24 Hours of Hell - The Aftermath

Posted by Saucisson #3

Climbers - Tony, Calvin
Supporters - lots of people from St. Louis

We're back! I feel much better today, after a full night's sleep (and a long, hot shower). First off, big thanks go to Soph (Saucisson #1), who came down to support us and drove us in her car. Also, I have to thank the hordes of volunteers who signed up to help out and others who just came down to cheer everyone on - Angie, Sarah, Jon, Gambletron and others from our gym especially.

Second - pictures. Soph entered the photo comp but is on a business trip to Florida for a couple days, so it may be a few days before you see more pics. We'll try to include a link to a comprehensive album of shots.

There it is!

HCR Hell photos

Here's the recap from Team Breakin' Wind Beneath the Sheets (no, we didn't win the 'best team name' award).

Tony and I managed a total of 40 climbs each over the 24 hours of the comp. In actuality, it was probably more like 23.5 hours, as the pre-comp meeting ran a few minutes long and the shotgun ending the comp fired at 9:45am the next day. 23.5 or 24, it felt like 55 hours around 5am. I wasn't doing too well at various times of the night. Tony, as befits his overall fitness, tore it up and kept us going at the tough times of the night.

We started the day at the North Forty, having scouted some of the routes the day before and debating our plan a few times. We eventually figured that our plan would largely be dictated by the number of climbers crowding each area - so we decided to play it by ear and headed to the North Forty.

Climb 1 was Sour Girl 10a, a climb on a detached block right before the stream crossing at the North Forty. Never'd done it before, but it went well. Of course, there were no pre-placed biners on the anchors (as there were on most other climbs), so we had to clean it. Next, we headed to the narrow corridor that starts the North Forty and bounced up Around the Fur .8 to continue our warm-up and then tried Horny Goatweed .11a. It has a reachy crux, talked up a little by Soph and confirmed by climbers in the area, so I was a bit nervous in case it was too hard - I didn't want to expend too much energy battling an 11a. However, it went fine.

The next few hours went well - we climbed Love Slave .12a and Mine, Mine, Mine .12a twice each, Season of the Storm .10a once (stupid route), Big Top .11b and Fat Hand .12a/b, a climb which had given me trouble on a trip long ago. Given that history, you'd think I would biff it (it was our 11th or 12th climb by then) but it went great. Tony provided great beta after flashing it. Effing beast, that O'Connor.

Fast forward to Check-in #1 at 10pm, 12 hours after the start. By that time, Tony had climbed 20 routes and I had climbed 19. This was to cause us a little consternation later on, but so far so good. The difference was Spine Tingler 12a, a beautiful but stiff arete climb that I had struggled on previously and decided not to climb. Tony got up it, but really struggled for the first time. I thought this might be the start of the downhill slope of our energy, and I wasn't far off. I opted for Filthy Sanchez .12a/b, a technical, but much easier arete climb than Spine Tingler. Tony climbed it twice as well.

We trudged through the morning hours - I won't lie, it Sucked with a capital SUCK from 1-3am. Tony had great energy throughout the night though, I probably wouldn't have gotten on some climbs without his help (nor will I forgive him for being so friggin' energetic). The highlight was climbing Comotus 10a, the scariest arete climb I've ever gotten on, and doing it by headlamp. Rad. Tightened my sphincter for sure.

We then hiked back to the North Forty at 3am and climbed 5.9s and .8s until about 6am, when the sky started to lighten again. Man, what a boost! By 5am, I'd resorted to silly antics to keep myself energized, like cracking racial jokes about Koreans (yes, I'm Korean, it's allowed), so the first rays of sunlight were more than welcomed.

We got a boost of energy by 7am, and after reviewing our list (about 30 climbs), we decided to go for 10 more climbs in the last 2.5 hours. That led to some frantic, energetic climbing, but we made it - the last climb a 5.9 that I sort of hurried up at the last minute, but we beat the shotgun blast with time to spare.

Pics to come, I promise.

Here's the complete list (unless otherwise noted, each climb was climbed twice):

Sour Girl - 10a
Horney Goatweed - 11a
Around the Fur - 5.8 (once)
Love Slave - 5.12a
Mine, Mine, Mine - 5.12a
Season of the Storm 10a (once)
1st Normal Form - 5.9
Green Goblin - 5.8
Big Top - 5.11b
Fat Hand - 5.12a/b (once)
The Controversy - 5.9
Lion Tamer - 5.9
Frankenberry - 5.9 (once)
Count Chalkula - 10a
African Herbman - 5.8
Road Hog - 10a (once)
Comotus - 10a
Sybarite - 5.9
Centurion - 10a
Aphrodite - 5.7 (once)

Spine Tingler - 5.12a/b (once T)
Filthy Sanchez - 5.12a/b
Montezuma's Toe - 5.8
September Hero - 10b

The coming weekend - 24HHH (24 hour comp in Arkansas)

It occurred to me that I've not posted any pics recently - this is mostly b/c my camera is kinda smashed. When I get some cash, I'll repair it.

