Friday, April 19th
Friday, April 19th, I went climbing with Johnny for the first time. Johnny has the habit of showing up everywhere Ethan and I are. We met him at Stover last fall and recognized his nickname from gunks.com. Then we went to Potrero Chico in Mexico in February, and there he was. Then we saw him at the Gunks this season, at Bacchus for dinner, at the campground, at the diner for breakfast, at Bacchus for dinner again! So instead of getting a restraining order for this stalker, I figured we might as well just go climb together!
It was an unseasonably warm day - in the mid 80's. Would have been great, but the forecast threatened thunderstorms in the afternoon, so we did a short one - the first pitch of "Pas de Deux" (5.8). Nice thin face climbing, very enjoyable. We timed it wisely, the wind picked up while I was climbing it, and by the time I got off rappell, the raindrops started. We threw our gear together, luckily had rain jackets, and strolled in the downpour to Doug's Roof to wait it out. The t-storms had shown up earlier than they predicted.
We ran into Tim and Rick, and when the rocks dried enough, Tim set up a top rope on "Squiggles Direct" (5.10) for us to play on. There was some whining about wet shoes - it's a tough start after it rains because there's a big puddle right at the base. We had fun playing on it, I managed to get up the thing without any problems, despite the fact that I had completely forgotten the starting moves since the last time I climbed it last fall. Thin, balancy - the trick that worked for me is to layback the thing as long as possible before facing the rock, and to start the layback with the left hand.
More thunderstorms, hanging out waiting for drying, more turns on "Squiggles Direct", more rain - by around 4pm it wasn't worth waiting for it to dry, so we gave up and went to the Gilded Otter for some beer and meeting up with gunks.com folks.
It was quite the gathering, we met many gunks.com folks, more than who's in the pictures. Some others who were there: Hensley (Leemouse2), Rob (RangerRob), Tim (browndog2)... I know there's more, who did I forget? Johnny complained that he never met a Vulgarian before, so I called my Vulgarian friend Al, who lives in New Paltz, and he came down and joined us for some brewskis. Eventually we moved outside on to the deck and continued drinking, being silly, and watching the stupid human tricks performed by Johnny and Graham. It was a very fun evening! Made lots of new friends!
Sunday, April 21th
Saturday was a rainy day, we spent it doing errands and visiting friends. Saturday night, Ethan drove up so we could climb on Sunday while Jonathan took the kids for the day and hung out with friends. Turned out to be a very nice day. We decided to climb "Maria" (5.6) first, I was going to lead it. However, another party had already started up the shared start with "Frogs Head". I eyed the "Maria Direct" 5.9 variation. I'm not a 5.9 leader, but I was feeling pretty confident, and it looked like only the first few moves were difficult, the rest looked easy. I got up the nerve to lead it. I just felt like it. Seeing that the start was difficult, I asked Ethan to spot me. I quickly did not feel so confident anymore and didn't have a good stance to put in the first piece of pro - a huge horizontal handhold and I happened to grab it in a shallow spot. I was thinking a controlled fall right now would probably be better than me trying to flail into a better stance and falling unexpectedly, so I yelled to Ethan to catch, and off I went. Scared the sh_t out of him. Me too! But since he's tall and I wasn't far up, he only really needed to push my butt back towards the rock and I managed to get back into control. I got a better stance, clipped the pin and moved quickly. If it was a better stance when I wasn't so nervous I would have backed up the pin, but it looked pretty good and I had to move quickly because the rock was steep and I have crappy arm endurance. I went through the difficult moves as fast as I could, no good stances for pro. Ethan reminded me twice that I was high enough above the pin to make groundfall. I really didn't want to be reminded of that when I was in a difficult section! As soon as I got to a stance, I put in a piece. PHEW! The rest of the pitch was easy. I had done it. I led a 5.9 pitch. It wasn't pretty, but I made it, and remembered that I am not a 5.9 leader, and don't have any ambition to be one right away. Ethan's pinched nerve was making his arm weak and I was surprised that he took a fall at those hard beginning moves. It's certainly within his ability, he was just having a bad day. Man, it was definitely NOT comfortable holding his fall when he's at least 50 pounds more than I am. Made mental note to always try to put in a directional when belaying him as a second.
The second pitch of "Maria" was very enjoyable - easy climbing up the corner, lots of pro. Still getting used to those double ropes. Ethan led the 3rd pitch, which has a funky overhang. Overhangs always intimidate me, and I was happy to have him lead that pitch - I would have been nervous leading those moves. He had a good laugh that I led the hard 5.9 pitch that he fell on, and then I was intimidated by the 5.6 overhang.
After "Maria", we climbed P1 of "Asphodel" (5.5), which I recall climbing many years ago and not liking. The first pitch is a corner, which isn't too bad. While I was climbing it, Johnny showed up - he was actually stalking me on purpose this time, I had left a camalot in his car trunk and he wanted to return it before he left. Jules and her friends passed by as well. My guidebook notes for P2 said "dirty, grass, yucky, moss, dirt, yuk, yuk, yuk". So we declined doing P2 and decided to quit early. Ethan's shoulder and arm were really bothering him. We met up with my buddy Cheryl and her friend Griffin for dinner at the Brauhaus. Our favorite Spaten Octoberfest beer! Yum! Then back into town so I could meet up with Jonathan and the kids. Not a very productive day, but I did lead a 5.9 pitch and live to tell about it!