RETURN TO THE FALLS - SAT March 6

Climbers:
Katie, Tony, Sophie
and a little later, Christian and Yoli.

Ah yes it was a return indeed. It had been a while for all of us. For me I had not seen the Falls since I had to take a forced 5 months break from climbing last July. I believe it was the same for Tony who plunged into nursing school at the beginning of the fall with very little respite. And for Katie (we met her and her husband Scott at the gym a while ago. Great people) it was just her second time there.

The earliest we could leave town we would and indeed we were on the road a bit after 6:00 am. Perfect day, not a cloud a sky. A true celebration for our (great!) comeback!
At the Cheerio Bowl by 9:30 or so, we ignored Tony's wining (He He) that it was not sunny enough there and gave him the sharp end to put the draws on the classic 10a. Half way through, where one can take a break in the "bowl" we could hear him blow air in his frozen hands.
"Give me a minute Sof. Cannot feel my fingers"
"Oh yeah by the way I brought some hand warmers" I remembered.
And Katie gets them out my bag and proceed to put one in my chalk bag and one in hers... with Tony perched and frozen looking on.
"You guys are sweet and oh so helpful"
:)

I lead it after Tony and had to hang in the first 1/3 my hands turning into wood.
Did I see a smirk on Tony's face?

Katie decided she was not going to have any of that freezing craziness, and we moved on to the sunny side, towards Kill Bill (10a exposed slab) and a 10b we had never climbed: Southern Inquisition.
Katie decided to lead up Kill Bill and did fantastic till the 4th draw where she thought that was A LOT of scary slab exposure for a "warm-up". She had been quite impressive through that first half. She backed out deciding to return to it later.

I tried to lead up Southern Inquisition, a really fun 10b but oh so exposed, with a hang start. Powerful moves at the start on good holds lead me to a point where I felt all the outdoor exposure demons come upon me. I backed out. Tony sent it and Katie followed suit on TR. I went back to it later on to lead it again and finished it.
Yes indeed I had to get my "outdoor'head" back on.

Tony moved on to Space Cowboy, a beautiful 12a line, and worked it trying to remember a pretty subtile beta. It will go next time.
Yoli and Christian hooked up with us and Christian cleaned it on TR. Great work to both of the guys.

In the meantime Katie was exploring, climbing away all she could put her feet and hands on (Possum Grits 9+, Whee Dodgies 8, adn Katie did (ha ha) 9...)

Tony convinced me to get back on my nemesis in that area, a route which has stumped me for the past 3 years or so: Condor, an 11c which starts casually to "hit" you with a mean reachy exposed move towards the top. YUP it was not to be that day. Same story. I tried and tried. Even went back to it on TR after Tony sent it .... Nope. I got one more move, but to no avail. Katie got on it as well on TR and got spitted out in the same spot. And yes Tony did make a few noises going through that sequence. His girly voice might have come to the surface!

We finished a beautiful day with Courthouse, a great 10c where the crux is right at the end. Katie almost flashed it. She fells once a the last move. She'll crush it next time.

What a great day it was. The top of the cliffs were skirted with ice falls and long icicles were dripping all day. I had forgotten my camera, and really regretted it. The ice formations were spectacular (and the dog walk descent had turned into an ice climbing wall! FUN!).
We all felt blessed to be out there enjoying the great things Nature can offer us.

Batteries recharged!

Sof