Monday, January 17, 2011

Solo mission

I've been in Chattanooga for several weeks now and it has been great climbing with everyone.  Even so, it really is nice to just get out on your own sometimes.  Today was a good day.  I woke up at 6:00 and eventually gave up on going back to sleep.  Despite the rain in the forecast, I was pretty set on going climbing.  I haven't been in the best mood lately and I really needed to get out.  So, I went out to LRC and discovered my lack of 3 dollars.  Super lame.  Then I decided to check out some of the boulders by the river (which looked epic).  I couldn't bring myself to walk across water, so I left.  Off to Cumberland (pep boys).  I was planning on getting some redemption on Slurpee, but the start holds were wet and the top was covered in snow.  Super lame.  While I was trying to clean the top, some fellow named Mike showed up and started talking about boulders out the way and off the trail.  I gave up on trying to clean top outs with a stick and checked out Gross's Roof real quick.  The start holds were good but everything else was pretty drippy.  I decided to check out the other boulders with Mike and his friend Scott.  It was a long hike by Chattanooga standards, about 10 minutes (max).  Totally worth it.  There was a beautiful face with perfect sandstone and several good lines.  There was also a small roof with a few lines.  I did Solar Power (7a) and Sunburst (7a+) pretty quickly and we headed over to the roof.  The roof was a little wet in one spot, but I managed to to do Across the Grain (7a) despite conditions.  Mike and Scott were trying a project that came out the prow of the roof.  It was dry and looked badass!  I started trying the low start a little and felt like it could go.  Still, I felt weird being the guy that tagged along and I figgured it wasn't really ethical to snake a project from these guys.  So we left and they went off to try Salo's Roof, and I went to mess around on Gross's Roof.  It had become even more drenched, so after a few goes I got pretty discouraged.  I couldn't resist going back to the lower area for a good rock climb.  I set up quickly, but with only 2 pads, I couldn't cover all of the rocks.  The only thing I had to work with were my clothes.  So I got naked.  And sent.  Mild exaggeration, I used a couple jackets and my backpack to pad out some of the gaps.  And sent.  It was awesome, I'd really like to take someone back there to try it (and confirm FA, they said it was, and it seems plausible, but still).  Either way, awesome rock climb. You guys should try it.  Oh, and it's called Put A Sock In It (7c).  I challenge you to figure out why.

Again, no pics.  Super lame.  I'll put some up as soon as I can.

Back at the crib, we watched a climbing movie called Take It To The Limit.  It won a Gold Medal at the American Wilderness Film Festival.  I challenge you to figure out why.

1 comment:

  1. It won for its extreme name, which is the kind of name white film audiences really go for! I mean, I'm totally stoked just reading its title- I think I'm gonna go base jump off my roof now.

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