But, to whet the appetite, Tony and I (Saucisson #'s 2 and 3) are headed to Horsehoe Canyon Ranch in Arkansas to participate in the 24 hour comp. Check it out at www.24hoursofhorseshoe.com.

This is the 3rd year of the event, with sponsorship from Patagonia and many other companies, and 200 participants so I'm excited. My friend Jared has described this as one of the most rewarding experiences of his life, so I'm eager to see what it's all about. Tony and I have been doing a little 'strategery' to make sure we do as well as possible, but my real goal is just to finish and do at least 1 climb per hour for all 24 hours of the comp. We'll let the results take care of themselves.

Soph (#1) is participating in the photo comp - she's been taking pics with a new SLR and hopefully she'll do great. She's got a good eye - I'm sure it helps that she has an artistic background too. :)

The next post should have lots of pics... courtesy of Soph.

Jackson Falls - Sept 21, 2008

Posted by Saucisson #3

Climbers - Angie, Calvin, Josh, Catherine

Today we send! Well, not really. Sunday was a nice, one-day trip to the Falls, with a bit of humidity, good temps, and rain on the way out. We got lucky.

Although only Saucisson #3 was there for the team, I dragged along a few friends from the gym and we met up with Jeremy, Ben, Sarah and another dude at the Big Starr Wall.

It was an easy sort of day - we traded off leads and belays on Da Bro 10b, the Birthday Route 10a, the 9 warmup and Alaska 10b. Ben worked on Wishbone 11a, which Saucisson #1 sent a while ago, and Jeremy actually onsighted the 11c next to it. Nicely done - another Soph project she sent recently.

After spending most of the day here, I moved back to the Beaver Wall with Jeremy to try and send Frizzle Fry 12b. You'll recall from an earlier post that I'd tried this a few times with Little Jon and thought it would go soon. This time, I deliberately rested at the 3rd draw on the 'beta' run, then finished it without too much trouble. OK, I thought, one-hang while putting the draws up, hopefully it'll go next try.

2 tries later, both one-hang affairs, I'm a bit ticked at myself, but I know I'm done for the day and it's started to rain. The second try, I failed going for a move after an undercling - powerful, but nothing crazy. The third, I actually made it to the last clip, rested as much as I could, but couldn't pull the last hard move to a good crimp - kind of a long, arm-length move before the top-out. Very poopy of me.

Josh and Catherine finished the day on a 5.8 next to Flinging Hog 11a, but with the rain, Angie didn't get a chance to climb it. I feel bad, as she was belaying for me on Frizzle.

Good day - we just beat the rain hiking out around 4:30 and had some good Mexican in Marion, IL before heading home. Frizzle. I'll get you next time.

Jackson Falls - Day Trip, Sept 19, 2008

Thursday, Sept 19 - posted by Saucisson #3

Climbers: Tony, Sophie, Calvin and Catherine

Another fun day at the falls! Today will be a short post.

This time, Team Saucisson arrived with all members, along with Catherine, our resident plastic surgeon. Catherine was a pleasant addition, considering we'd never been able to climb with her outdoors before, and we were happy to have her with us. Yusuf was *supposed* to come... but oh well.

And nevermind Burke. I know it's probably illegal to talk about this on a public blog, but when you're a member of MI-6 in Her Majesty's Service, duty sometimes calls.

We got an early start, and made it to the rock by 9am. Warmed up at the Gallery on Earthbound Misfits 10a and our favorite 10c, Group Therapy. Then it was off to the Starr Wall.

Soph and Catherine decided on a couple other climbs - Birthday route 10a, the 10b to the right of it and the 10c to the left. Soph will have to fill in the names, I don't own a Jackson Falls guidebook. Fun, classic 'bulgy' style Jackson Falls routes.

Tony and I decided on Gobble Juice 12c, around the corner. Gobble Juice and its brother, Working Class, are two of the best 12c's in the Falls. Both are cruxy, long and powerful. Gotta give credit to Chris Schmick for finding this line and bolting it.

Gobble starts on moderate, if sandy terrain; you work your way up from left to right as you climb the first 30 feet. I call this the 5.10 part, with a nice slot for your whole leg to rest in (of course you curse the damn slot when you have to negotiate it first).

