To the Bluey's!!

To the Blueys!!

After leaving Yamba, I made a short (unsuccessful) jaunt back up to Lennox/ Ballina in search of some waves. The waves weren't great but I at least got wet a few times. I also watched the dismal superbowl at some semi empty bar in Lennox. In the end it was nice to cruise around and say farewell to the beautiful stretch of coast that is Northern New South Wales.

Next, I made my way down the Pacific Highway looking for surf here and there but not finding much. I did, however, end up wandering into some more pretty spectacular empty beaches. On the way down I decided to take a side trip up to the mountains above Coffs Harbor which are home to the 'Dorrigo World Heritage Rainforest'. It was a rainy rainforest indeed. Nevertheless, I went on a very unique and enjoyable hike through a wonderfully lush prehistoric jungle. The trees were giant, very green and ancient with a thick canopy that was home to all kinds of birds and apparently a few pythons. There was a 'skywalk' through the canopy where I saw plenty of birds, but unfortunately no pythons (probably because they are nocturnal). On the forest floor we spotted a few wallabees, many lizards and turkeys and I forget what else. This forest was definitely crawling with critters, which was pretty cool. Eventually our track took us past a few pretty cool waterfalls, the swimming holes at the base looked nice for a hot day, but this day was not. I did decide to get up close and personal with the running waterfall only to discover that there were leeches everywhere! These little suckers are harmless, yet every bit as gross as you might imagine. They intently stick on to you and suck your blood. When you try and flick them off, they kinda flex and stick straight out before curling back up into a little goo-ball that are stuck to your legs. When you eventually do flick em off, you bleed for longer than you feel like you should due to some anti-coagulants in their suckers. Gross!

After my Rainforest tour I swung through Sydney to meet up with my friend Marie from college. Marie is a French transplant who is loving the Sydney life and was 'keen' to show me around the Bluies. We caught up and ate dinner at her place; she was nice enough to let me take a (necessary) shower and crash on her comfy futon. Bright and early the next morning we made the pleasant and remarkably quick drive into the Blue mountains. It's really amazing how quickly you go from urban to full on 'bush' in Australia. In no more than half an hour, we were out of the suburbs of Sydney and winding our way up into the mountains passing a few interesting small towns along the way.

On the drive I was surprised that I didn't see a whole lot in the way of cliffs... Shoot is this place over hyped? Is it just not that extensive an area? WRONG!! Turns out the highway and most of the roads are on a large plateau from which the 'escarpments' plunge away into deep and wide canyons. As Marie led the way down a short and very well maintained trail/rock-staircase (did I mention the Aussies don't mess around when it comes to breaking trail?), it quickly became abundantly clear that this place was holding the goods, and a LOT of it. These escarpments consist of tall gently overhanging orange and grey sandstone cliffs which are amazingly featured and contain some fantastic gritty rock. I would describe the rock here as a hybrid of the sandstone at the Red River Gorge in Kentucky and the good varnished stuff at Joshua Tree. If that sounds amazing to you, that's because it is. It's like this stuff was made to be climbed on!

I was determined to have an easy day of climbing with Marie, but alas I failed. It's just really hard not to get pumped silly here. The lines are steep, featured and inspiring. The climbing is a great mixture of technical vertical climbing, pumpy overhangs and thuggy roofes. Edges, pinches, sidepulls and pockets, you'll find em all and probably on the same pitch. My mind is officially blown. I may never leave here.

After flailing around with a patient Marie belaying me, I checked into the Blue Mountains Backpackers in Katoomba where I a met few Aussie guys who were going cragging the next couple of days. I joined their excursion and ended up at an epic soaring sport crag called 'Upper Shipley's'. The money routes in my grade range consisted of about 50 feet of awesome techy vertical climbing leading to a nice rest on a horizontal break before launching out into the steeps on amazing edges and jugs. I felt thoroughly out of shape and got pumped out of my mind way too quickly. Fortunately, I left the weekend with a few projects and plenty of psyche to get back in shape!

