreed to belay.  His attempt was short-lived, as the previous few days of climbing hard had worn us both out, and the route was greasy from Thanksgiving weekend traffic, so we bailed and headed back to Moab with the last day of Utah climbing in the bag and time for one more bike ride before driving back to Tahoe.

   There really wasn't much trouble deciding whether to ride or climb on this trip, fortunately going with the flow just seemed to work out for the best and the right balance was struck between both.  The most conflicted I felt was definitely about coming back to Tahoe and cold rainy winter weather after spending nearly a month in the desert; it was easy to get used to the sunny days.  The long, cold nights not so much, especially when camping out.  Our bedtimes crept toward 7-8 PM by the end of the trip, or whenever we ran out of firewood.  Heated floors and indoor plumbing sure are nice to come back to!  Unfortunately I also came down with a cold, so no skiing yet; just knitting and blog updating.  Still figuring out winter employment at Alpine, hoping they can work with letting me go race at Bootleg over busy President's weekend.  I have no option but to work in ski school again so that I can take the PSIA Level 2 teaching segment, and complete my Level 2 certification this season.  Then I can become a sidecountry guide at Alpine and shred the gnar pow all day long. Hahahahaha, seriously!