Rest. Breathe. Power up. You then climb directly under the corner of a massive, slightly detached flake, make the clip, then work into a horizontal lever locking off both arms. Thank God there're good feet. Struggle up the outside of the flake, make a very strenuous clip, then move to the top of the flake (this thing is probably the size of a small fridge) and try to shake out a little. Bad feet. This part was probably in 12 territory.

A couple of more powerful moves, then you're in a good right handed sloper to make the last clip before the last headwall. No time to rest, step up, stretch up high left to find a blind hold, get your right hand over to the same area, high step left to the edge of the mini-roof and pull hard to a micro-crimp. If you're flexible, you can lock off your right hand and get your right foot up from under the roof. If you're not, you might squeal a little trying to make the move. I squealed. Loudly. Also, if you don't use a long enough draw right under the roof, your squeal is commensurately louder b/c of the effing ropedrag as you contemplate the tree which you will fall into under the roof.

After that, all you have is some technical 11 face climbing. Oh, with a nice little crux and some sidepull slapping at the end to keep you honest. Or to slap you in the face when you're trying to redpoint the thing.

Tony got it down to 2 falls (really 1) on his last go, I had 3 takes, 2 of them trying to remember the beta for the last crux. I'm sure it'll go soon (yeah right). Actually , it's well within the realm of possibility even with my current climbing ability, so I'm excited to go back and try again. I'll admit the damn thing is scary though - Tony and I both commented on how nerve racking it was to try pulling the mini-roof. Something about blind holds, not being able to see your draws anymore, that sort of thing.

Soph's also been working Mary's Cookies (is that right Soph?) 11d - a wicked slab climb that has a few cruxes right away and what looks like easier terrain after 40 feet. I say looks like b/c I never made it up that high. There's a nasty crux right above bolt #2 that Soph's been working on. I tried it (even though slab isn't my thing) and oh yes, it's nasty. I give full props to Soph for working on it. I'm going to pass.

As a final fun route, Tony and I worked on Russia 12a once each. Russia is superfun, super-exciting and super-rad. More about that on a later day. We're both committed to getting that the next time we go to the Falls.

On the way back, we enjoyed great Mexican in Mt. Vernon and had a group-reading session of a facial muscle/nerve/bone book that Catherine is studying. Those pictures are gross. I mean, fascinatingly gross. Pictures of people with their eyelids pushed up, eyeballs removed (cadaver pics), lots of clamps, sutures and descriptions of how to fix this, that and the other. Yuck. :)

THE RED - AUGUST 08

Yes the Red in August.  Aren't we brave?  They were 4 then they were 7, then they were 4.  Four of us with an obvious European majority: two French girls, an Irish-American, and a Korean-American.  Kimchee, sorry but your Americano-Korean heritage definitely puts you in the minority on that one.  And of course the Captain adding to the Forza della Europa later on.

Two French girls you say.... hummm.  Yes indeed.  The "petit chou" Marion (Sophie's niece) added her very sweet and personal touch to Team Saucisson.  As the matter of fact we reinvented English with her.  One knows that one has to be "fuckest" at all times while climbing.  One will admit that climbing is likely to give you "Gus bumps" (ask Marion she KNOWS about these!), but be careful not to twist your "uncle" (your aunt might not appreciate!).  And so on.  Marion fit right in and rivaled Calvin (pardon, Kimchee) and Tony in epic flatulation contests (and that is a feat!).  Oh yeah and there were some climbing too...lots of it.  Calvin, Tony, Marion, and Sophie at first, joined for the WE by Angie, Woody and Burke.  Quite a posse.  Hard climbing (more details to come on that) and serious belaying.  But here are a few pictures till the next posts for the stories.

Jackson Falls - Saucisson #'s 1 and 2

Soph and Tony are at the Falls today. It's Wednesday, I'm sitting in an office and they're out climbing in perfect fall temps. Jealous is not the proper word... maybe rage is more accurate for what I'm feeling right now. :)

Awaiting word. I'm thinking up posts for the previous trips we've recently taken.

Jackson Falls, Sept 6, 2008

post by Calvin

We've been making several trips to the Red and Jackson, so I thought I'd start posting a few more blurbs even though I don't have pics (Soph?).

SO Ill, another day trip on Saturday. Soph, Yusuf, Calvin and Jon made the trip. I tried to corrall Angie (sore finger), Caroline (physics homework) and a couple others, but they all bailed. Losers.

Soph drove, which is always appreciated, and picked me up on the way to Yusuf's place. She was a few minutes late, which is a shocker - Soph is *always* on time, and blamed her troubles on the alarm clock. Usually, that's my excuse. Anyway, we got underway with little trouble after stopping by Yusuf's.

