Jackson Falls - Day Trip, Oct 4, 2008

Posted by Saucisson #3.

Climbers - Soph, Angie, Calvin, Lisa, Megan, Drew, Yusuf, Hanna

It's raining today (Tuesday), so I'm in a posting mood. Plus, I need to update the blog with our latest trip over the weekend. This weekend we're headed back to the Falls, and avoiding the madness of the Rocktoberfest at the Red. I'll admit, a small part of me wants to head out and join the festivities, but I also know from experience that it's going to be a major madhouse.

On to the trip report (TR) - sorry, no pics:

Saturday, we headed out for a one day trip to the Falls - where else? The weather has really been great; we've been blessed again. We decided on a slower pace with such a large group, and moseyed down by the Gallery, the Beaver Wall, Big Starr... you know, it's occurred to me that we've been climbing around Beaver/Big Starr way too much (the Gallery doesn't count since we warm up there and it's super close to everything). Next time, we must go elsewhere.

At the Beaver Wall, I put up the draws on this weirdly featured 5.9 - it's rather new and not in the book, so I don't know the name. I'll try and take a picture of it. Oddly scooped out rock that's interesting even by Jackson Falls' standards. But very fun.

Soph worked on a .12 (name?) at Big Starr - that looks really scary (slab = scary to me) and deciphered all the moves. I think she's close to linking them all. Soph is a slab-master. Yusuf and Hanna worked on it with her and Yusuf sent it second go. Nice job dude.

I tried my luck at Dance with Destiny, an interesting looking .12b that yielded most of its secrets to me until the 4th clip. At this point, I was on a right handed crimpy side-pull, with a bulge above me to a bad slopey crimp and a vertical seam beginning at shoulder height to the right. The seam flares out a bit and is no good for finger locks and is too shallow for a handjam. The only other options were tension moves or a gaston, neither of which I could setup for.

I couldn't figure it out. Slab-technique is not my forte (pronounced fort, not for-te, apparently), and it was dirty as heck, which didn't help. I had to stick-clip my way through it and came down a little peeved. I may have to try it again. Not sure of the beta though. It's definitely not been climbed recently.

We ended the day watching some dude work on Red Corvette .13a - I tried the first few bolts for fun, and I think those were actually doable. But after that, you have a nasty dyno, which I don't think looks so doable for me. I may rope Tony into trying it sometime. We've been talking about projecting a .13a (it sounds like we've been talking about having kids, or getting a new car - but no, this is climbing and we're not partners in that sense) and this one might be the right one to try.

Well, that's it. We got some great Mexican in Mt. Vernon and headed back late at night. Fun day!