Sunday, June 06, 2010

Fern Gully 5.2

Bob and I finally got out Saturday morning, before it got nice. We suffered for our art, BIG time. The hike in was brutal because all the crap we were carrying. Most of it is for cleaning routes and we leave at the base so it was not as bad coming back.

We started cutting a new trail only to find that it came out too far away from the Upper Face. It will be fine for the Wall of Possibilities. We were hoping to hike to the base of the Upper Face and start climbing. The brush was too thick to bushwhack through so we had to go to the German Face.

Bob climbed German Access and set a top anchor over Tack Auch. We then had to hoist our crap up the wall and then I followed, cleaning the gear. Finally we mad it to the base of the Upper Face.

I had one big goal for the day, and that was to put up a fixed line to get access to the top. I climbed up though the gully slinging a couple of saplings and the odd piece of gear to keep myself safe. I guess you could call it a route but it isn't anything I would ever clean for a real climb. Too much gardening for that.

I built an anchor and brought Bob up. Bob had one big goal for the day and that was to places top anchors for a new route. Bob bought a new drill over the winter and has been itching to use it. Unfortunately, by the time both of us were up we had to leave. Oh well!

The liken on the face very slippery and near impossible to remove. When it is dry it just flakes off. So all this rain is messing up both climbing and developing. God we need a break.

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