Thanks guys! I had tons of fun too, it was awesome to meet and work with all of you! Looking forward to doing it again. I don't have too much time at the moment, but I've got a whole bunch of new photos up that I'll be posting sometime soon! Haven't had time to see everyone else's yet either, but I'm stoked to see what you all got! Good times!
After a few days of climbing and cliff jumping, we took a day a little easier and rigged a slackline in the yard. I only got a couple shots, but here's one of Cuong getting in on the fun. He gets points for having the best crash!
The next day we headed out to climb Ancient Art, a twisted corkscrew summit in the Fisher Towers which some of you might have visited for sunrise. We had a few climbers in front of us, so we hung out and climbed another route nearby, waiting for them to move upwards. You can see four climbers on the route in this picture. Ancient Art is the skinny spire on the left.
Kelsey led The Cobra 5.11R for Jess to follow up. i got a couple shots, but this is the coolest. Castleton, the Rectory, the Priest and Nuns, and Sister Superior loom in the background.
Tracy and I led the way for our group up the route "Stolen Chimney 5.11". Here's Kelsey working his way up behind us.
The route tops out on the ridge below the spire and walks this nice flat catwalk, two feet wide with hundreds of feet of air on either side. Here's Tracy taking a few shaky steps.
King Fisher looms proud overhead.
Richard followed Kelsey up to the last pitch in order to belay him while I took pictures. We're all present here, with a nice ad for smugmug too! (Richard is stoked on the free gear!)
Kelsey walks the plank. The next move is a hop up onto the "Diving Board", and then you start the climb.
I got a few shots of Kelsey's ascent, but I'll just post this one here. This stitch shows a little of the exposure where we're at, looking up at Kelsey (standing on one leg on the summit ) and all the way down to my own feet.
Jess and Richard both totally chickened out on going to the summit. But of course there remains the unwritten rule that "If you do it, I'll have to do it," and so they both shook hands and agreed to chicken out together.
After Ancient Art, we moved south to Indian Creek, and woke up the next day under the Bridger Jack Spires.
One of the many routes in the area that every climber immediately wants to climb when they see pictures of it is "Supercrack."
Kelsey followed my lead on this one. This is the most perfect splitter handcrack that every climber dreams of, for so many vertical moves that you get sick of it!
Grunts, grimaces, yells, moans, all are part of a typical crack climb.
Kelsey reaches to make a clip. You can't see it, but his piece is there, inside the crack.
And BLOWS IT!
Kelsey managed to finish the climb in excellent style, only losing a little skin from his hands and arms. Richard, Jess, and Tracy followed, and had a little more difficulty.
Here's a bit of self portraiture, as I was sitting at the top of the crack taking pics of everyone else.
Tracy's turn! She weighted the rope a bit here and there, but she did make it to the top!
From Indian Creek, we moved north and headed into Colorado, the seventh state so far on our trip. We stopped off at a great campground at Colorado National Monument, and spent the next day climbing Independence Monument. On the hike in, we ran into a couple of these guys. I'm guessing they're antelope?
Here's what they think of civilization.
Otto's Route up Independence Monument was first ascended in 1911, before modern climbing ropes, shoes, or protection were even imagined. His techniques included drilling massive holes and placing iron bars into them, and climbing the bars. In other places, he chipped steps into the sandstone, many of which are now eroded into smooth sloping staircases ninety-seven years later. I barely got any shots of the climb, since me and Tracy brought up the rear this time, but here's Jess working her way up the spectacular last pitch. You can imagine the guts that guy must have had when he faced this pitch with his rack of heavy metal. No turning back after getting this far!
So now we're in Boulder, Colorado, still pulling down on our tired and torn fingertips, and still clicking the shutters! More will be added, for sure!
I can't imagine the effort required to install all that iron let alone carry it to the climb. I mean it's easy to get out a hand drill and install a bolt by comparison.
Cool stuff.
Moderator Journeys/Sports/Big Picture :: Need some help with dgrin?
I can't imagine the effort required to install all that iron let alone carry it to the climb. I mean it's easy to get out a hand drill and install a bolt by comparison.
Cool stuff.
Yeah, especially when you consider that he certainly didn't have a battery powered drill. He had to have hand drilled all those 2-inch holes, somehow!
Those are Big Horned Sheep. I love seeing your updates and wish I was still out there. It all looks like so much fun. So Jess and Richard will jump off a cliff but won't climb to the summit huh? Keep posting updates. I'll live vicariously through your posts for a while.
