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April 15, 2009: Rest Day!
After spending a rest day in town and dinner at the Moab Brewery (guess when I wrote that last blog posting, eh?), MattR, Kevin, and I headed back to camp while Bojan and MattL stayed in town to get Bojan’s car fixed (what an epic that turned out to be!). As I write this, on a subsequent rest day, the car still isn’t fixed (but the part is ordered, phew!). At least it turns out that Bojan’s 5 cylinders (out of 6) is enough to get around with.
Anyway, the climbing, what about the climbing? Let me give you a taste in a few words: Matt L. and Bojan has an encounter with a Toaster sized block (which never goes well), Waaaay Rambo (or not), Snow, and … jugging!
Kevin’s first day in town coincided with our first rest day… so on the way to Moab, we stopped at Blue Gramma cliff and I belayed him on Mexican Unicorn (5.9+). What a great intro to Indian Creek for him! It wasn’t quite a perfect handcrack… It was a bit too wide for that, but he got up it and then cruised up it again on TR, proving that those rusty crack skills were still around somewhere! We retreated to the car and headed into Moab while the wind grew in intensity and stirred up the most horrendous dust storm I have ever seen. Later in the afternoon, some more rain came through … well, I guess you could call it rain, but it was more like mud!
 Mud Rain ... another new experience in the desert! April 16, 2009: Donnelly Canyon
I have taken to camping in my truck, because it turns out that my tent is just a giant sand trap. We woke up in the morning to cold and overcast weather, but no precipitation. So after breakfast we headed over to Donnelly Canyon for some fun. We started on pitch 1 of Elephant Man (5.10). A good varied sized warmup for Matt R. and I.
 Tad heads up Elephant Man (P1) (5.10) Just left of it is Chocolate Corner (5.9) … Someone is always on Chocolate Corner, and today (even in the cold) was no exception. We ran into Jim Donini guiding a couple of climbers for their first time in IC. (If you don’t know who Jim Donini is, a quick Google search should fill you in). Kevin was lucky enough to score a belay from Jim so that he could tear down their anchor.
 We meet the famous Jim Donini. L to R: Tad, Jim Donini, Matt R., Kevin B. After Matt R. and I led Elephant Man, and Kevin TR’d it, Matt turned his attentions to Chocolate Corner, which turned out to be pretty easy for him, and perhaps a small taste of what was to come.
What’s this? Snow? You have got to be kidding. Is it really snowing on us? Yes indeed. The flurry increases in intensity as we pack up and head on over to The Drainpipe, which I start leading as the snow starts to become heavy enough to leave wet spots on the exposed ground as it evaporates. The climb is back in a flaring V shaped water polished corner (good thing it was snow, not rain!), and luckily the snow swirled around at the base but left the climb itself dry.
 Tad leading Drainpipe (5.10) as the snow falls This climb was without a doubt the hardest 5.10 I’ve ever climbed. I almost had Kevin give me tension at one point, but sacked up and pushed on through to the end. Damn, I’ve rarely been as pumped on a climb as I was when I arrived at the anchors. I was so spent that it was all I could do to clip a quickdraw to one bolt, clip the rope in, and hang for about 10 minutes while I got my breathing back under control and could start flexing my fingers again! Phew! Then what happens? Of course, the sun comes out for Matt R’s attempt!
 Then the sun comes out and Matt R. gives Drainpipe (5.10) a go Next up we did the really fun (deserving of many stars) unnamed 5.10+ left of Drainpipe. It starts with a short wide slot and then lots of low(er) angle purple camalots interspersed with good hand jams, before a full body wedge/rest before busting out from under the roof in a perfect hand crack up to the anchors. Matt R. lead this beautifully. I had one hang about half way up because I got a rigid stem friend stuck and then trying to fix it I got my link cam stuck, so I finally put a #2 camalot in the hand jam just below and hung to try to fix the stuck pieces (which I eventually had to leave and deal with on the way down).