At Shipley's, I met my new homie/climbing partner for the next couple weeks called Dominic. Dom is from Canada, and is young, energetic and climbs hard. He's taking a couple years to travel the world before starting university (which I think is a phenomenal idea!). He's living out of a backpack which has: a tent, a rope, quickdraws and a lot of cans of tuna and not a whole lot else. Frankly, I thought I had this dirtbag climber thing pretty dialed, but Dom is on a whole 'nother level. I'm camped out in the parking lot at Shipley's and his tent is pitched nearly at the crag. We've been climbing pretty much every day, sometimes working out afterwards before cooking cheap, healthy and delicious meals on our stoves. I'm spending pretty much zero dollars and having the most fun I've had on the trip so far. Check out the edit and a few photos of my first week of climbing in OZ! (The other/ more badass climber in the vid is Dom)

 http://youtu.be/FSzKJ8SlBQo (this works now)

Three sisters

Upper and Lower Shipley's

Crags for days

Thuggy sportclimbing

A close-up of the goods

Wave Wall

Leaving Yamba

My time in Yamba and Northern NSW is drawing to a close. It is with much hesitation that I leave this famous stretch of coast. My job prospects in Yamba dried up since tourist season (the school holidays) ended and I've had my fill of the frustratingly fickle waves. Still, I won't forget the many fun super fun surfs I've had at the Yamba beaches in the warm and sometimes crystal clear water. Also I won't forget all of the awesome people I've met in the hostel and around town.

The Yamba-life was pretty simple: I surfed when there were waves and ate (cheap noodles and eggs), drank (too much beer) and slept when there's not. Oh, and I played a lot of ping pong. I'll say this: life was good when were are waves. No wonder all the Yamba/Angourie locals ripped; surfing is all that keeps ya sane! In some ways I could have stayed forever: working on some melanoma and learning to rip the shit out of every ripple that hits the shore. Alas, I think my job ending was a good opportunity to get out of Dodge and see some more of the country (and maybe climb some rocks!).

My last week in Yamba:

• I celebrated Australia day by surfing Angourie point and then getting drunk in the big hostel garage with a bunch of foreigners and locals. Everyone got thrown into an inflatable kiddie pool at least once. We played beer pong, we danced, we sang. It was good times.
• I waited out a dreary rainy flat spell for 5 whole days. I read books, watched movies (including one about Steve Jobs) and started learning how to program (after watching the movie about Steve Jobs). This is when I decided I needed to leave town.
• A bit of swell hit so I stayed an extra couple days. I saw the most amazing surfing I've ever seen by a local at a dredging shallow sandbar at Main Beach. This guy was taking off late, getting barreled, landing airs and ripping the sickest turns I've ever seen all in perfect effortless style. I feel like I say this every day, but 'Damn, there are some rippers here'. Like my buddy Dave says: “It's like they're doing a different sport”.
• Lastly, I partied like a rockstar on my last night at 'The Pub'. 'The Pub' is situated cliffside, above Main Beach and has a balcony with epic views. There was an awesome band doing covers of Sublime, the Chili Peppers, etc. I had a blast; I didn't wake up for the dawn patrol the next morning.

As I write this, I'm on a final tour of the Lennox/Ballina coast before I head south (with a few stops) to the Blue Mountains. Wish me luck in scoring just a few more good waves for the memory banks ;)

PS: I apologize for not taking more photos in the last month. I don't really have a good excuse, but I hope these give you a taste of the Yamba-life!

Main Beach's North End

The view from the Main Beach 'Surf Check' parking lot

This is what I hope to see at sunrise every day. Clean lines and offshores at Pippi's Beach

Backpackers doing the 'rock off' at turners

Gettin' back to Yamba

Hey guys!

After my time in Murwullumbah hiking Mt. Warning and cookin delicious food, I decided to head south in search of waves and work. I backtracked through Byron Bay and Lennox Head. There was a bit of swell in the water so I decided to try my luck at Lennox. It was a bit bumpy but looked like there were some fun rides to be had.

