Today is our last day of climbing. We headed back to the Owen’s River Gorge! Yay! We started at the Great Wall of China and warmed up on two long 5.9 routes. Names are forgotten (actually, never known). They were very good and any new 5.9 leader should be really proud for sending them. I imagine these climbs are the scene of many new leader meltdowns!
We next moved over to a 5.10a climb. I am still not certain I buy the crux moves on this route as 5.10a, but that is what the first ascentionist deemed. Dave next headed up a 5.10b Peter Croft route. It was long and the top a bit more than 10b would suggest. I saw later on a rock climbing site that it has been been uprated to a 10c. Given the crack nature of this route, I opted out happily.
By now the sun was creeping upon us so we retreated to a shady spot in the river and had lunch. We also conclusively identified the stinging plant - a stinging nettle I think - there. Dang that plant really hurts! I think the newer leaves are even worse.
After some lounging, we walked to the Faulty Tower Wall. Here we did two 5.10s. The other is The first was good (Lalaland, I think), though the roof move too powerful for me. The second route – Perched – was one of the two best pitches on the trip in my opinion. It was long, powerful, overhanging and just simply awesome! We then finished the day on a 10b crimp-fest called Crash Landing. I saw that it was later upgraded to 11a! It was very fun, though clearly very sequential. There are no more holds on that climb than are needed. Very fun!
We then hiked out, headed back to camp and enjoyed our last vacation happy hour, pizza, and watching the sun set. We spent the remainder of the evening getting the trailer ready for the drive home and got to bed a wee bit early.
Today is our last day of climbing. We headed back to the Owen’s River Gorge! Yay! We started at the Great Wall of China and warmed up on two long 5.9 routes. Names are forgotten (actually, never known). They were very good and any new 5.9 leader should be really proud for sending them. I imagine these climbs are the scene of many new leader meltdowns!
We next moved over to a 5.10a climb. I am still not certain I buy the crux moves on this route as 5.10a, but that is what the first ascentionist deemed. Dave next headed up a 5.10b Peter Croft route. It was long and the top a bit more than 10b would suggest. I saw later on a rock climbing site that it has been been uprated to a 10c. Given the crack nature of this route, I opted out happily.
By now the sun was creeping upon us so we retreated to a shady spot in the river and had lunch. We also conclusively identified the stinging plant - a stinging nettle I think - there. Dang that plant really hurts! I think the newer leaves are even worse.
After some lounging, we walked to the Faulty Tower Wall. Here we did two 5.10s. The other is The first was good (Lalaland, I think), though the roof move too powerful for me. The second route – Perched – was one of the two best pitches on the trip in my opinion. It was long, powerful, overhanging and just simply awesome! We then finished the day on a 10b crimp-fest called Crash Landing. I saw that it was later upgraded to 11a! It was very fun, though clearly very sequential. There are no more holds on that climb than are needed. Very fun!
We then hiked out, headed back to camp and enjoyed our last vacation happy hour, pizza, and watching the sun set. We spent the remainder of the evening getting the trailer ready for the drive home and got to bed a wee bit early.
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