Redpoint of Romancing the Stone
I got it! (finally!)
I went to Rumney yesterday with Charley and had a perfect day. The weather was ideal-- low 60's, sunny, dry. The vibe was cool, calm, chill (someone even found me in the parking lot and returned a lost quickdraw). We were both wide awake, happy, and ready to climb.
I have to get pics from Charley but I've added links to other peoples pics of some of these routes.
We warmed up on Rhinobuckets, a buckety, pumpy 10a at the Meadows. I then lead a 9 (thinking it was a 7. Thou Shalt Not Covet ?) and then Mr Popular, a 9 with a tricky but cool start.
With my lead head warmed up and my forearms not too pumped, Charley and I headed over to the 5.8 crag and I hopped in Romancing the Stone.
Romancing is a tricky, technical, crimpy 10c testpiece. I worked it and worked it last year, getting every move wired. When I was in China I used to dream about this route. I didn't RP it last year-- I often got pumped out and then the weather got cold and the 5.8 crag doesn't get enough sun to warm the rock (numb fingers). Enough excuses. Yesterday I finally RP'ed it. I nailed all the moves, kept my cool, and just did it. Pretty exciting.
After that, I decided to get on another of last year's projects-- Waimea. Waimea is a super-tricky, committing 10d. There is a series of beautiful flakes going up to the third bolt and a lot of counter-pressure moves. Last year I chickened out on leading the route, coming down after the fourth bolt because I was afraid of taking lead falls. This year I've been taking a lot of lead falls so thats no longer an issue. I finished Waimea. The RP will happen soon. (Its a pumpy route so it'll have to be my big project of the day)
Charley then hopped on Flying Hawaiian. Holy shit, that is a cool and difficult route. It had a tricky bouldery start, then another bouldery section, then you move into a tall, smooth dihedral where you gain altitude by making small, frictiony, stemming moves. I got my ass spanked on this route but it sure was fun.
The Waimea crag was a circus yesterday. All the hot shots hang out there-- it has a high concentration of starred routes and 13's and 14's. While I was on Waimea, some famous swiss climber was on the route next to me. A crowd of people were watching him, occasionally cheering and clapping. A photographer, standing on a ledge on the other side, wanted to photograph him. So he started calling out to me "hey girl! hey girl! hey girl!" I tuned him out until I realized he was talking to me (Its odd to have a conversation while climbing. Plus I'm not used to being addressed that way.) He wanted me to get a manky, dangling rope out of his frame.
We hiked over to the Kennel Wall and I hopped on Puppy Love (a cool 9) and Charley did a Dog Star (10b). I was wiped out so I will get on that one another day.
Last years projects:
1. RP romancing the stone
2. finish Waimea
3. finish Espresso
New Projects:
1. RP Waimea
2. finish & RP Espresso
3. Tropicana
I went to Rumney yesterday with Charley and had a perfect day. The weather was ideal-- low 60's, sunny, dry. The vibe was cool, calm, chill (someone even found me in the parking lot and returned a lost quickdraw). We were both wide awake, happy, and ready to climb.
I have to get pics from Charley but I've added links to other peoples pics of some of these routes.
We warmed up on Rhinobuckets, a buckety, pumpy 10a at the Meadows. I then lead a 9 (thinking it was a 7. Thou Shalt Not Covet ?) and then Mr Popular, a 9 with a tricky but cool start.
With my lead head warmed up and my forearms not too pumped, Charley and I headed over to the 5.8 crag and I hopped in Romancing the Stone.
Romancing is a tricky, technical, crimpy 10c testpiece. I worked it and worked it last year, getting every move wired. When I was in China I used to dream about this route. I didn't RP it last year-- I often got pumped out and then the weather got cold and the 5.8 crag doesn't get enough sun to warm the rock (numb fingers). Enough excuses. Yesterday I finally RP'ed it. I nailed all the moves, kept my cool, and just did it. Pretty exciting.
After that, I decided to get on another of last year's projects-- Waimea. Waimea is a super-tricky, committing 10d. There is a series of beautiful flakes going up to the third bolt and a lot of counter-pressure moves. Last year I chickened out on leading the route, coming down after the fourth bolt because I was afraid of taking lead falls. This year I've been taking a lot of lead falls so thats no longer an issue. I finished Waimea. The RP will happen soon. (Its a pumpy route so it'll have to be my big project of the day)
Charley then hopped on Flying Hawaiian. Holy shit, that is a cool and difficult route. It had a tricky bouldery start, then another bouldery section, then you move into a tall, smooth dihedral where you gain altitude by making small, frictiony, stemming moves. I got my ass spanked on this route but it sure was fun.
The Waimea crag was a circus yesterday. All the hot shots hang out there-- it has a high concentration of starred routes and 13's and 14's. While I was on Waimea, some famous swiss climber was on the route next to me. A crowd of people were watching him, occasionally cheering and clapping. A photographer, standing on a ledge on the other side, wanted to photograph him. So he started calling out to me "hey girl! hey girl! hey girl!" I tuned him out until I realized he was talking to me (Its odd to have a conversation while climbing. Plus I'm not used to being addressed that way.) He wanted me to get a manky, dangling rope out of his frame.
We hiked over to the Kennel Wall and I hopped on Puppy Love (a cool 9) and Charley did a Dog Star (10b). I was wiped out so I will get on that one another day.
Last years projects:
1. RP romancing the stone
2. finish Waimea
3. finish Espresso
New Projects:
1. RP Waimea
2. finish & RP Espresso
3. Tropicana
posted by Michelle at 1:54 p.m.
3 Comments:
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
what's RP?
RP stands for "redpoint." It means to lead a sport route, hang all the quickdraws as you climb, not fall and not hang on the gear. Essentially it is the "cleanest" way you can climb a route.
Post a Comment
<< Home