Trip Report: Moore's Wall: June 28, 2004
Summary:
Joe leads Sentinel Buttress!
Zoo View proper falls!
Joe leads Wailing Wall!
TR Red Point acheived on Quaker State!
Detailed:
Joe and I played hooky on Monday to head out to Moore's and do some climbing. The weather report wasn't glowing (30% chance t-storms), and we hit rain in Greensboro, but we ended up having a great day.
After reading the recent approach issues on CCC website regarding a local protecting his private land on Tory's Den Road with a gun, we decided to hike in. OK, the real reason was that even though we each have an SUV in our names, we ended up driving my little purple Honda Civic...no match for that road.
We started off on Sentinal Buttress (5.5) with Zoo View (5.7) being the ultimate goal. Joe felt confident leading the pitch. I was a bit hesitant since I hadn't had a whole lot of time to go over the finer points of placing pro, building anchors, etc. But I knew the pitch was far below his ability level (and mine) and I hate leading Sentinel, so he went for it.
He did a fine job; the pro was good (for the most part). His best piece, by far, was a red tri-cam resting in a pocket. It was so good that we almost had to leave it there for y'all to see later on. It was my first time climbing Sentinel when the rock was dry...it is actually a very fun climb!
From the Crow's Nest, I set out on the left traverse of Zoo View. Ever since my first attempt at this route a year ago, I had been envisioning making the crux moves. (Flashback: On my first attempt, for which Joe was a party, too, I reached a ledge under the crux roof and decided against pulling up through the roof, opting instead for bypassing it on the left.)
I remembered one mistake of the previous attempt was that I wasted a lot of energy placing a lot of gear (hey, that traverse is scary!) and that all that gear also created a great deal of rope drag. With this in mind, I placed 3 pieces up to the roof. There I slotted the #2 camalot just under the roof and, with a big breath, set off. Right hand on the bug jug, left hand to the big jug. Right hand big jug. Legs dangling over the void. Pull through two or three massive holds and end up on top of the roof. What a feeling! What a cool sequence! The move is actually easier than the roof move on the 3 Bears wall at Pilot since the feet are better, but the exposure is killer and provides quite a rush.
The rest of the route is fairly mundane, a quick 5.4 scramble to the top, gear every 30 feet or so.
We rapped off Sentinel and decided to get over to the Amphitheater. It took us a long time to get over there as we spent some time doing some route finding on the Central Wall. But we finally got there and Joe racked up for Wailing Wall (5.6). This lead of his was very strong, with near-perfect gear placements and great rope direction. His 35' runout on the wall itself was a bit unnerving (Bolt-Skipper strikes again!) but the route was, again, well within his ability. At the top, we celebrated his 5.6 lead by eating some wild blueberries. :p
Per tradition, we set up a top rope in Quaker State (5.11a). Joe had tweaked his wrist a bit on Wailing Wall, so wasn't up for giving it a go, so I went. One of my goals was to red-point this route (if that term can be applied to TR ascents). My previous time I came off once. After sending it straight through this time, I can definitely see the 5.11a rating. It is far more sustained than Sunshine (5.10b) at Seneca, and has one or two harder moves. I think the moves don't get harder than 5.10c/d, but the endurance definitely pushed it into easy 5.11 terrain. I think that's my favorite route.
We headed back to the Central Wall and Joe racked up to do Washboard (5.6), a route neither of us had done before. Just after I put him on belay, we heard thunder. Being quite conservative, we decided we were happy with our day and hiked on out. Good thing too, because while we had been thinking it was 4:30, it was really 6:30 (no watches that day).
Four routes, four milestones. A very good climbing day and the best Monday I've had in a long time. ;)
Joe leads Sentinel Buttress!
Zoo View proper falls!
Joe leads Wailing Wall!
TR Red Point acheived on Quaker State!
Detailed:
Joe and I played hooky on Monday to head out to Moore's and do some climbing. The weather report wasn't glowing (30% chance t-storms), and we hit rain in Greensboro, but we ended up having a great day.
After reading the recent approach issues on CCC website regarding a local protecting his private land on Tory's Den Road with a gun, we decided to hike in. OK, the real reason was that even though we each have an SUV in our names, we ended up driving my little purple Honda Civic...no match for that road.
We started off on Sentinal Buttress (5.5) with Zoo View (5.7) being the ultimate goal. Joe felt confident leading the pitch. I was a bit hesitant since I hadn't had a whole lot of time to go over the finer points of placing pro, building anchors, etc. But I knew the pitch was far below his ability level (and mine) and I hate leading Sentinel, so he went for it.
He did a fine job; the pro was good (for the most part). His best piece, by far, was a red tri-cam resting in a pocket. It was so good that we almost had to leave it there for y'all to see later on. It was my first time climbing Sentinel when the rock was dry...it is actually a very fun climb!
From the Crow's Nest, I set out on the left traverse of Zoo View. Ever since my first attempt at this route a year ago, I had been envisioning making the crux moves. (Flashback: On my first attempt, for which Joe was a party, too, I reached a ledge under the crux roof and decided against pulling up through the roof, opting instead for bypassing it on the left.)
I remembered one mistake of the previous attempt was that I wasted a lot of energy placing a lot of gear (hey, that traverse is scary!) and that all that gear also created a great deal of rope drag. With this in mind, I placed 3 pieces up to the roof. There I slotted the #2 camalot just under the roof and, with a big breath, set off. Right hand on the bug jug, left hand to the big jug. Right hand big jug. Legs dangling over the void. Pull through two or three massive holds and end up on top of the roof. What a feeling! What a cool sequence! The move is actually easier than the roof move on the 3 Bears wall at Pilot since the feet are better, but the exposure is killer and provides quite a rush.
The rest of the route is fairly mundane, a quick 5.4 scramble to the top, gear every 30 feet or so.
We rapped off Sentinel and decided to get over to the Amphitheater. It took us a long time to get over there as we spent some time doing some route finding on the Central Wall. But we finally got there and Joe racked up for Wailing Wall (5.6). This lead of his was very strong, with near-perfect gear placements and great rope direction. His 35' runout on the wall itself was a bit unnerving (Bolt-Skipper strikes again!) but the route was, again, well within his ability. At the top, we celebrated his 5.6 lead by eating some wild blueberries. :p
Per tradition, we set up a top rope in Quaker State (5.11a). Joe had tweaked his wrist a bit on Wailing Wall, so wasn't up for giving it a go, so I went. One of my goals was to red-point this route (if that term can be applied to TR ascents). My previous time I came off once. After sending it straight through this time, I can definitely see the 5.11a rating. It is far more sustained than Sunshine (5.10b) at Seneca, and has one or two harder moves. I think the moves don't get harder than 5.10c/d, but the endurance definitely pushed it into easy 5.11 terrain. I think that's my favorite route.
We headed back to the Central Wall and Joe racked up to do Washboard (5.6), a route neither of us had done before. Just after I put him on belay, we heard thunder. Being quite conservative, we decided we were happy with our day and hiked on out. Good thing too, because while we had been thinking it was 4:30, it was really 6:30 (no watches that day).
Four routes, four milestones. A very good climbing day and the best Monday I've had in a long time. ;)
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