The experienced trad leaders.
The alarm went off at four am. I mumble out loud that four is not an hour that people get up at. I was forced to get up anyway. After only three and a half hours of sleep.
We went to camp to pick up Storm. It was Alex and Storm's day to climb Epinephrine. And my and Arie's day to lead all by ourselves.
Storm opened the car door and started spewing a stream of colorful expletives. I tried to sympathize with him about rising at this un-godly hour. He ignored me and continued on. In all of Storm's excitement and flowing adrenaline he ripped the door handle off the rental car. As I waived the car insurance option, many colorful words sprang to my lips as well.
Storm needed a polypro shirt to wear so I graciously took the one off my back that I have been wearing for five straight climbing days and gave it to him. He took off Arie's somewhat cleaner cotton shirt that he borrowed and we made the trade. My shirt was going to climb Epinepherine!
We drove the dirt roads (one of many rental car no-no's) until we found the trail head they needed to be at, which was already filled with vehicles. The boys ran from the car while I tried to block the single lane road the best I could to prevent others from beating them to the base of Epinephrine.
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I took a short 20 minute nap, photographed the wild mustangs feeding in the town's baseball diamond, played a hand of video poker at the gas station, and went to camp to pick up Arie.
Our respective climbing partners have left us for the day. Our mentors are off to tackle larger things. He and I fend for ourselves.
And have a wonderful time together.
Up to this point, I have led three routes. Arie has not yet lead a trad route. We are excited to think about how we will be forced to step up to the occasion and lead all by ourselves. With only us to rely on. With our limited combined knowledge. And I was super thrilled to be tackling only one-pitch routes.
Unlike all the other days of being lost forever in the desert wandering to find the correct trail, Arie and I had no trouble. Although there was some deliberation as to which was really the south side of the parking lot. Not bad. A sign to a good day.
We were at the bottom of the talus field at Moderate Mecca and I just trudged directly straight up to the rock wall. I didn't even take time to walk around the boulders. Just up and over. Head on. Arie apparently had some trouble with my path finding ability. I explain how I was trained by Alex. He seems to understand, even became sympathetic, and continued to follow me to the base of the two climbs that we were to dominate.
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Abbey Road (5.3) starts out as a nice hand crack with a few nice moves higher up. And Arie did AWESOME! Wasn't even troubled by the guidebooks warning to be super careful of all the loose and fragile rock. And took great care in not kicking anything down onto his belayer. Fearless, he just climbed and searched for good gear placements. And built the solidest anchor I have ever seen. He did learn a few valuable lessons about rope drag though. That maybe zig-zaging the rope isn't a good idea. And it could be helpful if you extend the runners instead of keeping them super short below bulging areas. From then on all of his runners were extended as long as possible and often two were used, just in case.
We contemplated doing a 40' traverse to get to some rap rings. We were curious to see if we would survive rapping with the extra 7mm rope we had. The same rope that Alex tried to hide from me until after I was already on the plane, so that I didn't get terrified of the dental floss strand and back out. Enough time and I became a bit intrigued. But we walked off instead. Because as we have learned: why rap when you can walk?
Up until this point in the trip I had been thinking that maybe leading just isn't for me. It's a bit scary. And calls for a whole new level of focus. But then I led.
And I had the same feeling I had after the other times. And I love it! Leading is wonderful and I want to do it all the time. It's just so different than seconding. It makes me feel so good and proud and alive. Like I have accomplished something huge. And I guess I have. Living and laughing louder at death and walking a bit closer to that line in between. Arie is a perfect climbing partner for me. He is so kind and patient, super funny and made me feel very comfortable without any intimidation. I really hope he and I will climb together a lot more.
Arie led PennyLane (5.4), the finger crack with a small roof that demanded some concentration. And again he did great, praising Storm's rack the entire time after I made some comment about it being smaller than Alex's.
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After we decided that we couldn't do the walk-off and subsequent hike back for the 4th time, we bouldered, explored and played in some caves and other erosion chambers. We crashed a wedding party that was having their pictures taken. Two filthy dirty climbers with their arms around the bride swigging champagne from a bottle. Great fun.
Storm called and said they wouldn't be back until around 10:30 pm. We decided to wait for them to eat dinner. Storm is impressed with our solidarity. Although we do take showers before their return.
To pass the time, Arie and I hit the strip. He has been obsessed with the Bellagio Casino, ever since seeing Ocean's 11. We watched the choreographed fountain show and explored many other casinos, bouldering on whatever we could find.
We headed back to the hotel, met Storm and Alex, ate, shared stories, had a champagne toast, and finally went to sleep after an incredible day.