 Tad making his "O-Face" on the wide section of the Unnamed 5.10+ left of Drainpipe Kevin seems to have an eye for wide-ish cracks. Not quite offwidth, and not quite cruiser hands… So he boots up this nice short unnamed 5.9 left of Dos Hermanos (which looks absolutely steller, and is a must do under better conditions!). We all took turns leading this fun thing for the last climb of a good day, even with uncooperative weather.
 Kevin getting into the swing of things on the Unnamed 5.9 left of Dos Hermanos Meanwhile, Matt L. and Bojan narrowly missed injury when Matt pulled down a toaster sized block off of a climb on Wall Street near Moab. Matt took a nice lead fall pulling this block out and over his head where it exploded into pieces near Bojan, narrowly missing him and his car! Navajo sandstone … yuck! I’d say we had the better day on bomber rock!
Ciao, -Tad
The trip has started out great. We started on Blue Gramma on day one, Technicolor wall on day two, and Battle of the Bulge on day three. Now we’re hanging out in Moab, recovering on a rest day, getting ready for more. Keeping our fingers crossed that the weather improves.
A big dust storm rolled in last night, unfortunately just as Kevin arrived. That, coupled with three days of hard (for me) climbing meant that his trip starts with a rest day! Well, almost — On the way into town we stopped at Blue Gramma and Kevin had a good time leading and then TR’ing his first IC climb: Mexican Unicorn (5.9+). This climb is unnamed in the David Bloom guidebook, but is a hands-to-wide-hands corner.
I didn’t bring my climbing log into town, so you’ll have to wait until I update my climbing log for the full set of climbs so far.
First, we roll into the ‘Creek and setup camp at the Superbowl campground with the Six-Shooters in the background.
 Matt L, Matt R, Bojan and Tad with one of the Six Shooters in the background On arrival day, after setting up camp we climbed on Blue Gramma cliff. This cliff contains an amazing set of petroglyphs, which cover vast stretches of the rock face, continuing around corners and everything. There are even large glyphs on top of some fairly tall pillars. Guess the Indians were climbers too!
 Petroglyphs cover lots of Blue Gramma cliff Of course, given that this was our first day of climbing, we took the obligatory “unscuffed hands before sandpapering them in IC” photo.
 Before: our hands before climbing Petrelli Motors was first up. It goes at about 5.10, and you get perfect (almost too good!) finger locks all the way up. The crack runs up a low angle face, with (gasp!) features for your right foot.
 Matt R. gets down to business on Pitrelli Motors, Blue Gramma We didn’t feel strong enough to jump on the cliff’s namesake climb, with it’s “effortless liebacks”, but we did some other fun stuff. I chewed up my arm TR’ing a wide thing, and hung through the wide crux of this cool (unnamed) hand crack to chimney behind a flake (to pro in the flake), followed by downclimbing until you can lieback out from under the flake and establish yourself in wide (slowly narrowing) crack above. I had to hang once there because I couldn’t figure out how to get out of the lieback and back into the crack (Grr..). Cool short climb!
Day two brought us out to Technicolor Wall, where we climbed a bunch of really fun stuff. I started with this easy and fun chimney that offered all the protection you could ask for. Want to protect with wide gear? Sure, we’ve got placements up to #4 camalot, Want to protect with small gear? Got that too. What about nuts? Yup. I mixed it up, nuts, wide, and small. Bojan stuck to wide (heck if you’re gonna carry that stuff, you might as well place it!)
 Well protected chimney two climbs right of 60 Beers Later Next I climbed a wide-ish thing called 60 Beers Later. This was a short fun climb of varying width. I failed miserably on the wide corner between 60 Beers and the chimney. I had to lower off and Matt L. finished it (which he cruised up). Apparently #4 camalots are fist jams for him! (They’re hand/fist stacks for me!).
The best climb of the day however, had to have been the last one we did — Goldeneye (5.10+ / 5.11-). We negotiated lots of sketchy unstable scree slopes to traverse over to (not recommended!). This climb was 120 feet of fingers to hands back to steeeeep fingers. Way fun, and definitely deserving of four stars. This climb even had a knee-lock-no-hands-rest to recover on before the steep fingers. Unfortunately I had one hang in the steep fingers section at the top. That just means I’ll have to return someday!
