When I find nice lines I like to give them names that remind me of friends. Hope on a Rope is obvious. Four Days On and Three Days Off are adjacent routes I named for my friend Dave H. He is a firefighter and for three decades that was his work schedule. I named Rob's Rocks, which looks like it has superb bouldering, for our own Mungeclimber; he likes bouldering, I don't.
Here's my latest. When I first met my good friend Jim, we'd climb and camp and hang out. And it seemed like he was always eating Top Ramen for breakfast. So I started calling him Maruchan Man. And I finally found a line worthy of the name. Steep to overhanging face with edges and exposure. And good rock. Enough edges that it went at 5.10a. Unfortunately we thought two stars instead of three - the route's not perfect at the very top; a ledge allows a fourth class finish. Still, we had a ball on lead. Thought we'd use some fixed pins, but after the very first piece (I fixed a Lost Arrow) all the "cracks" were bottoming and really thin. I drilled two separate bolts while hanging off Knifeblades and/or Arrows that later came out with 1 - 5 hits. Jim put in one bolt off similar gear. A few small stoppers supplement the bolts.
Placing the third bolt:
Placing the fourth bolt (the offending ledge is just above Jim):
So, now I'm on the hunt for another great line. This time the name I'm looking to use is: "The Unbelievably Smart and Beautiful Lady Who Climbs and Bikes and the Old Goat Who Broke Her Finger." Stay tuned.
