Autumn on Deck

It’s been over a month since I last went rock climbing.  As usual, it’s not for lack of interest as much as it has been for lack of time and/or scheduling conflicts with partners.  In May, I had written a post called “Road toThe Cross” about my venture into the world of CrossFit.  And along with my wife, we have devoted a lot of our free time to CrossFit and I decided to pursue it even further by attending a Level 1 Trainer Course the last weekend of August.  I successfully completed the course and passed the test, earning the title of Level 1 Trainer. 

But now that I’m past that, and autumn is approaching, I find myself longing to be outside at the crag climbing the cool rock in the pleasant temperatures.  And this past Sunday, getting a 7am start in 45 degree temps, Andrew and I did some strenuous top-roping at the local crag.  Andrew just came back from a Colorado climbing trip and had amazing stories of 2am starts, two hour approaches, and eight-pitch epics.  We quickly burned out are forearms and grips on slopers, pinches, and crimps and decided to use the time we had left to explore the lower cliff.  As mentioned before, the lower cliff at this crag is of lesser quality and with little features.  Most of the overhanging wall is blank, with the exception of a few thin splitter cracks and a knobby arête.  We did, however, come across this splitter which looks a bit friendlier. 

 

 

 

It stands just less than 30 feet, with the crack expanding to about fist-sized at its widest.  The crack also appears to be just deep enough to take gear, but it remains to be seen if this route is within our leading ability.  It definitely needs a cleaning, so we’re thinking about making this a late fall/early winter climbing project once everything dies out and dries up.