bwa ha ha!
I spent four nights last week sleeping in a tent in a big, open field in upstate New York. Every day went something like this:
coffee, climbing, beer, food, sleep
I had a fabulous, wonderful, fun, exhausting time! I did my first (finished) trad lead, and my second...
On Thursday, Amy lead
Gelsa (5.4) at the Near Trapps. I followed all three pitches. It was easy, breezy and fun, very three-dimensional-- reminded me of Underdog at Rumney.
On Friday, we climbed
Beginners Delight (5.3) at the Trapps. I *lead* pitch #1. It had lots of good gear opportunities. And, as a beginner, I yanked and cranked on my stoppers to check them, making it virtually impossible for Amy to get them out. Since I lead the first pitch and followed the second, I spent a long time sitting on the comfy belay ledge. It was above the trees, facing south, and I now have a nice sunburn on my back and shoulders.
The odd thing, though, was that someone joined me. A bald tattooed soloer climbed up to my ledge and waited for Amy to finish her pitch before continuing with the route. This was mighty nice of him-- not wanting to trip on her rope or distract her. But I had a very difficult time dealing with him being there *at all.*
I don't want to
judge soloer-- by climbing multipitch routes without ropes they are accepting the deadly consequences of a mistake or accident and I'm not going to talk them out of it. But the act itself does scare me and I don't want to be around when they do it. I was bothered by the fact that if he fell, I would see it, be tramatized by it, and it would ruin my week. Thats not the kind of responsibility I think he has any business imposing on *me*.
As we were hanging out on the (one foot deep) ledge, he would walk back and forth (inches from a 100+ foot fall), lean over the edge to look (EEEKKK don't lose your balance. don't fall. don't fall. don't fall-- was going through my head); I alternating between not looking at him at all (it scared me) and paying attention to him (he is a human being after all). I felt like I was sitting through a HORROR MOVIE. Something very *scary* could happen at ANY SECOND.
So we hung out on the ledge for a good half hour. I felt like I should talk to him a bit, out of some kind of social courtesy. But I really didn't know what to say. I was afriad to bring up climbing or soloing for fear that he would detect irritation in my voice (didn't know if this guy was fragile-- significant chance he was nuts). So I asked him about his tattoos. The chinese one means "warrior philosopher" and the cuniform one means "freedom" which he likes because it was one of the first written expressions of the idea.
Sun dessication and dealing with the soloer did a number on my lead head so I followed for the rest of the day. It was all good.
On Saturday we hopped on
Three Pines (5.3) (after a good, long wait in line) and did two pitches. I lead the second pitch. It ate the rack like it was Thanksgiving. I think I placed pro every three feet or so. I had a fun time slowly making my way up the blocky corner, peeking in the cracks and crevices for places to stick pro.
Amy them lead
Sixish (5.4+). It was a freaky, committing, heady lead and she did a fantastic job with it. I had a fun time following and even asked myself a few times if I was comfy falling on the pro. (She places good pro!)
On Sunday, Amy and I were joined by Charley and Greg who took us up
High Exposure (click on it for a pic). It is a wickedly fun classic that was listed in Climbing mag's top trad routes ever. Its not very difficult (5.6) but being hundreds of feet above the tree tops made my heart pound. I'm a sport climber: I'm not used to the exposure of being a few pitches up a tall cliff. I look forward to doing this route again someday.
Even after lunch, the crag was still crowded. I hopped on someone's toprope of Laurel (5.7) to practice my crack climbing skills. Being a sport climbing, I'm not very good a jamming and always end up with bloodied hands. Usually I'll use the face holds and do the 5.10 moves on the 5.7 or layback the crack and pump my way up. I need to break this habit.
We then hopped on
Horseman (5.5) and Amy did her best lead at the Gunks. It was a super-fun route but my experience was marred by another soloer, this one seemed to be a complete idiot.
So here is the story of the Idiot. This guy took his friend to teach him to lead. He set up a TR (on a skinny-- the kind of rope that is only safe when used as doubles) and had his friend place gear, which he checked on rappel. But they didn't clean it. Seeing that we were waiting for the route, they let us go ahead. While Amy was leading, the Idiot started negotiating with me on how close behind me he can climb ("Is 5 feet too close?"). He followed me up the route and, at the first belay ledge, clipped his rope into the crappiest, mankiest tricam placement and a single crappy cam (no pro beneath him). He them wanted to negotiate which variation to do so he could *pass* Amy and get to the rappel station first.
I asked him to PLEASE place another piece, to please CLIP into something else. I told him that I wasn't in the mood to watch him DIE today. He promised to place something else. He them took out both his placements-- so he had no protection from a fall (soloing with a rope dangling from his harness which could easily get caught on something) and finished the route (no pro at all!!!) but yelled "off belay" at the top-- as if it mattered.
There are two things that really *irritated* me about his behavior.
1. Since he was soloing ABOVE me and my climbing partner, if he fell not only would he kill himself (making us witness it), he could possibly hit us on the way down, seriously injuring us (imagine very large, heavy, smooshy rock).
2. His cavalear attitude towards safety set a very bad example to his newbie friend and everyone else at the crag.
The soloer rant is now over.
The Gunks was fun. The whole multipitch thing was pretty new to me, as was the no-falling thing. I enjoyed learning and practicing some new skills. And it was exciting to get high up. I look forward to more trad, especially if it involves cracks (I want to try off-widths) and CHIMNEYS.
But I miss falling. And I miss sweating. And I can't say I enjoyed the circus-like crowds on the ground and breathing down my ankles on the routes. And the soloers. I don't like being around them when they climb.
And now, after an exciting weekend, I am at home, in bed, with the FLU. Bleh. Pictures (of the climbing, not my flu) are coming as soon as I get them from Amy.