The low tide 'rock off' lived up to it's reputation. Getting into the water at many of the point breaks here in East Oz is a bit tricky. The 'rock off' involves hopping from one slick barnicle covered boulder to another all the way down to the waters edge where the surf pounds said boulders. You find a semi-stable perch as close to the impact zone as you can and wait for a wave to wash you off and hope a couple of duckdives will see you through to the line up. Unfortunately, the success rate is not 100%. I got to a good perch waited for a wave, jumped over it and began paddling. Before I could make it out past the rocks, another wave came and sucked the water below me out and left me beached on the boulders. I ditched my board and dove through the oncoming wave. I was genuinely grateful that my board was not in two pieces. In fact it wasn't even all that banged up, but a fin had come loose, so I had to find my way into shore immediately to save my fin. Sure enough getting out of the water is every bit as difficult as getting in. I got pounded, lost my fin, and cut my feet on barnacles while scrambling out of the impact zone. All that and I caught zero waves... Gnar Gnar. Luckily I found a replacement fin for just ten bucks at a second hand shop in Byron. I made my way back to Lennox for an afternoon surf at a higher tide. This time I was a bit more successful with the rock off and made it in and out whilst keeping board and body in one piece. I managed to get a few fun waves to boot!

After my surf I decided to keep heading south to a small surf town called Yamba. I knew there were some good waves in the area and a Mexican restaurant. After a couple weeks of hot damp nights, being flea and mosquito bitten in the back of my car, I was in desperate need of a shower, laundry and a burrito. I rolled into town just in the nick of time as a sudden thunderstorm the night before had left me sleeping in a puddle in my car. I checked into the Yamba backpacker hostel, cleaned myself up, stuffed myself silly and slept like a baby in clean sheets.

I poked around town and found myself a gig working the bar at the Mexican place across the street from my hostel. My first 'trial' night was hectic; I've never worked so fast and hard in my life. Bar work is no joke! Despite dropping a tray of drinks, they called me back for a second night and then a third so I'm pretty sure I work there now...

During the days, I've explored the local beaches and now and then scored some pretty fun beach break surf. The water here is clear blue and warm. The waves break on shallow sandbars that you can see below the surface while you are sitting in the lineup. When the swell is clean and solid, the dolphins come out to play.

The other day, I worked a hectic late shift, and knocked back a bunch of beers afterwards. I woke up at 5:45am the next morning to drive 90 mins north to Ballina to take a coworker to the airport. For the whole drive I felt pretty terrible, but after dropping him off I willed myself to take a look at the beach. I got lost a couple of times but eventually stumbled upon some cliffs overlooking a surf spot called 'North Wall'. This stretch of sand between the jetty and the cliffs is famously consistent, and on this day it was pumping! Overhead wedges would slowly form up out of deep water and pretty much hang there, until they hit a nice shallow sandbar where they promptly bowled and barreled.

It's amazing how much my mind and body are affected and improved when the surf is good. I quickly stretched out, and jogged a trail down to the beach. I jumped in and the first duck dive, cleared not only my sinuses but my mind as well. As some of you might know, since landing I've been filled with doubts about this trip. I invested so much time, money etc. to get here, that when the surf isn't good or when I'm dirty and bug bitten in the back of my wagon, I feel like a dirty lonely bum; I feel like I'm blowing it here. After 20 or so duckdives, I made it to the lineup; I wasn't thinking about anything except catching a wave, and that I did :). I surfed for hours, working out how deep I could take off behind the teepee's coming in. Learning how and when to drive of the bottom to crack the lip. I blew a lot of waves, but found myself learning a ton and trying new things. Watching the other surfers here is really eye opening. The good ones surf with such power and flow. The make it look so easy, but it's because they are always on balance and driving the board to right part of the wave. It's all about technique, timing and positioning.

