Thursday, March 19, 2009

Spring Break in a Day

My schedule is pretty hectic most of the time and it has been a while since I have even been able to take a week let alone the months that many spend at destinations like Bishop or Hueco. So I have to stick closer to home and decided on Wednesday to spend some time ticking some classics I haven't done as well as a few I have done many times before. I warmed up on Big Overhang (V2)which is really one of the best problems of its grade on the Front Range. It's tall enough to be exciting but not really dangerous and with very reassuring holds. Then I did First Overhang (V5) for video, which was a bit sketchy owing to sunny and warm conditions. Then I looked at the wall where a tall V4 called the Walk is located. I did the less scary version (V4) which ducks left to the arete and found it to be very insecure and technical. The straight-up version will happen at some point soon but it is definitely tall and intimidating solo. I went over to do Face Out (V5) and Reverse Face Out (V7), finding the latter especially difficult owing to having to tape my left forefinger which has a small split. From here I went down to Mongolian Cosmonaut and did the stand start version (V8) first try. I put in a few attempts on the lower start but skin and warn conditions didn't help. From there I went down to Red Wall and did the Regular Route from the low left (V8) and Varney's Direct (V6) followed by an attempt on the L to R traverse. I finished up on Center Left, the weird problem on the left that goes to the shallow pocket and the crystal, the hardest V5 in the world. My skin was pretty fried by 4:30. Thanks to Allie (sp?) for helping haul my pads back to the car!


First Overhang V5

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