 Tad entering the crux on Goldeneye (5.10+ / 5.11-), Technicolor Wall After a great dinner and a good night’s sleep we headed out on day three to Battle of the Bulge. We had a beautiful sunny day that threatened rain in the evening (which never materialized). After warming up on Railroad Tracks (5.10-), I launched myself at Swedin Ringle (5.12-). Whoo boy, that was hard! I made it through the fingers and thin hands back into the fingers before hanging. From there (about the last 15 feet), I hung on every piece. I placed all the gear and clipped from stances before hanging though, so I know I can do all the moves, I just need to work on the endurance.
At the end of the day we ran up the cliff’s namesake climb, Battle of the Bulge (5.11), which Matt R. put up. Lots of 0.75 camalots and #2 friends (bring more than you think you might need — or be willing to run it out through the bulge!)
 Tad getting ready to TR Battle of the Bulge (5.11) Three great days of climbing, and then rest. Phew! Stay tuned for the next installment sometime in the next week or so.
 Danielle wishes me goodbye My wife Danielle is absolutely the most amazing woman on the planet. Ever since I sounded her out about quitting my job and going on a long climbing trip she has been both supportive and excited for me. I couldn’t wish for anything more! Danielle, I love you!
Last night we had a great dinner at Cafe Baklava and cuddled on the couch watched some Battlestar Galactica. We had a great breakfast together this morning at Palace Cafe, and then she sent me on my way. I’m off on my great adventure!
 The truck is packed, away I go! We made it to St. George, UT today. Tomorrow, we’ll get to Indian Creek and start climbing on Sunday. Stay tuned, I’ll have some climbing pics from IC the next time you hear from me.
Whoo, I handed in my resignation this past Friday and I take off for Indian Creek this Friday. I’m psyched (and a little nervous about not having a job for the first time since I was 15!) More on this later. In the meantime, some recent climbing updates!
Things have been running too fast to keep the blog updated, but I’ve been to Tollhouse (for a day trip) and Red Rocks (for a long weekend) since the last update. Tollhouse was decent, but doesn’t really have much climbing to make it worth hitting up again. Red Rocks was awesome, as usual.
We did Ginger Crack (7 pitch 5.9) on the first day. let me tell you, that was the coldest I’ve ever been climbing! I wore 5 layers: t-shirt, long-sleeve shirt, fleece sweatshirt, softshell, and a gortex rain shell (not to mention a stocking cap!) I froze my ass off all day. Even when I was climbing, I never really warmed up. It was a fun climb though!
Day two was spent nearby climbing Unimpeachable Groping (6 pitch 5.10b) with Matt. This was a great climb. I took the 1st pitch (the only 5.10a pitch on the climb, everything else was 5.10b). I started up in 4 layers (same as the previous day, without the gortex shell. I made it about 3 or 4 bolts off the ground, where I passed from shade into sun… Phew! I had to hang on the bolt and disrobe of my softshell and stocking cap because I was about to get heat stroke! So I left it tied to a quickdraw and continued … Matt took P2 and ran it together with the short P3 to a great belay ledge. I took P4, but before heading up I ditched my fleece sweatshirt on the ledge. A few pitches later, and as we finished the climb, the face went into shadow, and it started cooling down again. Out came the shell, and down we went on the raps. I picked up my sweatshirt and put it on it just as I started getting chilled, and had no need for the softshell once I got back to it. Yeah!
Day 3 was spent craggin’ at Ragged Edges cliff. I led P1 of Plan F (5.10a), and attempted some John Bachar route to the right of it. I got freaked out on that thing, and had to lower off of some dubious gear. I went back to the top and set a TR. It was a fairly pumpy route, but lots of fun. We jumped on Why Left (5.11b in the book, but probably more like 5.12b according to rockclimbing.com). I couldn’t even get it on TR without a tension traverse off of a quickdraw (and many hangs before and after!)
All in all I had a great time!
I had a burning desire to get out climbing last weekend, but couldn’t convince anyone do any aid practice or to hit the Grotto (which apparently is sporting a big loose death block, which may or may not have been car-jacked off the wall yet), but I coralled my friend Matt R. into getting out somewhere. We decided on Mt. Diablo because neither of us had been there for many years, and we were planning to hit the John Bachar slideshow in Oakland which started at 6:30PM. Mt Diablo was just the ticket.