After a couple hours the wind started puffing onshore and making the waves sloppy. I finally got out and drove a few miles up the coast to Lennox where I ate a meat pie, a coffee and a pastry. The point looked no good, which was fair enough since I was tired. But then on my way back south I passed Sharpie beach which at first didn't look like much, a bit bumpy and onshore. I caught out of the corner of my eye, a guy pumping down the line and laying into a big hack. Before I knew it, I was paddling out to join the fun. The waves weren't nearly as good as North Wall in the morning but still very surfable and fun. I surfed until I couldn't paddle any more. I came back from Ballina sunburnt and exhausted yet refreshed and excited for more.

Hopefully between now and the next post I'll have some pictures of Yamba-life for you guys :)

OZ part 2 - Northward to Queensland!

Hey Everybody!

Just wanted to update you guys on the last couple weeks. Since we left off in Newcastle, I made my way up the Pacific Highway to the Gold Coast near Brisbane to bring in the New Year. I was a little bit sick, but managed to get a few surfs in along the way. Most of the drive you are buried in the bush (thick groves of "gumtrees" or eucalyptus) except for the seemingly frequent crossings of beautiful wide rivers where the view opens up a bit. When you do stray from the highway to have a look at a beach, it is almost always a beautiful golden crescent of sand. The Aussies have no shortage of amazing beach! For the most part the drive was hot, damp and very buggy which is a recurring theme thus far.

My initial plans were to meet up with a friend from home in Brisbane for New Years Eve, but those fell through so I booked a hostel for a few nights in Coolangatta, a famous surf zone. To my surprise this was the sleepy end of the Gold Coast and all of the action was down in 'Surfers Paradise' which is not where the waves are ironically. This was fine by me and I was able to wring in the new year not once but twice, since Coolangatta sits on the border of NSW and Queensland and there is a 1 hr time difference between the two. This meant two firework shows! The most fun part of the night happened when I wandered into a 'surf club' filled with older folks and a live band. One older lady in particular took me under her wing as her 'date' and introduced me to all of her friends. They were a lively ol' bunch, making jokes dancing and singing. Definitely cheered me up on what was shaping up to be a rather lonely NYE.

After a few days of unsuccessful job hunting, I decided to go do some exploring. I found this amazing waterslide setup while cruising around with no destination in particular. Forgive me for making an edit, I have a little too much time on my hands...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTHEBM_R5QM

I met a lovely couple while taking a dip in the Tweed River. They invited me in for coffee and we had a long and nice chat. I asked them where the river started and they pointed out Mt. Warning in the skyline inland of their place. I figured there must be an awesome hike to the top so I drove to a campground at the base and tried to get some sleep before hiking it the next day.

Apparently I didn't pick a great day to do it. After a miserable nights sleep getting eaten by mozzies and fleas in the heat, I woke up much later than I intended and set off on the hike. At 8am it was hot, by 9 it was hotter. By the time I got to the top of the hike around 10:30 the temps were approaching 100 for sure. The high that day was 106. I sweat gallons on the way up, it was impossible to drink enough water. But I survived and it turned out to be a pretty fun day. The mountain is part of a rain forest. So the hike was through thick groves of big beautiful trees with lush canopy and vines. Saw lots of birds and bugs, unfortunately missed the 8 foot pythons that are rumored to wander onto the trail from time to time. I grabbed a few photos along the way:

At the top

In the heat

Cool trees in the forest

Sunset on the peak

The only thing I wanted to do when I got down was get into the ocean ASAP. I drove straight to the nearest beach. One I'd never heard of called Cabarita Beach. Much to my surprise, the North Wind that had been blowing the surf out for two days had kicked up a bit of windswell. I surfed the beach break and it was pretty junky, but then the wind switched to the South and I drove up to the headland to discover a nice looking point setup. The wind was side offshore, waves were about 3-4 feet, there were lefts but mostly rights and a gang of people out of all sizes and shapes. Teenage girls, old dudes, local rippers and everyone was out and having a good time. I was worn out from my hike and previous surf but I had to get in and join the fun. I loved it and ended up surfing the leftover north swell there for the couple days.

