My blog posting has not kept up with the work Jan and I are doing outside. This summer we have spent time developing top access and cleaning potential routes. Bone Yard is coming but cleaning a 100 foot pitch is harder than a 30 foot slab (Marine Slab). Since August, we have been mostly at Marine Slab which brings me to the point of this post...damaged fixed lines.
It can be difficult to gain access to the top of a face. We have to drag all out gear up. Proper anchor placements need to be found and set before we can rap over the face to start cleaning and/or climbing. Often, these anchor are quite far back. We loose an hour and waste energy before we even get started.
We leave fixed lines over the faces we are working on to gain fast and safe access. Theses lines are anchored to either natural protection or bolts well above the climbing face and left for several weeks as we work the area. This weekend, we found that are fixed lines had been cut. This was disappointing and concerning. I think it was likely bored teenagers. I am hoping it was not someone from the climbing community. We had to confirm the anchors and what remained of the ropes were still good.
Despite the delay, we bolted 2 new lines on Sunday. They still need to be named and graded but more on that in the next post.
