Yeah, The Mace, way fun.
Secret beta is that one 70m rope works fine for 2 raps off the back--3 counting the short one back to the step across move--I had a handy excuse not to do the psychotic jump as my ankle is sprained from a recent bike crash, no health insurance is a good de-motivator as well. You now rap from the metal summit register---weird and something neither of us had ever seen before which took us a bit to figure out, so new there are no rope grooves and only scant friction burns on the rock.
My partner Pat had a rope in a pack-strong!- and I had my camera bag -stupid!- on our backs which was a nightmare in the chimneys and not the way to go--no wonder people balk at the 5.9+ rating, must be as dumb as we were. Yet the climbing in actuallity is pretty chill, it's when you choose to superflously accessorize that you pay dearly, like the high-heeled woman with her foot caught beneath the brake pedal.
Off the top I had Pat posing with Metolius prusik/sewn rapel cords that photo ed Brooke S had sent along for shots (on El Cap, but i figured this was a close second, just smaller by a one power of 10 right?). Funny because the prop ended up saving the day as Pat rapped a no pro chimney and had to prusik back up... Oh, and pants are definitely key, thanks for that tidbit--especially in full sun and 90 degree heat!
What would be really sick is to invent a desert climber suit (I am sure someone's thought of this), like the football mascots have, with AC in them. Or next time we could just do a Charlie Chicken and Barney ascent...would Climbing be psyched running a story on a desert FA by a chicken and a dinosaur?--I think we could make it happen-- But which one would i be? hmmmm...
So Pat and I then staggered around decadent downtown Sedona covered in sweat and red dust and too proud/cheap to cave in to a $10 hot dog and $5 water so drove up to Flag--amazing how severe dehydration can mimic 3 hits of acid but it made the scenic drive amazingly so and without the nasty hangover.
Comedy of errors--it never ends.
No comments:
Post a Comment