I headed inland to the lovely town of Murwullumby or something, to watch the 9ers play one morning. I knew they would have the channel at Mc Donalds so I booked it there first thing in the morning to watch the game. I watched the second half at a lovely bar across the road overlooking the Tweed River. I couldn't believe how clear the water was and how many fish I could see! After the game and some job hunting at the library I enjoyed some post thunderstorm twilight and a fish n shrimp dinner on the banks of the tweed. The light was just amazing, no photoshop required!

After my day in Murwullumby, I was inspired to buy a fishing rod and reel. I managed to break my reel on my first cast. Despite this setback, I managed to catch my first fish moments later, broken reel and all. Granted it was all of about 4 inches long, I was stoked nonetheless. That's all for now! Will update once I've found a job or flown to thailand or something.

Cheers,
Colin

Oz Part 1 - The Arrival

I've been in Australia for two weeks; time for an update!

With an adventure such as this (a trip to a new country - solo, no plan, shallow budget) I should have expected some miscues and wrong turns. Instead I arrived expecting things just to work out. I thought 'If I'm on it when I arrive, I should be on the road with a good van by day 3'. Not so fast...

I arrived day one and got right to business: I checked into a hostel (booked just a couple of nights), opened an aussie bank account and requested a 'wire transfer'. I even enquired about a few vans that I found on the inter web. Over the next few days I patiently awaited my money, and test drove a few very livable vans. Without cash in hand I thought it imprudent to enter into a haggle with any owners and a couple of my most viable options were sold on without me.  After this I would book a few more nights, schlep the 120lbs of shit I brought with me a couple of blocks down to the next available hostel, and then go eat some $20 meal and drink a $6 beer (or three). This cycle repeated itself for a full two weeks before my car money money arrived…probably the most expensive two weeks of my life. And I still hadn't gotten a surf or a climb in. Damn you e-Trade!! 

Then, at last on christmas eve, my money arrived. At this point I was ready to buy any car that would get me and all of my shit of Sydney. With no van's in my budget on my radar, I pulled the trigger on Sheela here. Not exactly my dream van, but I think with some work on the interior, and hopefully just an oil change, she'll be just fine.

I celebrated, partied, and spent another small fortune on Xmas eve. I woke up early Xmas day after very little sleep to check out of my hostel and move my car. After a couple hours napping it became clear that my hostel friends were bailing on the drive up the coast to Brisbane, so I set off on my own. After 4 hrs of heavy traffic and pouring rain I arrived to a deserted Newcastle. Even McDonalds was closed. I couldn't get wifi to chat with my parents or Cari on Xmas... how depressing. Just when I was about to give up on the day I caught a glimpse of the water and thought I better have a look. Here's what I found:

Now obviously, this ain't no 8foot Banzai Pipeline, or even clean 4 foot OB, but I was soooo out there!! I spent a couple of hours taking steep drops into shoulder high wedges and barrels. Got a few turns in as well. The other surfers in the water were definitely a skilled bunch, and weren't afraid to break your bubble when competing for a wave. I managed to steer clear of any trouble but I can definitely see good days around here being a pretty fierce competition for waves. Feeling pretty pleased I rinsed off in the rain and a beachside shower. 

One of the better rippers out said hello and after hearing my Xmas night plans he took pity on me and invited me to his place for a beer. Sam was his name. He was 24. His place, was a one room house adjacent to his parents that he had built himself. Inside he had about 10 paper thin shortboards scattered about various racks and a few well worn big wave guns that he had taken back from a stint in Hawaii. He's a carpenter and a sign maker, he surfs every day, he's surfed everywhere that's good, he surfs better than you do. We spent about an hour talking surf; I broke out my atlas and he pointed out all the good waves he cared to share between Newcastle and Byron. After that, he said he needed a nap, and I went on my merry way. 

