Dreary Saturday

Last Saturday, after an adventurous start to my weekend which started with me being kicked awake by Miss Katie E at 3am, we met young Dru at 9am. He was itching to get out to the Darkside to climb, he and I headed out with his father and planned to meet the girls there later. It rained the entire way, fortunately Darkside is so steep that even the tops of climbs stay dry. Dru kicked off the day by climbing the "ramp of death" to get to the start of "Shanghai" (12d) he quickly worked out the moves going bolt, making it the hardest climb he's done all the moves on. After that I got a rope stick clipped to my project, "The Force", Then the ladies showed up. As I began to work the bottom moves of "The Force" again, Katie E. jumped on "Tuskan Raider" (12d) (pictured) and made great progress! I managed to stick the crux move on "The Force" on lead finally, making me hopeful that climbing in decent conditions and feeling 100%, I'll connect the bottom difficulty section in the least! Later in the day Sarah and Lindsay both gave good burns on "Mama Benson" (12a) Dru also gave Tuskan a burn, but then had to go home. To finish our day Katie got on Tuskan and got all the moves! I got on it too and figured out the crux moves, it's a super cool route, and has a sit down rest just after the crux! It was a super day full of climbing and various shenanigans!

09/12/09

Saturday included gratuitous amounts of laziness from me, Lang, and Chase at the Darkside.  There ended up being more substantial quantities of beer, sausage and bacon on the camp grill, and photography than there was actual climbing.  I spent what felt like 2 hours hanging in a harness on Darth Moll whilst taking pictures of Jeff, Nick, and Lang on The Force (7c+).  Probably worth it, some of the pictures turned out bad ass!  Lang figured out some crucial crux beta and Chase was sticking the moves when he wasn't sulking under lack of motivation.  I gave it one go on Mama Benson (7a+), and we called it a day.

Met up with Katie, John, Tony, and Vladim back at Miguel's for some pizza and PBR! There we decided some night cragging at Phantasia was in order, and picking up Johnny Slice on our way out.

I hung the draws on Creature Feature and only clipped 3 bolts and then the anchors, running it out well above groundfall potential just for kicks.  Not to be outdone, Lang upped the ante by stripping down and getting the first true "flash" of Creature Feature.  Moreso than mine, Lang's mischief became the modus operendi of the night, with a total of 4 naked ascents and 1 naked top-rope flail (Vladim).  Highlights include John and Vladim standing naked in their harnesses, arms around each other, singing "Throw the Jew down the Well" from Borat, as well as the capturing of one of the most...er...remarkable(?) climbing pictures of all time as Lang's feet cut on the roof to expose, well, everything...

(photos coming soon)