We were thinking those were either bighorns or antelope, and were leaning towards antelope based on them lacking big horns, but after a bit of research it does look like female bighorns. Thanks Nick!
I'm transitioning my photos over to my new smugmug account from my old website, so I'm losing the borders. If I get a bunch of time I may go through and edit all the old posts here to point to the new site, but I also may just leave them for a while. Anyway, they're ALL going to be up and browsable by thumbnails soon at http://coldclimb.smugmug.com for perusal. Enjoy!
In Boulder, CO, we met up with some friends Kelsey and I worked with in Chicago two years ago. We knew Phil was here, but hadn't heard that Jeff moved in with him not too long ago, so it was a pleasant surprise to see two old friends when we expected just one. Phil skipped classes and took us out to one of the MANY nearby crags for a day of climbing.
Here's Kelsey moving up on Leviathan 5.11d.
The next morning we needed a much easier climb, so we slept in, and leisurely rolled out in the afternoon to climb Bastille Crack 5.7, Colorado's most popular route.
The next morning we needed a much easier climb, so we slept in, and leisurely rolled out in the afternoon to climb Bastille Crack 5.7, Colorado's most popular route.
If it's so easy, why is Kelsey dragging such a big rack???
Because it was long and the book kept saying "Numerous groundfalls have occured on this route." and it was making me nervous. Oh that and I like to walk around with a lot of gear and look "cool". Its my thang.
Well Kansas didn't have much for us. There were some hills, and some mildly interesting old buildings, but we never stopped for them, and we wound up just staging a photo shoot with Richard's Dad's dog to get him a few good pictures.
This dog immediately flips out upon mention of the word "frisbee". Better not say it if you don't intend to go outside and throw a disc around.
Alright, we've had a week off from climbing, and now we're getting back into things again. We're at the Red River Gorge in Kentucky right now, but it's pouring rain and has been all day, so we're indoors for the time being.
Our route here included two days in Missouri arranged just for Richard. His girlfriend just joined the army and went off to boot camp, and her graduation day coincided neatly with our schedule. On top of that, Richard had plans to propose, so we made a few days just for them.
We worked out well in advance that Kelsey and I would find a way to shoot the proposal. Our intention was to have incredible photographs to present to the bride (Amanda) at the wedding, without her ever having a clue that anyone else was ever there. It was a beautiful plan.
We scouted for two days while Richard went and spent time with Amanda and her family. Options were very limited, but we found a nice grassy bar on a small peaceful river with a pretty trail through a park leading to it. Kelsey and I carved steps into the riverbank, moved logs to cross water, cleaned dead branches out of the way, and hid our cameras thoroughly, camouflaging my tripod with log-like burlap and wedging Kelsey's camera between a vine and a tree. We were set when Richard arrived with Amanda, and even strategically placed the teddy bear she gave him a while ago.
My camera was rigged on a floating log in the river, so on Richard's cue I slipped into position in the water on the downstream side of the log and waited. Body heat warmed the water around me as long as I held still, but didn't stop the cold from soaking in. My arms cramped up in my tight posture behind the log and my body got more and more tense as time went on. Then time went on, and on, and on. Something like twenty-five minutes later, Richard wandered into view where I was peering through drifted rubbish at our target area. He picked up the teddy bear, stood for a minute, and walked off.
All that, and she wouldn't go down the riverbank in her military uniform, for fear of getting it dirty. DOH! He popped the question thirty feet out of frame, and she DID say yes, but we've got NOTHING!
I was so demotivated I didn't shoot anything the rest of the day, and I didn't feel much like processing the ones I got. Thirty minutes submerged, staying perfectly still with fish kicking around my legs, and quite a bit longer shivering before I warmed up again! *SIGH*
We drove all night getting out of Missouri, with only one stop to visit the arch in St. Louis. We showed up at two in the morning or so, wandered in, and started shooting pictures.
The city lights gave off a yellow hue to compete with the blue lights around the base of the monument itself.
Clouds and stars were also a pretty cool addition to the shots!
I set up and shot a pano from directly underneath, then wandered over to Kelsey's position and loaned him my tripod before I noticed I blurred some of my pano shots. At that point, however, a police cruiser pulled up, and an officer informed us quite politely that the place closes down every night, and we had to leave. We packed up and headed through Illinois and Indiana and into Kentucky, and I just stitched together what I had and did my best with the blurs.
Thanks Cuong and Ian! And yeah, we've never seen night shots either, and I suppose that's cause the place is closed. But now you know if you're quick and lucky, you can get it done!
