St. Patrick's Day, and I'm home because of snow. Again. At least it'll be a good chance to catch up on a few things, and after getting out to climb for the past two days I suppose I'm okay with a day inside. Especially one that includes second breakfast.
Saturday we went out to Levitation with a huge crew and turned the Jam boulder into a gym for a while, then spent some time with silly dynos and long reaches in the upper section before walking down river to another great little boulder that I hadn't been to yet.
Yesterday, Emily and Bryan and I went down to join Chris and Nicole for what I thought would be a laid back day of toproping. And it was at first, as Bryan and I dropped a rope on
Spider Walk and
Silver Spot while the others got on
Meenehan's Staircase.
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| Silver Spot Photo: Chris Irwin |
For Bryan's first time there, I was glad that he really got the full Carderock experience... technical slabs, slippery crystals, and old regulars walking by every few minutes to offer "encouragement." They were out in force yesterday too, attempting to catalogue Carderock's countless eliminate boulder problems, which until now have largely been confined to the area's oral history. Bryan also set and climbed on his first toprope when we moved over to work on
Sterling's Crack and
Evan's Bolt Ladder.
The real highlight for me was following Chris on the "classic"
Chris Wex Don Traverse, first done in the 1940s, and no doubt originally involving pitons and hardware store ropes. Just to clarify for those unfamiliar with Carderock, this is a toprope area. The cliffs are usually 30-40 feet tall, bolting is not allowed, and the regulars swear that the gear placements are all questionable enough to make leading a downright irresponsible act. In fact, most of them won't hesitate to loudly question your judgement as they free solo past you.
Let others say what they will, but when this guy thinks something is a good idea, who am I to doubt him?
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| Photo: Emily Close |
This isn't the first time I've belayed Chris when he's decided to lead something there, and apparently this route has been on his mind for a while. As soon as he asked if I had brought any whiskey, I knew it would be a fun route. There was no whiskey to be had, but fortunately I was able to borrow women's helmet from a nearby party.
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| Photo: Emily Close |
With the vague directions of "climb part way up
Garbage Chute and then go 400 feet right," we were soon immersed in the freedom of multipitch in one of the last places I would ever expect. Even though none of the climbing was hard, there was some ugly fall potential and I give Chris a lot of respect for going through with it. It was also interesting to do something where following felt almost as sketchy as leading, especially since the beginning of the second pitch was downclimbing a ramp over the river, though actually getting to climb over the river was both beautiful and one of the most peaceful experiences I've had there.
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| Photo: Emily Close |
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| Photo: Emily Close |
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| Photo: Emily Close |
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| Photo: Emily Close |
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| Photo: Emily Close |
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| Photo: Emily Close |
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| Photo: Emily Close |
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| Photo: Nicole Martino |
Thinking of climbs like this being done over 70 years ago only increased my already considerable respect for the early generations of climbers who developed the area. Carderock is a place I love and appreciate more with every visit, and I would absolutely encourage anyone to get out and explore some of the old forgotten lines at this or any other old local area. Hard new climbing has its place, but the feeling of continuing someone else's history always seems more satisfying to me in the end.
Cheers to all on this snowy day, and an extra toast to all of those old school badasses who paved the way.
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