Detour

While my path toward hard sport routes and bouldering this fall has a road block in it, I have found a new way to stay active at the crag.  I am thankful for this unfortunate injury event in some ways because I probably would have never "found the time" to exercise the discipline of trad climbing or never have wanted to carry my static rope and gear to the crag to shoot photos.  It's hard to be well balanced when you are healthy.  My mind wants to keep pushing and pushing higher and higher with a tendency to neglect the abundance of recreational opportunities at my doorstep.  I admit that when I am totally committed to a route or boulder I sacrifice a lot and tend to do work exclusively on my target until it gets done.  That's just how I work.

The first day of my realization and recognition of this detour was on a beautiful Saturday afternoon.  It was one of those days that you absolutely must be outside to enjoy the gift of nature.  So, the decision was made to rally with camera and static rope to the crag with Nate dog and Mark Williams.  Psyched.

This is what I got.

At the end of the day it was totally worth the effort to ascend an 80 foot line for these shots.  

Sunday was another gorgeous day here in the south, 65 degrees and sunny with colorful leaves surrounding us in every direction.  Well, we got off to a slow start.  After some morning plans that were now taken care of and a nap shortly after that Chandler and I headed to Leeda to put my new trad gear to use.  I was a little nervous as this was my first time leading trad and had only my knowledge from practicing with the gear on the ground.  It's not like it was some uber scary knee knocking lead.  I knew what I was doing, I had just never done it.  So, I picked a splitter 5.8 and pulled off the ground to put in my first piece at about 10 ft.  Psyched!  Then another not too far above that, and another not too far above that one...  So, I'm nearing the top and ummmmm.....ok,  I need to make sure I don't run out of useable gear now. Ok.  Done!  Chandler followed on top rope with a send and said she loved it.  We'll get her placing the gear on that one next time.  The next route was a 5.8+ that was pretty heady off the ground.  A 15 foot overhung section of 5.8 or so, lead to a stance and a nice corner crack.  Cool.  I didn't fall on any of my gear but I'm pretty sure it was all bomber.  Thanks to Metolius' color coded cams and matching FS mini biners finding gear was easy and the range finder made it easy to know if I had chosen the right piece.  Thanks Metolius!  

Please excuse the iphone photos.

Up the splitter and right under the high roof.

Sketchy start behind Chan and up the corner.

On a side note, Kurt and I rep Entre Prises climbing now and we are starting to see the work pay off.  I found some in First Avenue Rocks of Birmingham, AL.  Thanks yall!  Check out the new EP logo on the van the next time you drive by the house too. 

That's all for now. 

Cheddar