The last time I was there, I was a newbie leader. It must have been 2002 or so. I remember being completely sketched out leading Amazing Face (5.10a). I don’t remember hanging on it, but I do remember that it was a very hard lead.
Fast forward a few years (wow, maybe six or seven years, damn!). We arrived at Boy Scout Rock around 9am and hiked down past the poison oak to the base. It was chilly and nary a climber in sight (which remained true all day!).
I’m a much stronger climber now, so as I racked up for Amazing Face I thought it would be easy as pie. Well, it certainly wasn’t scary at my limit climbing like before, but it certainly wasn’t easy either! It was hard in a mental, “what the hell do I do now!?” sort of way, not in a “I’m too pumped out to make the next clip” sort of way. Luckily some of my rusty crimpy face climbing skills decided to resurrect themselves from wherever they got buried and I made it to the top with my pride intact.
Next up was Bolt Route (5.10b). Five-Dot-Ten-Bee, my ass! This was way way harder than Amazing Face (which I now notice has been downgraded to 5.9+ in the same Falcon guide that rates Bolt Route as 5.10b). I was shut down heavily on this one. I bouldered out the sequence to the first bolt before tying in then had a go at it. First bolt, no problem. Then I had a fall trying to figure out how to get to the second bolt. I finally figured out that sequence and cruised on up to the good no-hands rest on the tiny ledge. In my eagerness to get my feet onto the ledge, I totally spaced and missed clipping the bolt just above it. I didn’t see the bolt until I was standing up and clipped into the following one. The route is pretty easy through the middle section, then it gets hard again near the top. I moved into the crux (small sloper knobs) and clipped the bolt-that-points-down-and-is-rusty-and-wiggles-in-the-hole-and-I-can-see-a-lot-of-the-shaft-in-the-worn-out-hole-behind-the-hanger (argh!). I have to commit to the crux moves, clipped into this crappy bolt before getting the good bolt just above. I putter around here for quite a while, starting then reversing my moves many times. Finally I unlock a sequence to get me to the good hold by the next bolt. I clip the bolt (phew!) then without warning as I’m moving up off of it POP! I’m falling. Completely. Unexpected. Without further mishap, I reach the anchor with my tail between my legs.
Next up, we toproped Earthcling (5.11b) the next climb to the right. It was really fun, but I couldn’t figure out the crux moves just off the deck. I fell many times and finally cheated my way through one or two moves before working my way up pretty far before falling once or twice more up high.
Then (and this was my favorite of the day!) we toproped Dinosaur (5.11b). This was a really fun route up the arete and then rails on the face to the left of the arete. I made it all the way to the final moves without falling, then got lost in a mossy jungle that I had to scrub away to find hidden edges and bumps. Bummer, I had two falls here before gardening enough to get through it.
Matt then setup a redirect as he was coming down so that I could toprope Stegoasurus (5.10b). This route was interesting, but I didn’t care for the crack part (and wouldn’t really trust much of the gear if leading the crack). It was mostly blown out pin scars. The face below and above the crack was interesting. This route had an even worse bolt on it — it looked like whomever drilled it had no clue what they were doing because it hung half way out and was bent all to hell.
After I lowered off of this, Matt toproped the 5.11d face with only a single fall! Very impressive. Ozone looked wet and mossy, and it was getting late, so we packed up. I couldn’t resist getting on one last route called Pebbly Face (5.10c) on the upper tier. I set a TR on this and after one false start (use your feet, Luke!) unlocked the start (without using the bolt hole!) and enjoyed the delicate slab moves above.
We were back in the parking lot and on our way out by about 5:30pm. A quick jaunt into Oakland and we were at the show where we met up with Kathleen and Joe. The presentation was excellent, John Bacher is quite an amazingly climber. Many of his stories revolved around his free soloing accomplishments and his mindset while on the climbs. The audience was full of big names like Alan Steck, Hans Florine, and Dave Yerian.
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