1. Meet at 7
2. Climb lots of routes
3. Lead Thoroughfare
4. Be back by 5 to work
Those were the goals for yesterday. 50% ain't bad right? Let's start at the top. I'll say we met at 7ish. If by 7ish you mean 8ish. On my way to the park and ride Blake texts me that Taylor is running late, so it'll be more like 7:15. No big deal, seeing as I still have to pack all the gear in my trunk into my bag. But then Taylor forgot her harness at the gym. Rookie mistake. On the plus side, I did get to see the sunrise, so that was kind of nice.
On the way out to the lake I may have seen the best thing ever. ABS Global (apparently it stands for American Breeders Service, not American Bull Semen, which is a pretty big let down) is having a slogan competition for their sign. Let's put our heads together and figure this one out folks.After that we made it to the ferry only to realize that it was Wednesday morning, and it was refueling. Another rookie mistake. Finally we made it to the wall bright and early at around 10:30 or so. Blake wanted to climb at Two Pines, so we set ropes on Full Stop, Mouse's Misery and Thoroughfare. We started out on Full Stop, where Balke may have earned to dubious honor of having the first bee sting of the year. After climbing Mouse's, I decided it was time to get on Thoroughfare, which I had top roped a few times in the past, so I was looking forward to leading it. On my first attempt I made it through the crux, but was too pumped to make it any higher. I sent next go, but not with ease. Taylor top roped it after that, and worked out all the moves rather quickly. She definitely could have sent it next try.
It was starting to get a little late at this point, and Blake and Taylor seemed content to lounge at the base in the sun. And really, who can blame them when it's 80 degrees in March? I decided to try and get in a few more pitches before we had to leave so I could get back to work. I did Big Deal and Mouse Tracks, and I also tried Mouse's Tail and Cross Town Traffic. Mouse's Tail is a bit of a squeeze job between Mouse Tracks and Vacillation, but it has some cool moves down low, and a tough slab section that I couldn't figure out.
Despite the late start, and time constraints, I was still able to take 7 more routes off the list for the year, and got outside for the 5th time in March, which is pretty much as good as it gets.
4 comments:
Dude, you're strong enough to send Thoroughfare! I'm glad to see you led it though. It's a wonderful climb and thinking about that route brings back fond memories of the times and beers we shared at DL. Keep crushing Tony. I like your blaaahg.
I did send Thoroughfare, and I definitely have to say watching you try it really inspired me to get it on lead. Also, you can probably appreciate that I got the name for this blog by putting Devil's Lake into a Wu Tang name generator.
Wow. I'm going to have to put my name into a Wu-Tang name generator. Well, keep the good posts coming. It gets me psyched to hear about all the DL stuff and I think the East Bluff Challenge is a pretty sweet idea. Did you lead Vivisection or Happy Hunting Grounds? You should also give R. Exam 5.9 a go... it'll pucker you up!
Contemplating a lead of vivisection, I mean I guess I have led half of it already, but I don't know about HHG. Talk about a pucker party, the first gear is pretty high up there.
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