Index - Lower Town Wall May 22

I love climbing at Index. I can't lead there yet, as I'm just starting out with Trad Leading, but the climbing is hard and fun. I climbed with a great partner I met on cc.com, John Shields (Lithophiliac). He was a great climber and fun partner, I hope to climb with him again soon.

We started the day with Princely Ambitions, a two pitch route(5.8 and 5.9). The first time I climbed at Index, this was the first route tried and realized that I couldn't climb 5.8 at Index. It was a tough blow to deal with, but I came to the realization that Index is hard. I'm happy to say that I did much better on it this time, although I still need many laps on this before I could even think about leading it (not to mention more experience placing gear).

Next we moved over to Godzilla, a supposed 5.9 but I think it may have been re-rated in the new guide to 10a. I ended up needing to rest on the rope near the top, but was very happy with my improved performance from the first time I climbed it. From there we kept going up, following P2 of City Park (rating?). It was also fun, and hard, although I can't seem to remember many details about this pitch. After that we kept going up and did Sloe Children (10d). It was thin fingers for most of the climb, with a very tough section to start off. I got a huge belay, but was able to make it up... somewhat to my surprise. I still need to figure out how to forget about the numbers and just get up shit!

Now three pitches up we have to repel down... usually no big deal, but on the last rap we passed the legendary Fred Becky climbing Godzilla with Todd (from the climbing gym in Tacoma). It was quite inspiring to see him still climbing hard after all these years. Here's to you Fred.

Once back down, our time was running short (as John had to leave at 4pm) so he decided to TR City Park (13c I think). It looked insanely hard on super thin fingers. He worked it hard and with a strong belay was able to make it up. Bravo!

It was time to say goodbye to John, but another friend (Dave) was meeting me for an afternoon session at 4pm or so. He showed up and I followed him up Godzilla and struggled quite a bit. I was torched! I spent the next couple hours belaying Dave, so he could get some work in. As usual, he tore it up.