Jackson Falls - Nov 15, 2009

Climbers - Angie & Calvin
Weather - a little warm

In other news - found out that St. Louis local Zavi was elected to the ICA (Illinois Climbers Association) board. Also, that starting Dec 1, the rope ladder is going to be removed and bolts installed to create a 5.7 route. The rope ladder by Lovely Tower will stay, which isn't that far from the current rope ladder, so it's not that big of a loss.

Also, news is that a new bill has being introduced to reclassify "recreational use" in the recreational land-use statute in Illinois, hopefully leading to the re-opening of Draper's Bluff in the not too distant future. Please contact your Illinois representatives if you're on that side of the border!!!

I don't think chopping the rope ladder is that great of an idea. But, to be fair, there aren't that many "easy" routes at JF and rumor has it that the Forest Service wasn't happy about the rope ladder because of safety concerns (which doesn't explain the Lovely Tower one staying, but whatever).

On to the Climbing
Angie and I headed out to Jackson to enjoy the weather and do a little climbing. I was planning to set at the gym, but found out we have a charity event lasting most of the night so that idea was nixed.

We started out slow and got to the Falls a bit late around 10:30am. We decided to head over to Cheerio Bowl and met Jon Richards, Jeff, Zavi and (Z's girlfriend? wife?) over there. Angie led Stubborn Swede, 5.8 at the Monument. It's got some nice slabby climbing at the top, very fun. Afterwards, Jon loaned me a couple cams and I put up Unclaimed, 5.9 (mixed). Unclaimed seems hard for the grade, with a couple moves requiring pull-ups and tough smearing, but with rewarding slab climbing at the end. Running it out isn't recommended, but I've runout the top before. Spicy.

In the meantime, Jon tried Space Cowboy, .12b a couple times and Z redpointed Detox Mountain, .12a. nice job! Described as a "tendon-friendly" route, DM is a classic enduro-climb, with good holds most of the way and no real definitive crux (unless you're really short). I hadn't been on this route in 2.5 years or so and didn't really remember the beta, but I sent it hanging the draws. It was getting somewhat damp and my foot skated off between bolts 3 and 4, eliciting a giggle (you know, the "wow, I should have fallen, glad I didn't" chuckle). I also completely missed another hold and re-fired just in time... all in all, a pretty ugly ascent.

Afterwards, Angie worked on a .10c (name?) right before the Town Square wall. Soph, we've climbed this before... it's before we get to that short wall of three 5.9's and one 5.10b across... Angie got to the last bolt but didn't pull the crux. She's psyched about the climb and has added to the project list. The best news is that her finger seems almost completely healed.

At this point, it was around 4pm, so we started hiking out. I looked for Iniquity, .12a, which is to the right of Aggro-Sheen, but when we finally located it, we saw that a tree had fallen directly over it. I'm not sure what the solution is, but it looks like you'd have to rap in with a chain saw and cut the tree away (it's a pretty big tree). Until then, no climbing.

That made me opt for Hidden Treasure, .12a at Lovely Tower. I think this is a really good climb. Fun opening moves, with good rests lead into a sustained, crimpy crux of about 15 feet. I worked the sequence a couple times and felt confident and came down to rest. Of course, I forgot how fast the light fails around 4:45pm these days... and started getting nervous 2 minutes later when darkness literally fell around us. I hurried up and tried to climb it but one-fell it. I actually felt nervous about even finishing it because it was getting dark enough I though I'd have to pull out the headlamp to see the holds. They're definitely small and a bit tough to use. I felt thankful just to get my draws back (although I was probably being a little paranoid) and we called it a day.

Very nice way to spend the day. Hope your weekend was great!