Jackson is a great location - after making the turn off the highway, you have to negotiate some back roads and a couple miles of gravel, but it's fine. We actually ran around a road grader, which made the way in kind of screwed up because of the gravel, but the way out was much nicer. Good tradeoff, even if we almost collided head-on with some jerk-off barrelling 45 mph on what was effectively a one-lane road.

The climbing was good too. We started out warming up at the Gallery - some 10a I don't remember the name of and Group Therapy, 10c. Everyone seemed to negotiate it pretty easily, but I thought the rock felt a bit slick, so that made me worried.

John Payne (sp? - I'll call him JP since there's another Jon) also joined us, an older gent who's been climbing in the area for over 20 years. Cool dude - skated up the warm ups like he'd done them 100's of times, which I imagine he has. Yusuf queried him on this 13, and beta for that 13, stuff I didn't really listen to since I don't climb 13s. Later, JP and I would chat a bit and I would learn more about his climbing history in the area. Like I said, cool dude.

Next, we headed over to Beaver Wall. First thing JP noticed was a dead rabbit about 10 feet from the base of Everybody Needs Friends (12a). Nice. Not quite decomposed, so we figured maybe it died the last night falling from the top of the cliff. Right next to it was some sort of dead mouse, same state of decomposition. Freakin' free-soloers. Soph suited up for us and got rid of the rabbit by just picking up the darn thing, while I was trying to find some sticks to do the job. Clearly, women have stronger stomachs than I do. Or at least Soph does.

Jon opted to try for the onsight of Everybody. I happily gave him the draws. He almost made it up to draw #3, then pumped out and sat. Everybody is a super-fun route and is pretty physical the whole way - a kind of mini-crux after the 3rd draw (only 4 bolts + anchors), so if you spend time searching for holds, an on-sight gets pretty difficult. I traded off with him and fell going for the anchors. Sucks, (slick holds?) but there you have it. JP then got on it - and showed some nice beta: knee-drops, a few hidden crimps and was breathing hard enough to power a church organ, but one-hung the thing. Impressive. Jon and I then sent it next go.

Meanwhile, Soph worked on an 11a around the corner - next to the Birthday Route. I forget the name. Soph, you remember it? Broken Toe, Earth Smoker, something like that? Effing memory. This route had defeated her on a prior trip with Tony (which I'm sure they'll post soon) and she was determined to get the send. After hanging the draws, and being a saint belaying Yusuf on a project, she then worked the beta and went for the send. We all cheered - but it wasn't to be that time. At draw #4, there's a tricky move on slab, with a few breaks and crimps. Soph hung on for what looked like an eternity (while Jon regaled me with plans to get a German Shepard - I'm not sure if it's going to happen, but apparently it's effing expensive), then went for it but fell.

Of course, she then worked out the beta, decided to come down and sent it next go. In Style.

Meanwhile, Jon and I tried Frizzle Fry 12b, next to Everybody. POS. Just kidding. It's great - but very sustained with a definite undercling crux 4 bolts up, then you get to chance the "tricky ending." I'd heard about this tricky ending before - from Kelly, Tony, Soph, Mike White, others - but you never really know what it means until you try. Tricky Ending indeed.

It goes something like this: At the last bolt, you pop your left foot up to the side, about chest level, lock off and go for a good crimp an arm's length up. Not much feet because the rock angles out underneath the bolt, so you just high step up, making sure to step under the rope while you wonder about the tree behind you and if it's far away enough for a fall to be a non-factor (it is). You bring your left foot in, then lock off your left arm, and bring your head up to see the top of the climb - this is how all Jackson climbs end - you have some slabby work before clipping the chains - sometimes easy, and sometimes 'tricky.' There's a nice crimp for your right hand, and a scoop underneath it and you're looking at the chains, about 4 feet up; just a bit too far to easily clip. Of course, there aren't any other obvious holds, just a few 1 pad finger pockets that look (and unfortunately feel) slopey here and there and your feet are unstable on the incline - so you don't have good feet to help you.

I'll spare you details, but yeah, it was tricky. And we didn't get the redpoint that day. We did try it a few times each though, working out our particular beta and swearing that it, "would go" in a few tries. We'll see.

Yusuf, as usual, climbed Red Corvette (13a), Legends of the Falls (13a) and then Shortie (13a), all on that wall. At various times, I remember him swearing, attempting what looked like giant moves on questionable holds and taking nice falls.

We got a bail draw that day off of Frizzle, which is nice. I remember getting one off of Sex Farm at the Red, but I left it at the base, in case someone else needed it. Booty is booty, and I don't have a problem with it, but I left it for good karma. I'm sure I'll need it sooner or later.