The bushes are gone again - but I don't know that they'll stay gone. Led it today with Jennifer. Fell off the crux first try, above the first bolt, which stopped me just as my feet were hitting the soft soil. This on a route that the first free ascentionist originally rated 5.9. I guess I was a little careless; that plus no warmup. No harm though, and the adrenaline acted as a great warmup substitute.
So, the starting face moves are steep and probably hard 10b. But not so sustained, and the rock there is pretty good, and the protection fine. I led to the fourth bolt, which is clipped from an excellent stance (one foot is in a large hole, the other on a solid flat spot). Having listened carefully to Mr Mud's recollection of the climb, I then hauled up a massive rack on the second line I was trailing. And, boy did I use it! Most of the climbing above the bolts (110 feet more to the anchor) is 5.7, but there are a few 5.9 sections. Plenty of rests, and some pretty good rock. But there are sections where the rock is loose too. And the pro is sporadic. Which brings me back to that monster rack. I placed gear everywhere I could. Everywhere. Three pieces in a row in places. And some of the gear was pretty darn good; enough that "R" is definitely the right rating, not "X." Above the bolts I placed:
-no stoppers,
-4 or 5 of #.5 Camalot and smaller,
-3 each of #.75 Camalot, #1 and #3 Camalot,
-4 #2 Camalots (3 of which were really good, very happy to get those),
-2 #3.5 Camalots,
-2 #4 Camalots, and
-1 # 4.5 Camalot.
If I'd had a #5 Camalot I'd have placed that too, but I didn't.
Poor Jennifer weighed 200 pounds by the time she finished following it, but I had enough pro that I don't think I could have fallen too far. BTW, Mr Mud, she also said that if that route is 5.10a then she's going to quit climbing and take up knitting. So, maybe, on the way home from work tomorrow, could you pick up some knitting needles and yarn? You know, just as a basic courtesy?
Saturday we did both variants of Rock Around the Clock, which are well worth the time. The 5.8 free climbing was very spicy though. Dry, it would be solid, well protected, fun face, but, the first pitch wasn't dry.