So after leaving Missouri and driving all night, we made it to the Red River Gorge, and crashed at Miguel's Pizza, a climbers only campground/cafe with the greatest atmosphere and hundreds of climbers all over. One of my favorite places in the world, for sure.
Yesterday we headed out to the "Bruise Brothers" wall and hit up a few climbs. Here's Richard making a clip on a 5.9.
A bird's eye view of a bird's nest.
Kelsey takes a break with a no-hands rest on a 5.9 climb. One common goal of climbers is to be able to sit back in the middle of a climb and point out the fact that they're not using any hands.
Tracy finished off a nice trad lead in good style.
Jess followed up, leading the same climb for her first successful lead climb ever. It's rated 5.8+, and trad to boot!
Richard eyes his next clip on a 5.10c.
Shortly thereafter he took a small fall.
Typical lighting on the climb in the Red River Gorge is sunlight diffused heavily by foliage, and on this day a bit of clouds as well. The result is often some really GREAT lighting for climbing photography. Plus, there's always a climb nearby with separate anchors to use for a photo setup, and the angle of many of the walls lends itself perfectly to photos. I love this place.
In the afternoon we met up with some fellow Alaskans, Grant and Cathy, and worked a few harder climbs. I shot a lot of pictures, so I didn't get as worked as everyone else who was climbing for me. Here's Cathy on a 5.11.
I told Richard to jump on this 5.10, thinking his fatigue might give me some good fall shots, but unfortunately this road trip is improving his climbing. I didn't get any falls.
We spent today out in the same area on the "Great Wall" taking it a bit easier while Kelsey worked some hard climbs with Grant and Cathy just across a small valley. We could hear his grunts and whines from where we were at, but I couldn't get a shot of him through the trees.
Tracy and Jess both warmed up on this 5.6, feeling the pain of yesterdays climbs.
Jess even took a nice fall.
We had no clouds today, so the sunlight gave me a mottled brightness to deal with.
Here's Richard, working out of the foliage on a 5.8.
And later, pulling through a nice steep 5.10.
Even Jess followed us up this one.
Things were nice and relaxed with us. Eventually we sat down and just enjoyed some sunlight.
Richard's hat is starting to show some character.
We've got five or six more days to climb here, and then we're getting rid of Jess (She's flying home) so if you like climbing shots, keep checking up on us! Hope you're all enjoying the pics!
Great shots with the fall folors. Since you guys have made it from Alaska to Moab, Missouri via Kansas and on to Kentucky, maybe you should post an itinerary. Who knows what dgrinners live along your path
"Don't ask me what I think of you, I might not give the answer that you want me to. Oh well."
-Fleetwood Mac
Great shots with the fall folors. Since you guys have made it from Alaska to Moab, Missouri via Kansas and on to Kentucky, maybe you should post an itinerary. Who knows what dgrinners live along your path
Thanks! We don't have much of an itinerary, but between the end of this week and the eighth of November we'll be hitting as many climbing areas and states as we can between Kentucky and Austin, TX. Then after the sixteenth we'll be heading through all the climbing areas in the heat of New Mexico, Arizona and So-Cal before we head north up the coast. If we drive through anybody's town and have a chance, we'd always love to stop in and say hi!
Here in the Red the weather has been downright chilly. Everyone is decked out in their sport climber finery, puffy down jackets and Mountain Hardwear logos are everywhere. We're still pulling down though, and even climbing some hard stuff for us! Here it goes!
(By the way, the journey forum has been DEAD for two whole days! Where is everyone?)
Yesterday we dragged out of camp nice and relaxed, and made our way to the Phantasia Wall. Kelsey started us off, heading up a 5.9+.
Richard made his own way up with both Kelsey and I shooting him.
Kelsey from his location, and I from mine.
A couple of us moved over and climbed a tricky 5.10b. Here's Kelsey making a clip below me.
Tracy pulls her way over a bulge, with the thick Kentucky foliage behind.
The rock in this area is a very interesting composition. This is a dead vertical wall of hard sandstone.
Every now and then the sun shone through the clouds and gave us some sweet colors in the trees.
Then, to finish off the evening with gusto, me and Kelsey decided we had to climb Twinkie, a 5.12 reputed to be the steepest 5.12 in the Red. It's overhung some enormous unmeasurable angle and is very intimidating. We took a while deciding who went first. Finally, I stepped up and managed to make it to the anchors eventually, and rigged a line to shoot Kelsey from on his way up.
