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| Me Toproping on Rockwork Orange. |
I was exhausted hiking up to Mount Woodsen this morning. After taking two days to work on my gym leading skills and two days at Santee Boulders working with a borrowed crash pad, this was my fifth day climbing this week. I've been hitting it really hard. My interest in climbing is just going through the roof. Its partly because I feel like my climbing community is becoming more solid and more significant in my life, and partly because I am starting to develop more climbing related goals.
This morning we went out to Rockwork Orange to climb the area's most perfect dihedral. Now, I tend to think that dihedral make awkward crack climbs. You can't do the perfect crack climbing movements on them because they aren't symmetrical. The left leg can't do the same movement as the right leg because one of them is smashed against a parallel rock. Dihedrals make excellent lie back problems because your feet can smear flat on an adjacent face. I happen to think lie backs take a ton of work and flexibility that I can't muster. A lot of people think Liebacks are easier, so you can pick your poison with dihedrals.
Rockwork orange had the extra problem of being slightly positive, throwing you out of the crack everytime you weren't 100% positive about your handjam.
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| Nick Being lowered. |
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| Maria getting thrown out of a crack. |
The start of the climb was hard because its a little finger crack at the bottom. Its hard to get a good foot with a finger crack. The first hand is a good handjam if you reach high (or are tall), so if you can get past the first feet, the climb is pretty straight forward.
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| Maria stemming to stay in the crack. |
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| Maria Succeeding |
Shawns Knobs is really close so we headed there on the way out. Rockwork orange was the main event, but this and Robbins Crack (of course) was a nice little on-the-way-out climb in the Fake Eppulator area.
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| Jason on False Eppulator |
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| Power moves on Shawns Knobs |
Then we headed over to Robbins Crack because why not. My hands were destroyed by this point. They were so raw and bloody that it resembled hamburger. Its not a good look. Even though Robbins Crack is nice and soft, I didn't feel like putting a lot of extra pressure on them. They were preinjured by a night climb out in Santee Boulders doing Painted Rock last thursday (2 days ago). I need to wait a week before or so doing another crack so my hands can turn back into skin.
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| Jason on Robbins Crack. |
So Nick high balled it and I got this fabuloso photo.
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| High Ball Robbins Crack |
I am looking forward to the next outdoor adventure. I'm afraid, however, that it might not be for another week or so. My mom is coming into town and I'll have to drive her about like a good host.
Until Next time, Maria
