Fun House 5.7 Trad
Pitch 1
I started up pitch one pretty confident. I knew that I could climb the route atleast what I could see of it and I just put my head down and started climbing. I managed to get a piece in pretty early and not that it would have stopped me from hitting the ground but it would have stopped me from falling off the cliff behind. Up a little further and I noticed a great cam placement so I first clipped a draw into a pin above and then worked out how I was going to get the cam in. It took me a minute or two and my foot started to cramp up so I had to make some adjustments. One thing that I did a bit awkwardly is I unclipped the pin and then clipped into the cam and then back to the pin. I did this to avoid z clipping but I z clipped anyway…
Now I was in the business. On belay to what I consider my first real trad climb. A couple of more moves put me up on this big ledge where I had to do a bit of route inspection. It was pretty obvious which way to go. When you get on the ledge you are staring at another corner there is a bit crack that runs up it so plenty of places for pro. I put in a piece low just to control the rope and provide myself with some protection on the ledge (not that you really need it it is huge). I then climbed up a bit and threw in another piece right at the bottom of the next section which was just a vertical crack but on a sloping surface.
Going up that part was definitely sketchy. I never felt like I was going to fall but I was also like “don’t fucking fall now.” I think I got a piece or two in on that section. And that left me at the first belay ledge. Where there are two big trees. The problem with the trees is that they are pretty far apart which will create a massive load multiplication. I chose to sling both of them anyway and create a power point. I anchored into the powerpoint but belayed Liam off of mysellf and not on the anchor. Overall the anchor was solid. There would have been Extension had one of the trees failed but it was redundant and equalized.
Future: The next time I do this climb I would setup the anchor as follows: Use the smaller tree, the first tree you come to over the ledge and then wire in one or two cams along the crack right next to it and then setup a cordalette. Alternatively it would have been totally cool to just sling the tree and wire in one cam using two slings and tie and over hand powerpoint or sliding X.
Pitch 2
Liam set off to lead this pitch and I followed. I immediately noticed that seconding can be a pain in the ass. Nevertheless the climbing was really easy and I did one part of it barefoot :). Liam setup an anchor on two trees and one piece of gear.
Pitch 3
I set off to lead this short scramble to the first pitch of Upper Refuse (5.5). When i got to the top I noticed a ramp like structure right in front of me so went over to it and setup an anchor on a couple of trees. This one only took me a few minutes to setup. Liam and I walked over to the ramp and were about to get started when I realized it wasn’t Upper Refuse. Not sure what route it was but I went over to the right and looked around and found upper refuse. We got all of the gear and headed over. The first pitch was really easy. I think the grade is 5.3 but the climbing is pretty run out. I got to the first belay and there were two pins so I opted to place a piece of gear and then setup a nice cordelette. It was awesome and really easy to setup.
Pitch 4
Liam set out on the fourth pitch…
Pitch 5
I thought this pitch was pretty fun you had an option to work towards a corner or face climb so I went straight up. Again pretty easy climbing and this pitch topped out at a few trees. Again I setup a cord although in the future I think I would just sling two of the trees and call it a day. No need for a cord…
Pitch 6
There was a little baby pitch that didn’t really need any protection. I almost lost one of my nuts! 🙂 I struggled for awhile trying to get it out.
The top was pretty cool. We asked some people at the top to take our picture. Throughout the climb I got some really great photos.
Pine Tree Eliminate (5.8+)
We setup our toprope on the pine tree and then rappelled down and belayed from the top. On the top it was really windy and I was scared shitless about the rappel. I felt a bit better once I made Liam aware of this fact, but I definitely had the jitters. Once I got over the edge I was fine and even had a bit of fun going pretty fast :).
It is one thing to rappel off a tiny wall it is a completely different thing to rappel off of a 400 foot wall that is totally exposed.
Once I got to the ledge Liam had to pull up the rope to belay me from up top. I started climbing and honestly just wanted to get to the top. I really had had enough and felt like I was at my limit of pushing myself. Nevertheless I realized that I needed to stay calm and just climb. The route was pretty easy but burly at parts and since it was a crack it required some cool foot jams and there were times when I was laying back so much I thought I was going to just pop off. It’s an 80 foot climb so it takes a little while to get past the little lip and then you are at the top where you have an option to grab the tree root or not :).
What a day of climbing soooooo excellent!