The light was low under the giant roof, but as the rain started falling heavily outside our quiet protected shelter, I managed a few decent shots.
It was hard enough that the shirt came off, even in the chilly weather.
The route has a lot of big holds, but this is undoubtedly the biggest.
Today's climbing started in the early afternoon on another chilly day. Here's Kelsey eying his route, shot through a chimney.
My vantage point wasn't the greatest on this climb. Here he is clipping the anchors at the top of the route.
A short distance downhill were a few more nice routes we climbed and shot photos from. Here's Kelsey starting out on a 5.10c.
Tracy works her way up the first route we climbed, a 5.10.
Richard led one of two 5.9s that were side by side.
The climb we came to this area for is called "Fuzzy Undercling" and is a very nice 5.11b. A couple of powerful moves lead you into a long and beautiful route on nice easy holds. Here's Kelsey past the hard part, moving upwards.
Richard followed us up it as well, looking somewhat tired.
At least until he got to the namesake undercling, where you can wedge a leg in and take both hands completely off the rock, should you feel like it.
That's it for today! More climbing in the Red, coming up!
Thanks! We don't have much of an itinerary, but between the end of this week and the eighth of November we'll be hitting as many climbing areas and states as we can between Kentucky and Austin, TX. Then after the sixteenth we'll be heading through all the climbing areas in the heat of New Mexico, Arizona and So-Cal before we head north up the coast. If we drive through anybody's town and have a chance, we'd always love to stop in and say hi!
I asked because you are only a couple hours from me there in Daniel Boone. I'm not sure if you guys take break from climbing but Mammoth Cave is west of you, but I don't think you are allowed to climb in there . If you want to go further east, you may want to look at the New River Gorge area. Unfortunately Bridge Day was 2 weeks ago :cry Not far from there is the Gauley River.
"Don't ask me what I think of you, I might not give the answer that you want me to. Oh well."
-Fleetwood Mac
Comments
www.morffed.com
The next day we headed out to climb Ancient Art, a twisted corkscrew summit in the Fisher Towers which some of you might have visited for sunrise. We had a few climbers in front of us, so we hung out and climbed another route nearby, waiting for them to move upwards. You can see four climbers on the route in this picture. Ancient Art is the skinny spire on the left.
Kelsey led The Cobra 5.11R for Jess to follow up. i got a couple shots, but this is the coolest. Castleton, the Rectory, the Priest and Nuns, and Sister Superior loom in the background.
Tracy and I led the way for our group up the route "Stolen Chimney 5.11". Here's Kelsey working his way up behind us.
The route tops out on the ridge below the spire and walks this nice flat catwalk, two feet wide with hundreds of feet of air on either side. Here's Tracy taking a few shaky steps.
King Fisher looms proud overhead.
Richard followed Kelsey up to the last pitch in order to belay him while I took pictures. We're all present here, with a nice ad for smugmug too!
Kelsey walks the plank. The next move is a hop up onto the "Diving Board", and then you start the climb.
I got a few shots of Kelsey's ascent, but I'll just post this one here. This stitch shows a little of the exposure where we're at, looking up at Kelsey (standing on one leg on the summit
Jess and Richard both totally chickened out on going to the summit. But of course there remains the unwritten rule that "If you do it, I'll have to do it," and so they both shook hands and agreed to chicken out together.
www.morffed.com
One of the many routes in the area that every climber immediately wants to climb when they see pictures of it is "Supercrack."
Kelsey followed my lead on this one. This is the most perfect splitter handcrack that every climber dreams of, for so many vertical moves that you get sick of it!
Grunts, grimaces, yells, moans, all are part of a typical crack climb.
Kelsey reaches to make a clip. You can't see it, but his piece is there, inside the crack.
And BLOWS IT!
Kelsey managed to finish the climb in excellent style, only losing a little skin from his hands and arms. Richard, Jess, and Tracy followed, and had a little more difficulty.
Here's a bit of self portraiture, as I was sitting at the top of the crack taking pics of everyone else.
Tracy's turn! She weighted the rope a bit here and there, but she did make it to the top!
www.morffed.com
Here's what they think of civilization.
Otto's Route up Independence Monument was first ascended in 1911, before modern climbing ropes, shoes, or protection were even imagined. His techniques included drilling massive holes and placing iron bars into them, and climbing the bars. In other places, he chipped steps into the sandstone, many of which are now eroded into smooth sloping staircases ninety-seven years later. I barely got any shots of the climb, since me and Tracy brought up the rear this time, but here's Jess working her way up the spectacular last pitch. You can imagine the guts that guy must have had when he faced this pitch with his rack of heavy metal. No turning back after getting this far!