After getting kicked out of a deserted parking garage while making a PB&J, I found a secluded nook of suburbia and crawled into the tight crawlspace in the back of Sheela. I got a miserable nights sleep, being pestered by a mosquito, breathing stuffy moist air. I woke up sick with a nasty sore throat and continued north. Will things turn around for Colin and Sheela? Stay tuned…

Red Rocks

Sorry for the long break. I've been pretty busy in the last couple of weeks. As most of you know I've already arrived in Australia. I'm busy getting settled and planning the rest of my trip here. More details to come on that! For now I want to share a little bit more from my last month in the states. All in all, this was a really good fall :)

After Zion, I made my way to one of my favorite climbing destinations anywhere: Red Rocks near Las Vegas. The climbing and scenery is great and the conditions are pretty splitter year round. Thanks to my new buddy Matt Clark I managed to crash and climb here for about two whole weeks before heading back to the bay via Bishop and Tahoe.

My trip to RR started out with a bit of sport climbing with Ale and Melissa. I was psyched to finally get out to the 'Sunny and Steep' crag which has one of the best concentrations of 5.11 to 12- sport climbing I've ever seen. The main wall here is super steep with big moves between killer jugs and finger buckets.  After a sweaty warmup the conditions improved and I was very stoked to get a flash on Mr.Choad's Wild Ride (11b). Ale managed a last ditch red point of the namesake Sunny and Steep (12a) just as the sun was going down (I pretty much got spanked on the same climb). Nice work amigo!

Ale Crushes Mr. Choad's Wild Ride

After this, I spent a few days cruising some moderate trad routes with Matt. Armatron, Dark Shadows, Straight Shooter were some of the standout routes. It was great to get a bunch of mileage under my belt and get a feel for placing gear in the soft sandstone.

Matt @ Brownstone wall with Nightcrawler above his head

Matt and his girlfriend left for Portland the following day and at the last minute I found another partner Shameer on the mountainproject.com to do Nightcrawler (10c). I had been eying this beauty at the Brownstone wall when we did Armatron a few days prior and I knew it was a classic Red Rocks climb at the grade. Having just arranged our climb half an hour prior, I swooped Shameer from the Red Rock Casino a bit after 10AM. At this point it was all systems go; we needed to hustle to beat the 5pm sunset. We mashed out the big hike back to the Brownstone wall at a very solid pace and racked up at the bottom of the wall with a solid sweat going. The climb had 3 pitches of great climbing: one physical squeeze chimney followed by two pitches of techy jamming and stemming in the varnished corner. I believe my lead on the fourth pitch was my first red point of a 10c on gear to date, I was psyched! When we were done we rushed out in the dark to grab Cari-lynne from the airport!

Cari-Lynne and I started by doing a couple of sweet and fingery 5.10 sport climbs at the first pullout. I'll admit, they were a bit stiff to warm Cari up to RR climbing… sorry babe! The next couple of days we climbed @ whiskey peak in Velvet Canyon which became my favorite crag for the rest of the trip. Cari and I spent the next couple of days getting on classic 5.9's and 5.10's. It worked out great as I got to do some interesting and challenging climbing right and my wheelhouse grade wise. Meanwhile Cari got exposed to some new and different outdoor techniques (like jamming the cracks!). 

Makin faces on a ledge

After Cari left Matt and I did another awesome day of climbing out at whiskey peak. We got on Wholesome Fullback (10a) and then rapped into Our Father (10d). The latter was one of the most classic 5.10 pitches I've ever seen. It starts off with Indian Creek style hand jamming and moves into classic RR thin laybacking, Quite similar to parts of Nightcrawler but definitely a step up in difficulty.

I gave Our Father one very solid go on lead and pushed past the crux nearly to the top of the pitch, when an unexpected foot slip thwarted my red point. I took a nice exciting 10+ foot whip onto a very small (#0 master cam). Unscathed but filled with adrenaline I finished the pitch. This made for a fitting climax and finale to my time in Red Rocks.

