A FA and our first aid line.

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Messages 1 - 16 of total 16 in this topic

Prod

Social climber

Charlevoix, MI

Topic Author's Original Post - Jun 26, 2007 - 09:53am PT

A few weeks ago on the advice of a pal, Christa and I drove to Echo Bay Ontario to check out the Debsbrats (pronounced Deborah) bat caves. It is about 2.5 hours from here if the border crossing goes smooth. What we found was a cool cave and some great potential climbing, including this dandy that I got a first ascent of this weekend, well at least the lower ½, next weekend we are heading back so I can finish the thing.

The cave is interesting as it is Granite and seems to be on a fault line. Am I wrong that granite caves are fairly uncommon? The total depth is a little less that ¼ mile back and down. At the end of the cave it necks down to about 3’ wide by 3’ high for 100 or so feet. Any geologists want to speculate on its formation?

Cave entry, going in, and coming out

Here is Christa following my FA of the lower part of this crack.

Then a bit of hiking around checking out other future free and aid projects. The entire band of cliffs goes about ¼ mile and in length with sections up to 80’ high.

Never having done a lick of aid, and seeing all of the cool TR’s here I decided to give it a go. First I bought Jared Ogden’s book, then Jello and Piton Ron’s DVD, some aiders, and other miscellaneous gear. Found a likely line and had at it.

Pretty damn fun, but I have a ton of work to do figuring out a fast effective system.

Christa decided to give leading the aid line on top rope a go, and kicked ass considering that she had never placed a piece of gear prior to this. She also kept all of her teeth this time.

Then back to the truck for a beer and a drive home

That’s all, more next week.

Prod.

Tarbuster

climber

right here, right now

Jun 26, 2007 - 10:24am PT

Way to get out and see what's goin' on.
Next you need to go free your aid line, hahaha!
But fer reals, the aid line looks like pretty good rock too.
And we'd like to see a picture of Christa's restored smile please...

snyd

Sport climber

Lexington, KY

Jun 26, 2007 - 10:35am PT

That granite looks alot like limestone.

mark miller

Social climber

Reno

Jun 26, 2007 - 11:07am PT

Great photos, Thanks for sharing. You should those old camelots for cracks. Look very closely from the top and make sure they don't have cracks. 3 of mine from that era did, scary....

Prod

Social climber

Charlevoix, MI

Topic Author's Reply - Jun 26, 2007 - 11:11am PT

Yo Royboy,

That line will go free as well, I'll get to it... This weekend we are heading back up.

Christa's smile is 1/2 fixed. They put a tempory tooth on the post they screwed into her jaw. As soon as the post heals in they will glue the new tooth in place.

I'll give you a buzz this afternoon about late summer/ fall get together.

Snyd,

Pretty sure it is Canadian Shield Granite.

Prod.

Prod

Social climber

Charlevoix, MI

Topic Author's Reply - Jun 26, 2007 - 11:12am PT

Hey Mark,

Please further explain what you said about old Camelots...

Prod.

Bubba Ho-Tep

climber

Evergreen, CO

Jun 26, 2007 - 11:31am PT

The problem with the old Camalots is where the cable is brazed into the head - the cable tends to break at the braze (from flexing, not ala CCH) and is well hidden. So, just look there - if you have wires sticking out, time to replace.

bluering

Trad climber

Santa Clara, Ca.

Jun 26, 2007 - 12:11pm PT

Nice, good to hear she didn't lose any more teeth. Looks like some fun stuff!

Rhodo-Router

Gym climber

Otto, NC

Jun 26, 2007 - 12:15pm PT

Cool crag. The aid line looks pretty climbable, yes?

Running lockers on your daisies and so forth is liable to be more of a hindrance than a help. Look into some ovals if you find this to be the case, and trust the rope and the system to keep you off the ground..

Prod

Social climber

Charlevoix, MI

Topic Author's Reply - Jun 26, 2007 - 03:08pm PT

Hey Rhodo,

I figured that about the lockers. Any other gems I need to know for this weekend???

Prod.

Jay Hack

Trad climber

bellingham, Washington

Jun 26, 2007 - 05:35pm PT

Hi Prod,
I am going to be in Charlevoix from thursday July 5th to Sunday July 8th and would love to check out that area. Reply back if you might be interested in climbing there again.

Jello

Social climber

No Ut

Jun 26, 2007 - 06:12pm PT

Good exploratory effort, Prod, and fine TR.

-Jello

handsome B

Gym climber

SL,UT

Jun 26, 2007 - 06:16pm PT

way to keep the dream alive, virgin splitters!

Prod

Social climber

Charlevoix, MI

Topic Author's Reply - Jun 26, 2007 - 06:53pm PT

Jay,

What the hell will you be doing in Charlevoix? Anyway there might be a slim chance I could pull a trip off, unfortunately I do have to work on the 5th and 6th, but I might be able to blast off Friday after work. At a minimum I'll buy you a beer and give you directions and beta to the 6 places I've been to between in 2.5 and 6 hours from here.

A pat on the back from Jello! Good day it is...

Handsome B,

I about sh#t myself when I saw it, unfortunately it is easy 5.8 at best if you stick to the crack. But it is still a splitter...

Prod.