So now we're in Boulder, Colorado, still pulling down on our tired and torn fingertips, and still clicking the shutters! More will be added, for sure!
www.morffed.com
Except for the fact that I'm older... none the wiser, but a little more "broken" than when I was younger
Fantastic stuff and awesome climbs
Jase // www.stonesque.com
Cuong
Cool stuff.
Yeah, especially when you consider that he certainly didn't have a battery powered drill. He had to have hand drilled all those 2-inch holes, somehow!
Thanks again for your comments all!
www.morffed.com
Come to think of it, the Dolomites are full of iron ladders and so on. I almost forgot about that. That stuff's not sandstone either
SmugMug Technical Account Manager
Travel = good. Woo, shooting!
nickwphoto
I'm transitioning my photos over to my new smugmug account from my old website, so I'm losing the borders. If I get a bunch of time I may go through and edit all the old posts here to point to the new site, but I also may just leave them for a while. Anyway, they're ALL going to be up and browsable by thumbnails soon at http://coldclimb.smugmug.com for perusal. Enjoy!
In Boulder, CO, we met up with some friends Kelsey and I worked with in Chicago two years ago. We knew Phil was here, but hadn't heard that Jeff moved in with him not too long ago, so it was a pleasant surprise to see two old friends when we expected just one. Phil skipped classes and took us out to one of the MANY nearby crags for a day of climbing.
Here's Kelsey moving up on Leviathan 5.11d.
The next morning we needed a much easier climb, so we slept in, and leisurely rolled out in the afternoon to climb Bastille Crack 5.7, Colorado's most popular route.
www.morffed.com
moderator of: The Flea Market [ guidelines ]
I Live at http://www.alaskamountainforum.com
moderator of: The Flea Market [ guidelines ]
This dog immediately flips out upon mention of the word "frisbee". Better not say it if you don't intend to go outside and throw a disc around.
www.morffed.com
Our route here included two days in Missouri arranged just for Richard. His girlfriend just joined the army and went off to boot camp, and her graduation day coincided neatly with our schedule. On top of that, Richard had plans to propose, so we made a few days just for them.
We worked out well in advance that Kelsey and I would find a way to shoot the proposal. Our intention was to have incredible photographs to present to the bride (Amanda) at the wedding, without her ever having a clue that anyone else was ever there.
We scouted for two days while Richard went and spent time with Amanda and her family. Options were very limited, but we found a nice grassy bar on a small peaceful river with a pretty trail through a park leading to it. Kelsey and I carved steps into the riverbank, moved logs to cross water, cleaned dead branches out of the way, and hid our cameras thoroughly, camouflaging my tripod with log-like burlap and wedging Kelsey's camera between a vine and a tree. We were set when Richard arrived with Amanda, and even strategically placed the teddy bear she gave him a while ago.
My camera was rigged on a floating log in the river, so on Richard's cue I slipped into position in the water on the downstream side of the log and waited. Body heat warmed the water around me as long as I held still, but didn't stop the cold from soaking in. My arms cramped up in my tight posture behind the log and my body got more and more tense as time went on. Then time went on, and on, and on. Something like twenty-five minutes later, Richard wandered into view where I was peering through drifted rubbish at our target area. He picked up the teddy bear, stood for a minute, and walked off.
All that, and she wouldn't go down the riverbank in her military uniform, for fear of getting it dirty. DOH!
I was so demotivated I didn't shoot anything the rest of the day, and I didn't feel much like processing the ones I got.
www.morffed.com
The city lights gave off a yellow hue to compete with the blue lights around the base of the monument itself.
Clouds and stars were also a pretty cool addition to the shots!
I set up and shot a pano from directly underneath, then wandered over to Kelsey's position and loaned him my tripod before I noticed I blurred some of my pano shots. At that point, however, a police cruiser pulled up, and an officer informed us quite politely that the place closes down every night, and we had to leave. We packed up and headed through Illinois and Indiana and into Kentucky, and I just stitched together what I had and did my best with the blurs.
www.morffed.com
Nice work on the arch.
Cuong
Oh, and some nice shots of the arch. Never seen a night shot and certainly not one stitched from below.
Gorgeous!
www.morffed.com
So when are we going to see some photos from Richard? No excuses Richard, post something!
SmugMug Technical Account Manager
Travel = good. Woo, shooting!
nickwphoto
lol you want some shots from me fine ill get some up for you...
