Pics from the trip...
Paul's 1st Lead
Pat starting Amarillo
Drew on "Bulldozer"
Me on "Significant Other"
The best pizza in the world
Well good morning everyone. I am currently sitting in the usual spot, not drinking coffee however watching rock climbing. I am not as excited about this as you all may think. I should be leaving right now to go rock climbing in Cincinnati, however I am (and have been since sunday) sick. I figured I would update people on the climbing trip last weekend since I will be sitting here for the next 24-? hours.
So at 5:45am last saturday my alarm went off and immediately told Jenny that I had dreams about the red. She shook her head in confusion/disgust and we got up. I was excited not only because I was going to the red but because Jenny was going for the first time. Also it would be Paul and Drew's first outside climbing trip which is just awesome. We got on the road at 6:45ish and made it to the red at about 10. For this trip Pat (usual climbing partner) and I decided we wanted to go somewhere new. I had never been anywhere in the Southern Region of the gorge and Pat had only been to 1 area once. So this was our plan. The directions to get to the crag we chose include things like this, "After 0.3 miles the road turns to gravel and heads down a steep hill," and "Continue on the main road until the road narrows and becomes more of a trail." Promising right? It also says..."cars are known to not get back out of the gorge," and "if you are concerned about your car making it back out climb somewhere else." We had faith in the Nitro so we pushed forth. They weren't kidding. The hills were so steep it felt like our car was going to flip forward, not really but they were quite steep and there were HUGE trenches in the path because of people getting stuck going out and just digging their car into the road. We finally arrive at the parking area and make the short hike into the walls. The first was called the Shire which had 3 nice warm up climbs which all were good candidates for Paul and Drew's first lead.
We climbed our first route and then headed to the a nearby wall which had a specific route that I have been wanting to climb called Amarillo Sunset. It had been featured in the Photo Edition of Rock and Ice magazine and looked awesome, but hard. So we got there and stopped dead in our tracks, it was beautiful and intimidating. It was in this huge amphitheater oven a ravine. AWESOME Since it was my desired project I went first. The moves were all doable but hard to string together. I made it through the first 3 bolts before I fell, which I was excited about. The guidebook describes Amarillo as this..."Destined to be a classic. Start from a ledge just right of a large ravine. Move up through 65 feet of big pumping throws to big holds with excellent exposure. Save some gas to clip the anchors." Even the description was intimidating! I made it through with several falls and was very content. Hopefully I will send it the next time I go. As the guidebook said, Amarillo starts on a little ledge 20 feet or so off the ground. Once on the actual ground it thins out to a little ravine. Therefore when you are 30 feet up in the climb you are actually 60 or so feet off the ground. You feel quite exposed. Also I will take this time to thank Jenny again for going and for being such a good sport. You were awesome and hopefully it wasn't too painful for you. The red just holds such as special place in my heart that I wanted to share it with you. Anyway after Amarillo we climbed a few other cool routes and headed back to Miguel's for pizza. 3 hours after that we were home sweet home and 3 hours after that I started to feel sick, and now 70 hours after that I am sitting here, still feeling sick. Hope everyone has a great day!
Jenny, Me, Pat, Drew and Paul at the Sore Heel Parking Area
Amarillo Sunset (Next 3)
