Monday, May 18, 2009

New Top Anchors




Bob, Jan and myself went climbing  Saturday morning.  We did several things at the new face.  We placed a fixed line up the easy line we climbed last time.  This will allow us to just grab an ascender device, clip it on the fixed line and go.  This is apposed to lead climbing it then following. 
 Once on top, we placed 2 sets of top anchors over lines that Jan and I were looking at the last time we were up.  Then we set top ropes over each line.  I had done some cleaning on my line previously, so Bob was eager to try it out while Jan belayed him.

I went over to Jan's line and began cleaning.  The top half was quite clean but about 1/2 way down I ran into a couple of loose blocks that had to come off.  There was one really big one that is definitely hollow but I couldn't budge.  Two of us will have to get at it with crow bars.
  In the last picture, you can see a block that I have just pulled off.  It is about 10 feet below me and picking up speed as it whistles towards Jan (he was actually no where near where it landed).  The next time we're out, we are going to start bolting.  My line is a little stiffer than I thought, probably about 5.9.  Jan's line has a couple of potential routes in the 5.7 range.

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