Song of the Weekend: The Presidents Of The United States Of America – Kick Out the Jams (Spotify)
Wooohoooo! That's really all I have to say about that....but I guess I'll go on anyway.
After a day of hanging out with friends (E and G were passing through on the PCT), and actually climbing the last few weeks, I was actually excited about climbing and about leading. Bennet was psyched too, though, so I let him take the first pitch. I led off from there, taking one of the "many options" in the SuperTopo to get around other parties on the route. I climbed quickly, I climbed well, I placed little gear. I was psyched, all was well.
The day was sunny, the temps were great, and I was having a good day. The exposure was enough to keep me on my toes mentally, but in most places the climbing was mellow and fun (with a step or two to think about here and there). We were one of five parties on the ridge, but never really ran into them once we got on the ridge.
We descended from the south summit and debated hitting the north summit. We were tight on time, but figured we'd go anyway...might as well, right? Just climb fast so that Kat wouldn't worry. I wanted to lead the last pitch, but I saw that Bennett kind of did but wasn't going to without a push. There are no friends on a powder day, but this wasn't a powder day. Pushing him to lead, and seeing him push and crush it was great.
For some reason, the only time I was gripped all day was while following on top rope. I guess there's something about seeing that loop of slack in front of me that makes me nervous (even though I know I'm facing a much, much bigger fall after not placing gear for 20 feet. Something to work on I guess.
Anyway, after following B as fast as I could, and barely stopping for a breath on the north summit, I started setting up rappels. We hiked fast back from the base, then at the lake a couple miles from the trailhead B stopped for a refreshing swim and I started running (in case Kat hadn't gotten my text). Turns out, she had and I ended up getting a good work out and bruised toes from running in approach shoes for a few miles. At least the extra speed got me car to car in in under 12 hours (including the 1.5 hour wait to start the route).
Ticklist:
Matthes Crest (5.7) - small rack, as many or as few pitches as you want, we roped up for the first 3, the crux in the middle and the last pitch.
Wooohoooo! That's really all I have to say about that....but I guess I'll go on anyway.
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| Traverse the skyline from right to left, rappel from the highpoint |
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| B strolling along the Crest. |
We descended from the south summit and debated hitting the north summit. We were tight on time, but figured we'd go anyway...might as well, right? Just climb fast so that Kat wouldn't worry. I wanted to lead the last pitch, but I saw that Bennett kind of did but wasn't going to without a push. There are no friends on a powder day, but this wasn't a powder day. Pushing him to lead, and seeing him push and crush it was great.
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| Cathedral Peak...next time... |
Anyway, after following B as fast as I could, and barely stopping for a breath on the north summit, I started setting up rappels. We hiked fast back from the base, then at the lake a couple miles from the trailhead B stopped for a refreshing swim and I started running (in case Kat hadn't gotten my text). Turns out, she had and I ended up getting a good work out and bruised toes from running in approach shoes for a few miles. At least the extra speed got me car to car in in under 12 hours (including the 1.5 hour wait to start the route).
Ticklist:
Matthes Crest (5.7) - small rack, as many or as few pitches as you want, we roped up for the first 3, the crux in the middle and the last pitch.
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