Next Route!

So many cool routes going up at God's Crag right now! Ben and I have each bolted 2 new lines on the upper tier (we've been calling it "Upstairs") and they are hard. Ben finished bolting and sent an abandoned project on the Zebra Wall called Fruit Stripe (5.13d). He also sent one of the routes I bolted, Two Bits (5.14-), which makes for the first 5.14- at the crag. Oh yeah, he also flashed Full Facial (5.13b), which I believe is the first flash of that route. Needless to say he is on a tear.

Ben flashing Full Facial, the best .13b on the planet

So far I haven't sent much (no surprise there). I was able to do Full Facial easily, 2nd try after 4 years off of it. Pretty much by accident. I hung the draws, lowered, and was planning on projecting it for a few days. Then I just started climbing to see how high I could get before I got too tired. I didn't get tired and clipped the chains. That was nice.

Heading upstairs

I have spent most days trying to send Ben's route, Fruit Stripe. It is about 70-80ft tall, slightly overhung, with consistently hard moves on crazy pockets with lots of mono stacking and other pocket shenanigans. There is a bad rest before the final boulder and I am having a hard time recovering enough . Lame. My endurance has been steadily increasing though and I feel like I'll send in the next day or two of tries. I've also continued to work on Two Bits, but again, I am having trouble recovering at the "rest" before the crux. I can do all the moves though and I can link through most of it, but rock climbing is hard.

L->R: Fruit Stripe (.13d); Double Bubble (prj); Two Bits (.14)

Ben also bolted a route to the right of Fruit Stripe, the Double Bubble project, that he thinks will be a little harder than Fruit Stripe. A section of that route is currently plagued by the choss goblins, so it is still getting cleaned and we haven't really been able to try it yet. Hopefully tomorrow.

The Headwall project. The dotted line is a fixed line.

The first day we arrived I bolted a line I have been looking at for years. To the right of the waterfall there is a short steep headwall that pulls onto a slab above. But here's the thing with that. The approach is super annoying and a bit dangerous. To get to the belay ledge you have to move along an old fixed line and then ascend up a rotten dihedral that is composed of the worst rock I have ever encountered (and I've seen some choss). This wouldn't be that bad, but everything that gets knocked off falls 250ft off the top of the Mileski Wall and lands in the middle of the crag. Not very safe. So we can only really go up there when no one is around. Luckily, there is almost never anyone else at the whole crag. The route itself is SICK. Really cool (bad) holds on a steep wall. This thing is hard. There is pretty much nowhere to clip. Right now it looks like 2-3 powerful double digit boulders in a row. 5.14+? Who knows. We haven't done all the moves yet.

Another view of The Headwall project

Right now it is a rest day/ internet day/ grow skin back day. Hopefully tomorrow will be a...

 SEND DAY!




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