My long-time climbing buddy flew out from the east coast for a long weekend of adventure. We had some good ones back in 2005, including NEB Higher Cathedral Rock, Via Aqua, and even a first ascent when we were too scared and unbelieving of the start to get to Via Aqua. Fast forward to now.
Alarm at 5am in Los Angeles, ripping down the road a little before 6am, and at the Black Velvet Canyon parking lot by about 10am. Damn, I should come here more often! Just like a Yose Valley commute from Bay Area (a little farther but a faster road). Some lollygagging about and then we decide we'll hop on Dream of Wild Turkeys.
Always gotta stop and smell the flowers
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And there's our wall!
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But what's that we spy right near the beginning?
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Doh! Plan B... Hmm, I was expecting to climb some 5.7-5.9 stuff to get back into the saddle after a significant lapse in physical activity. But somehow we home in Prince of Darkness (5.10c). Gulp.
The dude is channeling Honnold for a few minutes before he decides to stop and put in some pro. I'll only admit to a little bit of camera angle tricks.
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Casting off into the serious terrain
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It's a truly beautiful wall. I've never seen more perfect 5.10 face climbing (which is something I shouldn't comment on because it's really outside my comfort zone), and sustained beyond belief:
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At first you giggle because it's so perfect, such good friction and positive edges about a finger pad width and some smaller stuff.
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But then it just keeps going and going without remorse and if you haven't built your daily routine around climbing, multiple parts of your body will quickly inform you: first finger joints, overall fingers, forearms, calves, toes...
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I've heard some people call this a boring route... it had us wandering left and right like schizophrenic ballet dancers but it eventually comes together. I've never climbed anything so sequency before- take ten steps wandering all over to end up a few feet higher.
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The bolt line looks straight but the path of the body to get there is anything but. Now it looks like the thing is stitched up, but there's a zoom and foreshortening effect in this picture, and I assure you if you are challenged by 5.10 climbing you do not feel like the bolts are too close. You spent 90% of your time making unobvious moves with your feet above bolts and the slow grind of similar motions wears at all parts of your body and mind. At least that's the perspective from one who expected to be warming up on 5.7 to 5.9 climbs.
This picture sums up my estimation of my chances for a clean follow
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My buddy Ritwik took a hang once at the end of P2 or P3, and I hung once on the 10b pitch and then was pumped and hung a few times on the next pitch. By this time it was getting a bit late (what with the wandering face exploration for leader and follower), and we were only on day 1 of 4 allotted for desert adventures, so we decided bail from the top of P3 to save something for the next days.
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But then we were attacked by the evil spirit that inhabits smaller diameter ropes
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It actually took quite a bit of dicking around because instead of just fixing it from both ends at the belay we got impatient and chucked it and let the whole thing cinch up into a medusa-haired mess
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So it ended up being fairly late by the time we headed out of the canyon.
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It never stops being beautiful
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Not bad for a day that began in Los Angeles!
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Such a world of possibilities for my free weekends if I open my eyes :)
