Weekend fun at Echo

I've been trying to find some strong women to climb with, mostly because it's a form of climbing partnership I've never tried that I think would work well. So when the chance to head out to Echo Cliffs with Eileen (aka @rockgrrl), who designed the awesome bag I take to work every day, presented itself, I jumped on it. Ben and I had visited Echo last May, and it had been hot and oppressive. We'd ticked a few climbs in the Grotto and retreated. My friend Max, an excellent Italian climber, had raved about the place, but we hadn't had a chance to find the climbs he'd been raving about. In retrospect, they would have been in the sun, so it's just as well. Eileen, Kelly, Peter and I headed to the Java wall where we were joined by Matt. It was really crowded, but patience paid off and pretty soon we were nearly alone and enjoying ourselves. I followed Morning Glory (9) to get my head straight, then cruised Bushwhacked (8) and a B-line (10a). I was fascinated by Black Tide (9) on a black streak in a corner, and can't wait to go back and give it a go. It was a bit hot, and I was with new people so I didn't especially try to tick the maximum number of routes possible. Also Pete could use a ride back to Oxnard early, so I obliged. In any case, I can't wait to go back and jump on Black Tide, and maybe also work the 11s on the Java wall if someone can set the toprope. Eileen just posted a quick post with pics!

Request for Beta: Mt. Erasmus in Alberta, Canada

Mt. Erasmus
Originally uploaded by slampoud

Last fall I was in Banff for a conference, and then I took a couple days off and backpacked the trail to Glacier Lake. Just as you approach the lake, off to the right is this absolutely stunning mountain, which my map identified as Mt. Erasmus. It's really steep and seems to have all sorts of imposing dihedrals.

I'm going back to Banff in September 2011 and I thought that might be a good opportunity to try to climb the beast. So I've been searching for information, and, surprisingly, there's very very little to be found. My friend Alex helped me locate a reference to an ascent of the north face by Tom Thomas and Gil McCormick. There's is also a trip report on the Ayers/Oberlin route on bivouac.com, but we don't have the necessary membership to access it.

If you have a membership that could get us access to the above TR, or know anything about the mountain, or could put me in touch with someone who does, I would be very grateful! There are at least two very over-excited Southern Californians roaring to climb it!

Request for Beta: Thorn Point

Thorn Pt from Sespe Creek trail
Originally uploaded by slampoud

Alli and I recently went on a hike on the Sespe Creek trail, heading East from the Piedra Blanca trailhead. Since I have a new camera with a crazy zoom, I was able to satisfy my curiosity by taking close-ups of a crag Ben and I had noticed on that hike before. As seen from just past the trailhead, I believe that this is Thorn Point. It looks like a big white slab.

Thorn Pt from Sespe Creek trail #2
Originally uploaded by slampoud

As you continue down the trail, though, its side becomes visible, and you can tell that the angle of the slab is quite low. Nevertheless, the stuff on the side of the slab, which in shadow in this second picture, looks like it might be tall enough to offer some climbing possibilities.

The map reveals that there is a fire watchtower at the top of Thorn Pt, and a ~3 mile trail takes you there from its back side. So I'm thinking I'll grab camping gear and scout it out, and, if it looks promising, come back and climb it some time. Does anyone have any information on the place?

Playing catchup on holiday posts -- Malibu Creek

I hadn't been to Malibu Creek since I was a beginner last year, so when my San Diego sport climbing buddies invited me, I was definitely game. As it turns out, the drive is only just over an hour long from SB, which makes it the closest quality crag to home. When I arrived at the park entrance, I stopped to pay the fee and stalled the car. Then I started driving away before getting my change back. On the 20 second drive to the parking lot I decided I probably wasn't in any kind of mental shape to be leading -- residual alcohol poisoning from New Year's Eve? Making the decision in advance helped keep the rest of the day enjoyable. My mentor from San Diego led everything and I seconded. We did a 9, an 8, a couple 10a's and a 10b. I was tempted to try the 11a on the Apes wall, but it was already getting dark by then. The next day my forearms were pretty pumped, which was new. I can't think of the last time I had sore forearms a whole day after climbing! In any case, I got my gym membership yesterday, so I'll work on remedying that.

