Round 2 at the Red

Wow! More great climbing at the Red. Only one full day off out of the last 9 is wearing on me though, so I'm resting today and tomorrow, at least. I'm not sure yet, if I will stay here tomorrow or head out. I think I'm going to head toward Atlanta, soon, and try to find a partner for Talulah Gorge.

So, last Thursday, I climbed with a woman named Ann, who was also here without a partner. We went with a couple of other guys to Torrent Falls. We climbed a couple 5.8 sport routes and a 5.9+ sport route, then I wanted to go look at a 5.9 trad route at the end of the crag. When we got all the way down there, this is what I saw...

The overhanging dihedral scared me a bit, but I figured since we had walked so far to get to it, I should give it a try. I got up it, but it wasn't pretty.

This is Ann squeezed under the roof on the first ledge. You have to pull up on big jugs then mantle onto the overhanging ledge. It took me a few tries, and backing up my protection under the ledge before I convinced myself to pull it. Heel hooking out right helped a lot too. In case you are wondering, the rope looks screwy because Ann came off and I had to use the other side of the rope to help her get back on because she swung out to far from the rock. When, I did, the belayer side of the rope clipped itself into the carabiner on one of my cams. No harm done. Just looks weird.

Here, Ann is in the dihedral. Things got easier there, as the right wall is pretty featured, and you could get an occasional hand jam. You can also see the short chimney at the finish. A really cool route. I'd like to go back and red-point it some time.

Bev and Jeff got in around 5:00 Friday morning. It rained all morning, so we went into Stanton for some groceries. By the time we got back, it had stopped raining and warmed up some, so we went to Global Village to try to get some climbing in. We ended up doing 5 routes before dark. Not bad!

When we got back to Miguel's, Eric was waiting for us. A short while later, Jeff's friends Jeff and Meredith showed up. Saturday, we climbed at Muir Valley.


Eric at the start of Tradisfaction (5.10a Trad).

Me top-roping Tradisfaction with a good view of the whole route.

Me on the crux layback section at the top.

A pretty waterfall.

Sunday, Jeff and Meredith left and the rest of us went to Long Wall, because I wanted to lead Autumn (5.9- Trad).
Me at the start of Autumn.


Me on lead.

Finishing up the route. I was so psyched to get this clean!

Bev was so excited for me, she almost got out of her hammock. Almost. :-)

Bev belaying Eric on Autumn.

Eric doing the crux overhanging hand crack the hard way (it's much easier to use feet on the left face) and making it look easy.

Jeff leading on Mailbox (5.8 trad), with the fat crack of Yuk (5.9 offwidth) in the background.

Eric and I put up a top-rope on Yuk and thrashed on it after Jeff and Bev left. Offwidth is hard! Eric figured out the technique and was able to thrash his way up it, with periodic hangs. I got the technique, but couldn't sustain it for long, and ended up giving up and jugging through about 10 or 15 feet of the offwidth, until I got to the squeeze chimney at the top. I could do that.

It started raining last night, and still is sprinkling off and on. It was around 70 degrees yesterday and is 39 today. Apparently, Missouri isn't the only state with crazily fluctuating weather. Eric left this morning, with the prospects of climbing pretty slim and unappealing. I think tomorrow, it is supposed to be colder, and, possibly, snow. Good thing I was planning on a couple of rest days anyway. Now, I just have to figure out what to do with the rest of my week.... Do I stay here, or move on. I think I'm ready to move on. I need to try to get some leads on partners for Talulah Gorge, though. I did talk to one former Atlanta resident who suggested that I go to a gym in Atlanta called Wallcrawlers. He said the people there were friendly and I should be able to find someone to climb outside with. I'd like to find someone online before I leave here, but, failing that, I'll hit up the gym and see what I can come up with.

Route List for April 2-5:

• Cordelia (5.8) (Onsight)
• Dream Of A Bee (5.8) (Onsight)
• Wadcutter (5.9+) (Hangdog)
• Retroflex (5.9 Trad) (Hangdog)
• Father And Son (5.7 Trad) (Onsight)
• Vision (5.7 Trad) (Onsight)
• Kentucky Pinstripe (5.10a) (Lead with one take)
• Jake Flake (5.8 Trad) (Onsight)
• Loosen Up (5.10b) (TR clean)
• Tradisfaction (5.10a Trad) (TR)
• ED (5.7 Trad) (Onsight)
• Scrumblglazer (5.10c) (TR)
• Cruisin' For A Bruisin (5.10c) (TR)
• Autumn (5.9- Trad) (Redpoint)
• Mailbox (5.8 Trad) (TR clean)
• Yuk (5.9 Offwidth Trad) (TR flail)