New Rope Part 1: Woodsen

Alex and I bought a new Rope this weekend! I was so nervous and excited about this purchase. For one, I am actually not used to Alex being my climbing partner. I am normally the most inexperienced one of the group. Us actually accumulating gear means that I will be teaching, which is nerve racking. Additionally, Climbing with my own gear is new for me. I normally hang out with people that have standard full racks. I barely have enough gear for a minimal sport climb. It was hard picking out routes that were easy enough for Alex, bolted for my quick draw anchors, and additionally had a walk off so we wouldn't have to do any sketch downclimbing. That is actually a tall order for around these parts.

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Here is Alex with our new rope at REI. Our first rope!

Alex wanted to go to Woodsen because he hasn't spent much time out there and he wanted a location with a scenic hike in addition to climbs. I was pretty nervous going out to woodsen because I couldn't pinpoint any ideal climbs.

We first went to Sunday Afternoon, but it was incredibly busy. There was a bit of a party climb going on. This is what we get for showing up at 9 o clock. Early bird gets the worm don't you know. I got Alex to do his first rappel at this location, though, and that proved to be quite a landmark moment. He learned how to use a sling and carabiner as an autoblock and how to use his belay device for rappeling. 

 Then we went to the Vomitorium. A nice passerby setup the rope for us and we rappeled off of the bolts, which is a huge nono, but I figured our new rope could stand it.

Then, running out of options, we went back to practice boulder 1 where I knew I could setup a support rope if not a toproping climb because I can climb the 5.6 on the steep side. Alex was not a fan of this route. He would prefer to be bolted in at all times.

I made this static line myself using a cord and two double fishermans knots.

 I setup the rope just as before

 Top of the route selfie!

 Me totally not belaying

 Check out this neat bird!

 Alex did it!

 Top of the route

 Alex took one of me!

 Alex was proud of himself

 

The trip was shorter than normal but i'm excited for the rope. It means that I might be able to get out more often, and get to spend more time trying to redpoint routes. On the downside, I am going to have to build my rack substantially. Alex needs approach shoes, and I would like to get used to wearing a helmet for obvious safety reasons. Also, I think even having one cam could substantially increase the number of routes that we could climb on.