Monkeyfingers

My friend Matt joined us in St. George for the last day or two of sport climbing. I had climbed with him in Tahoe a couple days earlier in the year so I knew he was a solid crack climber. Turns out he's a wall rat. With several ascents of El Cap under his belt and a lot of experience in Zion, he was the perfect guy for me to partner with to 'learn the ropes' literally of hard multi-pitch crack climbing in Zion.

I was thinking we'd get on the touchstone wall or one of the other entry level wall climbs in the canyon. Matt had his sights set on Monkeyfinger
5.12b most often done as a free climb. I thought 'oh jeez, how am I even going to follow a route that hard'. With some trepidation I agreed, figuring I could pull on gear through the hard parts. 

The first day, we got a nice late start as we waited  for the canyon to warm up. I nervously led the first pitch, a dirty 5.6 slab with two trees for pro and not much else. I knew Zion rock was known for its varying quality so I fussed and double checked every placement. I arrived at the belay ledge below THE corner, which pretty much runs all the way to the top of the wall. Dead fricken vertical.

Matt took the next pitch which was a 5.10 hands with a step across a pillar to 5.11 fingers. Following this pitch wasn't as bad as I expected. My length came in handy reaching across the pillar. From the top of the pillar started the 'Black corner' 20 ft of desperate stemming and trying to fit tips into a tiny crack. Honnold (flash) soloed this? Are you kidding? I never felt secure and had to take a bunch of times but eventually got to the top of the pitch. After just 3 or 4 hrs on the wall were done for the day. We fixed our rope and did a (scary…) single rope rap down these 3 pitches back to the ground. That (Halloween) night, we laid low and prepared for a big day two. Much to my chagrin I might add.. Halloween is my favorite holiday after all.

End of Day 1

The next day we rocked up to the climb just a little earlier than the day before. With only two jumars, two ladders and two grigri's between the two of us we each did 210 feet of ghetto jugging with one jumar and grigri each. I had never jugged before, so I didn't really know the difference, but it sure felt hard as hell. I had a pretty solid sweat going by the time we got to the belay below the 4th pitch. 

Here we encountered an awkward 5.11 roof with no good foot holds followed by 90 feet of 5.11 fingers. Matt stuffed in small master cams as he made his way around the roof, with some trouble he eventually made it to the next belay. I had a hell of a time following this pitch. Most of my difficulties lied in getting those dang master cams out of the roof, which I was not entirely successful in doing. By the time I got to the (awful hanging) belay I was whooped. And the next pitch was mine… 

The awful hanging belay

I took a moment to gather myself and looked up at 70 feet of splitter ring locks and tight hands. 10B? I thought no way… The climbing looked fierce and the exposure was breathtaking. Above the roof the first 4 pitches disappear and you are looking 400 feet straight down to the ground. Eventually I took a few deep breaths, unhooked from the anchor and started climbing. Right off the belay the climbing was fierce, no good jams or feet for 10ft. I layed it back hard and stuffed a couple green c4's in. I was already redlining and not feeling super confident yet above my gear on the soft sandstone and opted to take about 15ft above the belay. Jeez only 55 more feet to go… Fortunately the climbing eased off a little and I began to calm down and climb a little better. With another take or two I made it to the next belay.

The 10b splitter 'tight hands'

Here you can opt for a wild tips traverse out into a perfect finger crack 'the monkeyfinger crack' which goes @ 12b. Or you can do 100 feet of 5.10 OW climbing. We went with the OW… I was dreading this pitch since the night before. With nightmares of the '5.9' squeeze on Midterm in Yosemite on my mind I was expecting a bloodbath. This OW/ squeeze wasn't nearly as bad, it still kicked my ass but I made it up with just one rest on the rope near the top. 

At this point we were running out of daylight and decided to give Matt a TR burn on the 12b finger crack instead of gunning for the top of the wall. Word was that the top pitches were a little funky/sandy anyways and I was feeling pretty satisfied with the climbing we had done thus far. Someday though I'd like to get back on the route and go to the top of the wall.