Monday, July 25, 2011

Another amazing weekend of climbing!

For the first time ever, Jess and I passed up on the opportunity to spend a three day weekend in Tensleep, instead deciding to stick around and focus on some local projects.  At the Cube, Jess has been working on Strawman (13a) and I've been getting bouted trying to climb Occam's Razor (13d).  On Thursday after work, we headed up to the Cube to continue our attempts.  Jess was able to get a one-hang and amazingly things started to come together for me and I was able to get Occam's Razor down to two hangs!  On both routes, progress comes slowly so any improvement is welcome.

Friday, we packed up and headed over to Natural Bridge to spend a couple days on some projects.  I had tried Isla de los Locos (13d) last weekend and was really impressed.  This route is as good as anything out there, so I was really psyched to get back on it.  Jess had a couple of easier 12s she wanted to get done and also wanted to work on Pageant of the Transmundane (12c). We warmed up and I hung draws on Donkey Kong (12a).  Jess had been on it the weekend before and was able to send it first go of the day!  It was a battle and was probably the most inspirational bit of climbing I've seen in a long time!  After that, it was time to get on the Locos.  When I tried it last week, I figured out most of the moves, but there was a section in the middle that I could not figure out.  On my second go of the day, my knee randomly slotted into a kneebar and the move became clear to me.  At this point I figured I could put this route together, however it started raining and I decided to wait until the next day.  Jess was able to get all the moves figured out on Lion's Den (12a) and then we called it a day.

We woke up on Saturday to blue skies and we were psyched.  We warmed up and then Jess sent Lion's Den first go of the day.  I got on the Locos and made it part way through the crux only to flame out.  My second go was a little rushed and didn't go well.  After Jess did a little more climbing, I got back on and fired it off!  This is such a beautiful route and is definately the best thing I've done in Montana.  Nice work Kyle!  There are a couple of other bolted lines to the left that look really good and a couple of other potential lines that need to get bolted.

Isla de los Locos (13d)
Jess gave some good tries on Pageant in the afternoon and I took it easy and climbed a couple of easy slabs.

On Sunday, apparently we hadn't had enough, so we headed back up to the Cube.  I think we were both feeling pretty worked being 4th day on, but what the hell.  We warmed up on Uber Ass and then I got on Occam's Razor.  Amazingly, I didn't feel too bad and two hung it.  On my second go, I fell off midway through the crux and then got back on and finished the route for my first one hang.  My third try was as close as you can get to sending.  I made it to the last clip, which I think is the hardest single move on the route, and just didn't have it in me, so I grabbed the draw.  I've got the top pretty dialed, so it wasn't too bad to get another one hang.  I did try it one more time, but it was pretty worthless.  Jess also had a great day and one-hung Strawman a couple of times.  She's really close and I think she's going to get it very soon.

Today is a rest day as we're both feeling pretty worked.  We leave on Saturday morning for a week of hanging out on the beach in Michigan, so we're both hoping to put these projects to rest before we leave!

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