This was supposed to be a rest day. I don’t know how I got two split tips yesterday, and I feel like I can barely handle silverware or open a drink. Was it too many buckets? Maybe my tendons hurt too. And my bruises. We should definitely rest today, maybe go to the river. Or maybe just climb one pitch. Actually, that sounds good. Maybe a few pitches. Should be fine.
Mixologist: 5.10a 70′
Slightly gritty start to undercling overlaps. Kinda a strenuous crux with dicey feet. Then delicate moves left to the crack. I felt ecstatic to be throwing jams after a day of so much bucket pulling. Or maybe I was just happy to be outside. Small cams at the start to bigger ones in the crack. Probably a single rack would do it (plus microcams). Mussies make for an easy lower.
Emma struggled with the crux, and then tried to discredit her success. I mean, I understand the feeling… She also thought the crack felt contrived… which… I mean, she isn’t wrong. Next time I might try to focus on the face? Fun, but I think we’ll prioritize doing Accessory Dogs next time we’re at Hogwild.
Ham & Cheese (Pitch 1): 5.6 100′
So this happened. It’s been a long time since Emma took the sharp end. She did great as usual. Two attempts, almost to the anchor! I finished the pitch, brought her up so she could finish the whole thing, and then lower and rappel. Our camp neighbors showed up as I was preparing to rappel. They were a party of four now, and were going to finish their day with a lap on Ham and Cheese. I did my stupid party trip where I popped off the rope ends right onto the stance… but I think they didn’t appreciate it. They seemed genuinely scared for me. Whoops, sorry.
But the real treat was meeting the “owl guy”. Ok, some backtracking might be required. As we were scrambling to get ready for our epic link-up the day before (Groove to Corrugation), Emma noticed an owl in a tree in the parking lot. She pointed it out to our camp neighbors (they were a group of two at that point) who marveled at the sight. Which inspired the telling of a tale of owls on Corrugation Corner. Apparently one of their friends was buzzed by an owl as he climbed the chimney on pitch three. And as it bombed right past his head it also pooped in his chalk bag. Which was then later replaced by his belayer with one of those goofy stuffed owl chalk bags. The whole thing sounded ridiculous and so borderline believable, but ok, who would make something like that up?
So now the owl guy had joined the group, and we got to say hi. As much as we would have loved a retelling with clarifying details, the sun was beating down on all of us, and we peaced out as quick as possible. Back to camp to try to do some actual resting. But at least we met this fabled owl guy!
Since we had a free evening we opted to prepare shakshuka for dinner (camp style). We had some failed soft boiled eggs from the previous night (ramen), which were perfect for dropping onto the hot tomato and pepper simmer. They cooked up perfectly, and served with avocado on naan, this was one of the best camp dinners I’ve ever had. Really have to hand it to Emma for deciding to try this recipe in the woods, it turned out amazing.
We turned in early, with sights on The Line for tomorrow.
Leave a Reply