New Climbs in the Rain

coldclimb

I learned something last week about how climbers are all dirtbags and not to be trusted. :rofl A while back I found a nice looking wall with some cool features that looked like it had never been climbed, and posted a picture of it on the local climbers' forum asking if anyone had any info about it. Got no response, so heck, it must be unclimbed. Last week we headed up to give it a shot, and lo and behold, there's two brand new bolts right in the middle of the face, where there weren't any before! Somebody saw the post online and jumped our climb. The worst part is I can't say I wouldn't have done something similar myself. :rofl We're all scum.

Anyway, it looked to us like they didn't finish the project they were on, so we made our way up two climbs on the wall, and established an anchor up top to help folks in the future. The whole day was wet and rainy, but energy kept up for most of the time. With just the two of us though, the only time I got to concentrate on photos was when Kelsey was drilling bolts. So here's some shots of Kelsey drilling bolts in the rain. Enjoy!

We used a hand drill, old-school style, but we also used the bolts I bought for highlining, which are larger than necessary. We drilled for a while. Here's Kelsey pounding away.




Rock dust flies.




Kelsey blows some dust from the hole.




And now we step back and check out the setting. :rofl




A close-up of the tools of the trade (although the ones we actually placed were bigger).




Sorry I didn't get a shot of the finished product, since most of the folks here are probably unfamiliar with climbing anchors, but suffice to say we did a good job and had a good time, despite coming home with every bit of gear completely soaked. Hope the pics were enjoyable!

Andy

and and

ian408

All very cool shots. As someone who's actually done that, I can tell you "cross to the dark side"

coldclimb

Hehehe, yeah the dark side definitely has its merits. I'll be working on getting a power drill in time. It's tough though, when you weigh that against a new lens or a plane ticket!

Thanks for the comments guys!

ian408

Rent. I'm sure you won't need it often enough to warrant a purchase. So wire up your own industrial battery and rent when you need to.