Trip Report
Night Rock Climbing Adventure. In a gym. 2011-01-25
Wednesday January 26, 2011 5:11am
We had a great adventure this evening that I thought would be nice to share. Berkeley Ironworks was the happening spot at 9pm. My posse....

Dave:

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My love:

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Getting ready for some serious action:

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Like this:

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I believe this is what they call "dabbing the gnarly"

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Here you see I was unable to fully dab the gnarly:

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But then I reached the top even though I couldn't dab the gnarly completely.

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I caught Dave scoping out some sickening lines.

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There appeared a certain amount of uncertainty when scoping those lines of sickness.

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So we moved on to some sweet routes with killer exposure.

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Oops, how'd this get in here?

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Check the date... it's pretty new, not in any guides yet.

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This route required some special shoes.

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But then the gnarly was dabbed so many times I don't know where to begin:

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And the gnarly got dabbed again.

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And then the gnarly was dabbed less than vertically:

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I swear to sweet goodness, if there was a gnarly to be dabbed, I was in the process of dabbing it right here. I fell once, but except for that I did my first 5.12a cleanly! I look forward to trying it another time and dabbing it even more.

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I definitely had a swashbuckly kind of feeling afterwards.

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Then it was time for Dave to pump up the volume. By the way, that edge is a fun lieback.

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Here my love was starting to belay Dave,

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but I got short-attention span syndrome and wandered over toward the cracks:

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I haven't pulled the right branch of the Y cleanly yet. Didn't try tonight.

Sometimes it's so beautiful and you can't fit it all in the viewfinder.

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But then when I rotate the camera, sometimes I can.

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Then my love was dabbing it so much I was worried she was going to over-dab it.

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After that, we made some sweet crack climbing videos. Check me out on the finger crack:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtTGP1_iAnQ

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And at the end of the night, we have a smiling face to usher us out the door :)

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Edit: Bonus! Check out Dean making our gnarly-dabbing look simple. Now that is one guy who knows how to dab a gnarly.

  Trip Report Views: 2,012
nutjob
About the Author
nutjob is a climber from Berkeley, CA.

Some people call me the space cowboy yeah
Some call me the gangster of love
Some people call me Maurice
'Cause I speak of the pompetous of love

Comments
Jay Wood

Trad climber
Land of God-less fools
  Jan 26, 2011 - 11:47am PT
Hail, bold pumpers of plastic!
survival

Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
  Jan 26, 2011 - 11:50am PT
Daayyhhaaum!! Thanks Nutjob.

Now, back outdoors with yer ass!
Crimpergirl

Sport climber
Boulder, Colorado!
  Jan 26, 2011 - 12:13pm PT
Awesome! Perfect weather too. Thanks for sharing!
nutjob

Sport climber
Almost to Hollywood, Baby!
Author's Reply  Jan 26, 2011 - 12:35pm PT
Update, the video finished loading:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtTGP1_iAnQ
Phil_B

Social climber
CHC, en zed
  Jan 26, 2011 - 12:37pm PT
Ha, I was there, but earlier in the night.

It can be fun pulling on plastic, especially when the climbs require a little thinking.

TFPU
Captain...or Skully

climber
Boise, ID
  Jan 26, 2011 - 12:39pm PT
NTB. TFPU!!! Cheers.
Jaybro

Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
  Jan 26, 2011 - 01:19pm PT
Dab a dab a doo!
Missed you by a few hours, er " by that much"

question

Who was John Gilbert?
nutjob

Sport climber
Almost to Hollywood, Baby!
Author's Reply  Jan 26, 2011 - 01:19pm PT
Ezra Ellis

Trad climber
North wet, and Da souf
  Jan 26, 2011 - 01:25pm PT
Dude, way to SHRED the GNAR!
TFPU!
Jaybro

Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
  Jan 26, 2011 - 01:27pm PT
Ah! Thanks for clearing that up.
MH2

Boulder climber
Andy Cairns
  Jan 26, 2011 - 01:41pm PT
Nice TR.

In the photo sequence I see a trend counter to what I would expect. Your climbing locale starts out thinly populated and ends almost deserted.

Where I've been climbing lately it is much harder to dab the gnarl because of other people's elbows in your eye sockets.

But to blame all this on "the masses" turns away from the real issues and embraces a fallacious counterproductive concept of elitism.

When love was poetry, it was exceptional and sacred. Gymnasiums were exceptional and sacred because they were closed to the masses.

I commend you on getting to the unknown bottom of the earth where true adventure is still possible.
nutjob

Sport climber
Almost to Hollywood, Baby!
Author's Reply  Feb 11, 2011 - 01:24pm PT
Thank you all for your support! So much adventure in the world, I could find it in my left nostril if I wanted.

But I digress. I have an update about dabbing the gnarly:

Last night, I completely dabbed it dude. For the first time EVER I did a no-falls for gnarly-dabbing ascent of a 5.12a in the gym. That slabby blue one "Errol Flynn." I think Berkeley Ironworks is pretty Lite in the ratings department, but I won't let that stop me from proclaiming that I was the best gnar-dabber that night. By far. (I don't count the lead-cave creatures). If Errol Flynn was alive, he would totally want to be me. I'm a rising star baby, keep an eye on me.

You know, I was so cool I even warmed up on the yellow 5.11a and didn't even climb on any 10s. Well I only did 3 climbs but let's not quibble. I made a strong showing on a 5.11c, which I totally woulda nailed if I hadn't just dab-gnarred the 5.12.

p.s. MH, the trick to avoiding crowds is to show up at the gym at 9pm! Or really any time except 5-8pm.
Daphne

Trad climber
Northern California
  Feb 11, 2011 - 01:41pm PT
Hey congrats on the 5.12 and I am glad your TR came back up. I loved it when you first posted it but was on my iphone so didn't comment. Thanks for all the laughs. I think the start to that 5.12 is gnarly! Good job!
nutjob

Sport climber
Almost to Hollywood, Baby!
Author's Reply  Feb 11, 2011 - 02:31pm PT
Thanks Daph. Fatty: let's see the pics to to validate your claims!
Zander

climber
  Feb 11, 2011 - 03:11pm PT
Niicce!
SteveW

Trad climber
The state of confusion
  Feb 11, 2011 - 07:04pm PT

Pretty nutty!!!!!


hee hee hee. . .
Adamame

climber
Santa Cruz
  Feb 12, 2011 - 11:32am PT
City Rock pics, who has them?
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