Last weekend, Memorial Weekend, Sara and I were joined by about 10 other people in Leavenworth for several days of our favorite activity -- rock climbing. Our first day was mostly orienting ourselves, and we did some top roping at a spot that is popular but no one was around Friday. Sara and I spent our second day out on the hard stuff with our friends Shawn and Ken. Shawn was our rope gun and we had a couple of ropes running between the four of us. We did some fantastic climbs and as usual after about three I was totally whooped. I have a goal climb though which is to lead this 5.8 crack at the Alphabet wall. I'm certain I can lead it, but doing it while placing my own gear is something I'm a bit nervous about. I have lots of excuses though -- I'm old, I'm relatively new to climbing, I break easy...
Day three was a day of firsts. Sara lead her first 5.5 crack on trad gear, and we left the gear in so Ashley, and Kari could do their first outdoor leads. I also lead the 5.5 and had fun on a 5.9 and 5.4 cracks. I should have gone back and lead the 5.9 (it was just about three hard moves) but as I said, I have lots of excuses. Day four was the easiest day. We spent time leading a 5.6 with gear again. Sara did it and I checked placements, then Kari mock lead it with Sara checking the placements. I climbed and cleaned my own placements and was very happy with how I placed my gear.
Leading on your own gear placements is kind of scary. If it fails...it is your own fault. We watched our friend, Shawn, on a very hard climb, and he did something super smart -- he placed two pieces of gear right near each other. It was a good thing too because just after he moved beyond the gear he kicked out the lower piece. We all breathed after he placed a new piece of gear. When he got down, he didn't even no he'd kicked out his gear. It was just good he had that backup.
So lots of good experiences and we cannot wait to get up to Squamish, B.C.
Oh -- I saved off the beard. Yep...it is true. But I'm definitely going to grow it out this fall.
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