Yesterday we headed out to the "Bruise Brothers" wall and hit up a few climbs. Here's Richard making a clip on a 5.9.
A bird's eye view of a bird's nest.
Kelsey takes a break with a no-hands rest on a 5.9 climb. One common goal of climbers is to be able to sit back in the middle of a climb and point out the fact that they're not using any hands.
Tracy finished off a nice trad lead in good style.
Jess followed up, leading the same climb for her first successful lead climb ever. It's rated 5.8+, and trad to boot!
Richard eyes his next clip on a 5.10c.
Shortly thereafter he took a small fall.
Typical lighting on the climb in the Red River Gorge is sunlight diffused heavily by foliage, and on this day a bit of clouds as well. The result is often some really GREAT lighting for climbing photography. Plus, there's always a climb nearby with separate anchors to use for a photo setup, and the angle of many of the walls lends itself perfectly to photos. I love this place.
In the afternoon we met up with some fellow Alaskans, Grant and Cathy, and worked a few harder climbs. I shot a lot of pictures, so I didn't get as worked as everyone else who was climbing for me.
I told Richard to jump on this 5.10, thinking his fatigue might give me some good fall shots, but unfortunately this road trip is improving his climbing. I didn't get any falls.
www.morffed.com
Tracy and Jess both warmed up on this 5.6, feeling the pain of yesterdays climbs.
Jess even took a nice fall.
We had no clouds today, so the sunlight gave me a mottled brightness to deal with.
Here's Richard, working out of the foliage on a 5.8.
And later, pulling through a nice steep 5.10.
Even Jess followed us up this one.
Things were nice and relaxed with us. Eventually we sat down and just enjoyed some sunlight.
Richard's hat is starting to show some character.
We've got five or six more days to climb here, and then we're getting rid of Jess (She's flying home) so if you like climbing shots, keep checking up on us!
www.morffed.com
Cuong
-Fleetwood Mac
Thanks! We don't have much of an itinerary, but between the end of this week and the eighth of November we'll be hitting as many climbing areas and states as we can between Kentucky and Austin, TX. Then after the sixteenth we'll be heading through all the climbing areas in the heat of New Mexico, Arizona and So-Cal before we head north up the coast. If we drive through anybody's town and have a chance, we'd always love to stop in and say hi!
Here in the Red the weather has been downright chilly. Everyone is decked out in their sport climber finery, puffy down jackets and Mountain Hardwear logos are everywhere. We're still pulling down though, and even climbing some hard stuff for us! Here it goes!
(By the way, the journey forum has been DEAD for two whole days! Where is everyone?)
Yesterday we dragged out of camp nice and relaxed, and made our way to the Phantasia Wall. Kelsey started us off, heading up a 5.9+.
Richard made his own way up with both Kelsey and I shooting him.
Kelsey from his location, and I from mine.
A couple of us moved over and climbed a tricky 5.10b. Here's Kelsey making a clip below me.
Tracy pulls her way over a bulge, with the thick Kentucky foliage behind.
The rock in this area is a very interesting composition. This is a dead vertical wall of hard sandstone.
Every now and then the sun shone through the clouds and gave us some sweet colors in the trees.
Then, to finish off the evening with gusto, me and Kelsey decided we had to climb Twinkie, a 5.12 reputed to be the steepest 5.12 in the Red. It's overhung some enormous unmeasurable angle and is very intimidating. We took a while deciding who went first.
The light was low under the giant roof, but as the rain started falling heavily outside our quiet protected shelter, I managed a few decent shots.
It was hard enough that the shirt came off, even in the chilly weather.
The route has a lot of big holds, but this is undoubtedly the biggest.
And here's a glance back downwards at the belay.
www.morffed.com
My vantage point wasn't the greatest on this climb. Here he is clipping the anchors at the top of the route.
A short distance downhill were a few more nice routes we climbed and shot photos from. Here's Kelsey starting out on a 5.10c.
Tracy works her way up the first route we climbed, a 5.10.
Richard led one of two 5.9s that were side by side.
The climb we came to this area for is called "Fuzzy Undercling" and is a very nice 5.11b. A couple of powerful moves lead you into a long and beautiful route on nice easy holds. Here's Kelsey past the hard part, moving upwards.
Richard followed us up it as well, looking somewhat tired.
At least until he got to the namesake undercling, where you can wedge a leg in and take both hands completely off the rock, should you feel like it.
That's it for today! More climbing in the Red, coming up!
www.morffed.com
-Fleetwood Mac