Monday, June 22, 2009

Climbing with Friends

My wife let me get away for the day to climb at Pilot Mountain. I think it's been a year since I've been here last. The weather was warm and humid but actually a pleasant day. The hike down to the wall was pleasant. The forecast called for a day in the 90's. There was a nice breeze and it pretty much stayed in the 80's.A friend was nice enough to show me some anchor techniques. We actually repelled off the anchor I tied. I was really proud of myself.After getting schooled it was time to get ready to climb. It's amazing how much stuff you pack in. The first routes we climbed were in the Little Amphitheatre section. We did Dirty Rotten Scoundrel, Place your Bets and Grandpa's Belay. The climbs were 5.6-5.7. Really fun to start the day.One of the cool things climbing is how you meet people We met another group climbing with a guide, and as what often happens we shared ropes. This helps you get more climbs in and it's fun to meet new people. We moved to another section called black rain. I started a route called, My Wife's Gonna Kill me.I was able to get up that, but I failed on a 5.9 route to the right called Black Rain. I took a nice 10ft drop and bruised my heel. I think the fall and the route kind of psyched me out. Definitely doable. I'm looking forward to trying it again next time. I only got really 4 climbs in, but I did them all cleanly. I found places to rest where I didn't hang on the rope. It was a really fun day.

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