Jackson Falls July 17-18, 2009

Climbers - Sophie, Tony, Craig and Calvin
Weather - Unbelievable.

Hope you've been enjoying the incredibly good, but incredibly weird, cool temps. We took a trip to the Falls to take advantage of Fall temps in July. July!!! Craig noted that perhaps the best way to describe this was 'Global Weirding,' a play on the havoc that global warming may be wreaking. We joked that everyone should start buying large, inefficient diesel trucks and wait for more good temps in the summer. :)

We arrived Friday late afternoon, managing to skirt a roadblock due to asphalt stripping and resurfacing on I-64. Great timing, to do that during rushhour on Friday, I-D(i)OT. After we setup our tents, we hurried down to the Gallery, thinking we'd have to head elsewhere if it was busy. Empty. Hell yeah! Warmed up on Group Therapy .10c as usual, while Soph & Craig ran up Earthbound Misfits .10a. We switched, then Tony & I packed up to head down to Battle Ax Tower, home to Bursting Out, .12b. I've been eyeing this climb for a quite a while, and this was a good chance to get on it.

Bursting Out starts with some moderate, but technical climbing (sandy when unclimbed for a bit), leading you to the beginning of some crimps. You get a good stance and rest a bolt before the crux. The crux is a thin sequence of crimps that requires good balance and creative footwork. Took me several tries to unlock a good sequence. After that, you get a nice 3 foot roof, clip a last bolt, and according to the descr, enjoy an, "Airy run-out above the roof for your accelerating pleasure." It's probably 15 feet to the anchors.

The fall is absolutely clean and nothing to worry about, but this has always been the mental challenge of climbing for me. There I am, on good, if sandy, holds, overgripping the hell out of my holds just because I'm scared to fall. I took a small fall just after the bolt, just because I was too chicken to finish. Got back up, made it to the chains, and probably could have pulverized coal into diamond the way I was gripping the clipping hold. Sheesh.

Craig and Soph finished up on Tons of Fun .10c and The Sophomore 5.9 and watched Tony climb and clean BO. By then, darkness was falling so we headed back to camp.

Saturday found us at the Promised Land, a crag full of awesome climbing. Craig and Soph started warming up by up/down-climbing on Generator X, .11b while Tony and I put up XOXO, .10b. Soph almost made the send of Gen X, falling close to the top. Craign hopped on it and flashed it, just like that. We then worked on 3-Day Impression, .11a which I believe is a John Flunker route 2 routes to the right of Four Bettys. Interesting face climbing to the right of an arete leads to a nice rest, where you cross to the other side of the arete and tackle several classic Jackson-style bulges. Stiff for .11a, I think. Craig also sent that on a flash attempt. Nice job dude.

Craig and Soph then setout to work on Xterminator, .12a, two routes to the right of Gen X. She made strong progress (see pic), and worked the sequence for the crux, but didn't get the send. Craig then flashed Fashionably Late, .11a (anyone see a trend here?) before giving Xterminator a strong burn to finish. If I can figure out the video I took, I'll post it.

Tony and I turned to Balance of Power, .12b/c (but I think is probably .12c/d), a classic, awe-inspiring climb that has 3 distinct cruxes. We'd worked on this over a year ago and never had time to come back. The first crux is right at bolt two, requiring a powerful right arm pullup off of very bad feet to a good pocket.

Moderate, yet pumpy climbing takes you to just before bolt four, where you make a long right-handed slap to a sidepull sloper, hop both feet high and pull hard for a good sloper with your left hand. I've almost linked to that crux 3 times now. Aargh. A bad rest ensues, then more moderate but pumpier climbing traverses left to just at bolt six, where you do another long right-handed slap to the worst sloper yet on the route, decide to clip or keep going, reach for a tough, left-handed crimp, flip your right hand into an undercling, step your feet as high as you can, and slap hard up left to an OK sloper, provided you hit it. One inch short and you go for the ride. A bit more climbing takes you to a good rest and a 5.10 finish. Whew.

Tony'd been close those last few times a year ago, falling at the last crux going for that left-handed slapper. This time, he blew through it with ease. NICE SEND TONY!!!!!
I worked it down to two falls, which is a big improvement for me, but I'm a long ways from sending this mofo. It's a great project to have. I'm psyched to come back for more attempts and to send it. All four of us finished by working on Xterminator, which Tony managed to redpoint (he'd sent this a long while back) again while the rest of us worked on beta.

What a nice trip. The rest of the pics are here.