Playing catchup on holiday posts -- Christmas

Christmas was unexpectedly awesome this year! Dan took 4 days off and we hit the Eastern Sierra. I was all for camping at the pinyon forest, but he doesn't have a winter down bag, and my 4 season tent is really a 1.5 person tent, which gets old if I run into real weather and have to not touch the walls. I have a plan for turning our 2-person 3-season into a 4-season, but in this case, we decided to be posh and get a room. After a bit of looking around, I decided we should stay at Tom's Place Lodge, halfway in-between Bishop (where my heart lives year round) and Mammoth, where Dan's interest in skiing was likely to be focused.

Dan wanted to get some skiing in. I, on the other hand, have never skied in my life. So I figured, we'd best get that out of the way and go on the first day. We headed up to Mammoth, rented skis, got lift tickets for three beginner slopes, and Dan taught me how to A-frame, make turns and all that good stuff. He started me out with poles, instead of without, which I'm told is the custom, and I think, in retrospect that was a mistake. When we tried a slope that was half a level of difficulty harder than the bunny hill before it, I got going too fast for comfort. Climber that I am, I figured I'd better fall. And fall I did, but I forgot one leg behind me and something on the back of my left knee (the one that messed up our trip to Bart Dome in summer? that one) popped. Nevermind. Got back up to try it again, same story. Fall I did, and this time my left wrist (the one that spent a few weeks in a brace over the summer? that one) got wrenched by the pole, which I tried to use to control my speed. At that point I decided I'd probably be paying for those two re-injuries for weeks, so it might be a good time to stop. Dan did a couple more runs and we called it a day, with me deciding that in skiing it's safer to keep going until you can slow down than to fall.

We had a great Christmas dinner and whole bunch more fun, which I won't go into details about. What does belong in a climbing blog, however, was the fact that I took us down the gully descent into Owen's River Gorge with snow and ice on the ground. We had no poles, and in retrospect, probably shouldn't have gone. It was quite slippery.

On our last day we decided to break up the driving a bit by stopping to climb at the Alabama Hills. We went to the corridors and did a couple really easy slab climbs on very very bad granite, and an arete 5.6 that I'd been warned was "spicy", but somehow hadn't registered the fact. It was a little worse than spicy, in my opinion. I'm pretty sure I've never had to take on a 6 before! In any case, it was a blast, and I'm stoked to have the "Bishop Area Rock climbs" guide book as a result!

New Jack City again

A couple weekends ago I hit NJC, planning to meet up with my friend Francis and his peeps. Indeed I found plenty of SD meetup folk when I arrived, but Francis was nowhere in sight. I proceeded to climb with Bob at the Boyscout Wall. I led an 8, and then we toproped 10d, 10b, 10a and 9. They were all great climbs. I flailed on the 10d, but didn't fall on the rest of them, although the 9 felt a lot harder than any 9 has a right to feel. Also I froze my butt off. Late in the day we headed over to Raven, where, lo and behold, Francis was. He put me on a toprope on Candy-O, which I had foolishly said looked cool during our previous visit. I found a way to bypass the lower crux (going left), and fought out the top crux. After half a dozen falls I made it to the chains! That's pretty good, given that I've never even been on a 11b climb in the past.

Gaps

It's incredible ... the gaps that sometimes gape open in this blog really make me think.

The last month has been a whirlwind of activity, as I moved from San Diego, land of awesome granite, to Santa Barbara, land of shitty sandstone. I haven't had a chance to climb in 3 weeks, and I'm sure it will show immediately when I next try to climb. Santa Barbara has three, but really two, climbing walls. There's the one at the Rec Cen at UCSB, which is newer. There's an outdoor wall at the Goleta Valley Athletic Club, which I fully intend to check out, since Dan has a membership there through work. Then there's one at my favorite store in town, Santa Barbara outfitters, but I've never seen a proper route set on it, ever. This third one makes me sad and I wish I could do something about it...

So the gaps I was talking about, they're not even ones in the last three weeks. I'm referring to two or three climbing trips in October and November that went altogether un-logged. First there was Halloween in JTree, with the San Diego meetup folks. Then there was the #jtreetweetup, with my new internet friends. Both were different from the sort of trip I'm used to taking, and I think both went un-logged and un-remarked largely because of that. I haven't digested them, and they feel a bit fragile and special, and I don't want to go there. So I won't. The second trip, in any case, has been "reported" on by the aforementioned friends.

In other news, I finally caved, and during last week's Metolius promotion I ordered the set of free TCUs. That gives me a fairly complete rack, except for the mega sizes. I can't wait to use them!