Rec.climbers enjoy a WET one!: trip report
TradMan
Hey gang,
This weekend two rec.climbers from New York state cruised down
to Chattanooga to check out the local crags and enjoy some warmer
weather. Unfortunately, saturday morning began foggy and wet. Since they
had driven so far we decided to hike up to the Tennessee Wall anyway and
see if we could find some dry rock.
Only two other groups were at T-wall and were out-of-towners
who were camping nearby. We found no dry routes so we picked a *** 90'
5.8 crack called Passages, which I had led a year before, to climb wet!
I racked up and headed up the route thinking that my feet would
be skating off of every hold. Oddly enough, the positive holds and the
crack-wedging with my feet worked fine. The climbing felt pretty solid
and slip-free in spite of being very soggy. The gear placed solidly also
until I reached a thin area with no really good holds about 10 feet
above my last pro.
I found a small deep half inch pocket about waist high and three
feet left. I couldn't see into it but I stuffed in a tiny TCU. It didn't
feel too good so I also threw in a nut. Both pieces moved over and the
nut almost fell out as I tried the dicey wet moves above them. I got
really spooked seeing this and stepped back down cussing and, well
I admit it, whining! (Steven gave me a full 1.0 on the whine meter.)
Steven and Kerry, my new New Yorker friends, tried to yell up
some encouragement as I stood there getting very irritated at being 75'
up a wet-ass climb, looking at a 20 footer if these two mangy pieces
fell out. Finally I relaxed and took out the nut, working in a different
nut and turning it up on it's wide side. Bomber. I did the shaky moves
above and topped out, setting up a toprope.
Both Steven and Kerry cruised the wet route, each of them
finding a smoother and better sequence near the top and Steven found a
good layback section where I had handjammed. Neither of them whining in
the least!
We then moved to the base of Nappy, a **5.7 crack where
Steven took the lead up the route for 15', then cruising across a
5.5 next to it to a 5.7 arete with bulges and overhangs to top out.
He splashed in little pockets with puddles and manuevered(sp?) over
slick slopers. Since his variation, which took skillful rope management
to prevent ropedrag, crossed the routes Nappy, New beginnings, and
Plastic Toys, we jokingly named it Nappy New Toys. It was really funny
and strange to be the only ones climbing at T-wall.
Sunday was foggy and wet also but we were on a roll. We blasted
up to a nearby local spot and Steven hopped on lead on a 130' 5.7 face
about 40' wide and dripping wet. He found good pro and lots of puddles,
snagging the onsight and running it out with less than 10 or so pieces
of pro.
Kerry pretty much raced up the soggy face without a slip, and
then I went up and moved the anchor over to a 5.9 arete that is about
my favorite route at the grade. Steven picked his way up the loose, wet
beginning moves to the 3' roof. He found a new variation of the moves
to gain the upper half of the route and then worked his way up to the
final overhangs. Several strenuous cranking moves got him offroute
slightly onto the 5.10ish overhanging ledges nearby. He rested
underneath the ledges as it rained for a minute or two, grinning down at
Kerry and I as we scrambled for our rain shells at the belay. After
the shower, he fought his way to the top.
Kerry gave the route a couple of hard tries, finding ways
of using technique and footwork instead of arm cranking. I went up last
and showed Steven the standard easier variation by sticking to the 5.9
moves. Even on toprope, the height (130'+), the amount of rope out, and
the wet holds added up to a hair raising and pumpy ascent.
Sunday night we showered and went out to a local microbrewery
and grill where the Angler's Pasta with crawfish, salmon and shrimp was
incredible. Great conversation, lots of joking about our somewhat inept
waiter, samples of six types of brew, and a walk down to the river
nearby wrapped up our visit together.
Melinda and I are looking forward to visiting them up in NY and
climbing at the Gunks. They described many fantastic sounding one and
two pitch routes where you get plenty of exposure and excitement even at
seemingly moderate grades.
Chalk up another successful, though soggy, weekend of enjoying
adventures with newfound friends from rec.climbing. We had a blast guys!
TradMan
Steven Cherry
Tradman's report of his New York visitors reminds me to ask:
I'm curious, if anyone has the experience to compare Gunks and Tennessee
ratings, whether my own impressions are valid -- I found them to be
between one and two notches off. T-Wall's Passages, the 5.8, struck me as
roughly comparable to Baby (5.6); probably not more than a + mark
different.
The unnamed 5.6-5.7 in the "local crag" seemed comparable to Jackie or
Dennis, that is, at the easy end of 5.5. (One difference is that my rack
would have been stretched to make this pitch, as it's quite long and
mostly similar-sized pro (TCU's and Camalot Jrs). Has anyone here been to
both?
-steven-
--
<s...@panix.com> <s...@acm.org>
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
"Some days you wake and immediately start to worry. Nothing in
particular is wrong. It's just the suspicion that forces are
aligning quietly and there will be trouble."
Jenny Holzer, from _The Living Series_
Steven Cherry
>Hey gang,
> This weekend two rec.climbers from New York state cruised down
>to Chattanooga to check out the local crags and enjoy some warmer
>weather. Unfortunately, saturday morning began foggy and wet. Since they
>had driven so far we decided to hike up to the Tennessee Wall anyway and
>see if we could find some dry rock.
All I can say is, Tennessee has fantastic rock, and the best,
biggest-hearted people in the world. Tennessee Wall is everything it's
"cracked" up to be, that "local crag" was exceptional, and Tradman and his
wonderful family were everything that Southern hospitality is said to be.
The climbing was truly superb. Lots of horizontal as well as vertical
cracks, dikes (a la Lovers Leap) running every which way, roofs with
(mostly) good holds above them, and approaches long enough to get the
blood flowing as you move through beautiful woods on nice trails.
I can't wait to get Tradman up to the Gunks, return all the favors, and
put him on Baby, Directissima, and all the rest.
JCClimbs
Steven writes:
>I'm curious, if anyone has the experience to compare >Gunks and Tennessee
>ratings, whether my own impressions are valid -- I found >them to be
>between one and two notches off. T-Wall's Passages, the >5.8, struck me
as
>roughly comparable to Baby (5.6); probably not more than >a + mark
>different.
>The unnamed 5.6-5.7 in the "local crag" seemed >comparable to Jackie or
>Dennis, that is, at the easy end of 5.5. (One difference is >that my rack
>would have been stretched to make this pitch, as it's >quite long and
>mostly similar-sized pro (TCU's and Camalot Jrs). Has >anyone here been
to
>both?
I can't claim to have extensive knowledge of the Gunks, although I've
climbed there a bit, can claim to have an intimate familiarity with the
T-wall. My impression is that the ratings are roughly comparable,
particularly in the 9 & 10 range, and that both are a bit stiff compared
to other areas. Many, many "11" climbers have been spanked on T-Wall 10bs.
The T-wall doesn't have the range of classic moderates that the Gunks has,
and maybe that messes everything up at the low end--at the T-Wall if it
ain't 9 or up it must be 8.
As it happens, my last trip to the Gunks I slid by while in NY on business
and had no one to climb with, so pulled out Mr. Soloist and went for some
moderates like Birdland, Overhanging Layback, Son of Easy O, Classic,
Ken's Crack etc. Even with the extra stress of the solo thing found these
to be about right, and in fact went back and free soloed P1 of Birdland,
which I thought was a little easy for grade. In fact I have a hard time
seeing how that's an 8+ when Roseland (which I though was quite a bit
harder) is only a 9. But, I was never any good with ratings anyway.