Vantage [October 31/Nov1]

A group headed out to Vantage to find some dry rock to climb... the rain in Western Washington sucks! Mike, Damien and I met up with Josh and Tamber in the Feathers parking lot on Saturday afternoon. The wind was howling, but we decided to get on a few routes at the Feathers anyways. It was Mike's first time outdoors (and in a harness) and we discovered that my old size large harness was just a but too small for him. We were able to make it work, but it was quite a fiasco... him sucking in and pulling the harness tight to give me enough slack to get it double-backed enough to be safe. It was probably a bit short and way too tight, but we kept checking it every climb. As we climbed the wind kicked up and got pretty nasty, but Mike got his first top rope ascents on a 5.6 and 5.5 on the north side of the Feathers. We were ready to wrap up and headed over to find Josh and Tamber working on 'So Funny I Forgot to Laugh 5.9'... Josh got pumped while clipping a draw and had to down climb, leaving the draw. He was pumped, so Tamber went up and gave it a go, but ended up not making it past the bolt Josh placed... it was windy and super sketchy. The sun was just setting over the ridge when I tied in with a certain amount of urgency to get this done and get the gear, so we could get out of the wind and get warm. I made it up to the highest draw and did a take so I could scope the finish and make a run for it. The moves seemed like they were there, so after my short rest, I made the last few moves to the anchor, cleaned up and got the hell out of there.

Now the fun was starting... we were putting gear away in the cars in about 40 MPH wind with stronger gusts. It was hard to hear and do anything, but we were trying to figure out if we wanted to camp there, stay in a motel room or what. As we were getting squared away and about to leave for Ellensburg to search for food and lodging, I went to open my door and the wind took it and blew it open making a horrible noise... WTF!! My door "thingy" that keeps your door from closing on you snapped off and door swung wide open, bending the edge of the door back... nice.

So now were on the way to get food and decide what were doing, and I get a flat tire on 90, 8 miles outside of Ellensburg. We get towed back into town, as I don't think I have a spare (turns out I did). The tire place isn't open on Sunday, so I'm thinking I'll be waiting around until Monday morning. WTF! Everyone is tired and hungry, so we go eat. I can deal with shit after that. Dinner hit the spot.

Josh, Tamber and Damien headed to the Motel to check on a room, while I went with Mike to check my trunk for a spare. After removing wood, camping gear and Josh's Keg I find that I do have a spare. After locating the jack and tools, we remove the lug nuts to find that the wheel will not come off the car. After taking turns kicking it, I decided to call the tow truck guy to help, as we all had bruised feet by now. He came back and had to beat the wheel for 10 minutes with a 6' 4x4 to get the thing to come off. Finally the tire was changed and filled with air (along with the other 3 tires that were severely low), so we were ready to head back to Vantage. Turns out the Holiday Inn wanted $140 for a room... F#ck Off! So back to Vantage we went... turns out the wind died down a bit and camping was pretty nice. I got to the "secret spot" (not in the dust bowl) at about 11:15pm. I'll be damned if I was going to bring wood and beer and not use it, so we made a small but proud fire and enjoyed a few beers before bed.

Sunday morning came in with a whisper... no wind to speak of. We broke camp and headed off to the Sunshine Wall by 7:30 or so and met up with Kyle on the way. Contrary to the day before the weather was perfect. Josh led Chossmaster to warm up, and Tamber and I headed for Peaceful Warrior for our first route. She led it in style, I pulled the rope and led it as well. Mike went after that and did a fine job on his first Sunshine Wall route. After that I moved over a couple routes to 7 Virgins and a Mule (5.7 trad). While I was half was up the chimney I head tale of Josh taking a good leader fall while on Boshido (10b)... good on you for sacking up on a tough route and climbing hard. I wasn't finished with my chimney when Josh and Tamber headed off to Seattle to catch a plane. Finally I made it to the top, but no anchors... There was a set I could reach for Narlux (a route 2 over from 7Vs) which I used and lowered off of, so we could TR it after Damien and Kyle climbed 7Vs. They both climbed it without much trouble. We then took a burn on Narlux, which is a pumpy route with fun climbing up an arete. I took a few rests, but didn't ever find any moves that were too hard for me... just a fitness issue to lead that one I think.

On the way out, we stopped at the Feathers again for a couple last routes before going home. I was already pretty happy with my day, but ended up leading a couple more 5.7s including the Becky Route which was fun and seemed easy. Mike got back on the 5.7 that he lowered off the day before, and got a clean top rope send on that one too. After the great day of climbing, we headed to the town of Vantage and got dinner at the greasy spoon next to the gas station. Crappy food, but good company made for a fun meal. We sent Kyle off headed east and took off in our direction. Traffic was good headed back over the pass, and we were back home a 7:00pm. All I can say is thankfully Sunday was a perfect day climbing which made up for Saturday and the follies it brought.

Rain [October 30]

It has been raining for days here in Monroe. I was hoping to get out to Index on Sunday, since the forecast is for sun... but I was reminded it takes 3 days to dry out this time of year in Index. Damn! The weather (and interested parties) petered out for the Smith trip this weekend... but I wasn't giving up that easy. Vantage is going to be nice (10% chance of rain) and dry... and I'm dying to climb. Damien signed on to go with me and Mike (my brother), and Kyle called me and is coming to meet us from Spokane.

The last couple weeks hasn't seen much in the way of good weather. I have however been climbing hard in the climbing gym and seem to be making some decent progress. This week I did my first real V3 problem in 5 tries, then did another one in about 5 tries. I can tell that I have been climbing and training hard. I can't wait to continue what I have started building.

P.S. -- I was just reading my last post about training in the gym... that amount of climbing was killing me. My fingers were becoming injured and sore, it was just way too much for me. I've backed off to 1 day on, 1 day off climbing with Crossfit, 1 day on, 1 full rest day, repeat. This seems to be much more realistic right now for me.

Vantage [September 26, 27]

I decided to blow off doing trail maintenance... I need to do a day of trail maintenance to finish my requirements to graduate the Mountaineers Basic Climbing Course. I finished all the other requirements last year, but the October 15th deadline is coming up quickly and one of these days I'll be doing it... but not this weekend.

At the last minute, I made plans with Hugo and Ashley to ride together to Vantage. The sport leading class was having their last field trip, so I figured I'd offer to help out again. I met Hugo and Ashley in the 'Quah and headed to Vantage on Saturday morning. We were a bit later than we planned, but made it out there by 9:30am. After a short lecture by Shannon, the class hit up The Feathers. We all paired up and started climb easy routes to warm up, then some harder ones. I mostly belayed new leaders and offered encouragement... I sent a few routes too. I did Don Quixote and the 10a on the other side of the tunnel from there... it looks so easy, but it's a tough pumpy route. When I came of that I was torched. I then got on Me Too (5.9) and I had trouble at the crux on TR. I was very disappointed at this, as I thought for sure I would be able to send that route. I always get pumped out at Vantage, due to my poor technique. I worked a bit on staying on my feet more and keeping my arms straight, but I need to work it in the gym then bring it out to Vantage.

We looked around for a better camping spot than the dust bowl, but due to price and proximity, we decided to just go primitive. It was a nice evening and the wind wasn't bad at all, which was a really nice treat. We had beers and a nice fire to relax by... before too long it was late and everyone was off to bed.

Sunday morning came quickly and we were all off, headed to Sunshine Wall at around 7:30am or so. The hike went quickly and soon we were looking up huge 100+ foot columns of basalt, with chalk smeared nooks and crack heading straight up. We stopped by and looked at Party in your Pants (PIYP 5.8trad) before moving along to Clip Em or Skip Em (5.8) to warm up. Josh led it and as I suspected, it was a tough warm up climb. I just TD'd the climb, as I really was looking for a warm up and was more focused on doing PIYP. I made it clean and didn't really get pumped, which was a good sign. Next we moved over to PIYP and Tamber was going to jump on and give it a go. She got about 1/3 of the way or about 30 feet up and Josh mentioned that he needed to leave, and she was riding with him. She needed to be back early as well, so she built and anchor and rapped off. I told her I would collect her gear and return it for her and went looking for a belay. Jim hooked me up with a belay (and good words of advice and encouragement). I wanted to do this climb, but I was a little scared, as the route is a column straight up and you stem in it and use twin cracks on either side. The good news is that the route eats PRO like Re-Run and you can place a piece at every cruxy move. I reached the crux about half way up and considered bailing, but I took a rest on the rope, relaxed and just went for it. Funny enough, the climbing is easy... it's the head game of leading on pro so far off the deck. It was a tough climb for me, but I made it. When I reached the chains I felt a combination of relief, excitement and satisfaction! What a great feeling, especially after being down on myself from the day before.

It was getting hot now, about 85 deg or so, so I decided I had enough. I packed up all my stuff and headed back to the lot to have a beer and wait for everyone else. Every time I climb at Vantage I get my ass kicked by routes a couple levels below what I feel my grade is. I realize this is just my lack of good technique coming out on the climbs at this area... long vertical routes, lots of crimpers and slopers. Plenty to work with usually, but I get pumped and can't hold on anymore. I have decided to get these flaws fixed and get a real training program going.

The ride home was uneventful and I was home relaxing on the couch by 5pm. Another great weekend with good friends.

The first picture is of a friend Henry climbing Party In Your Pants the last time we were in Vantage. The others are shots of Sunshine Wall.