Climbing at Upper Limits
Apr. 25th, 2007 11:10 pmI went climbing at Upper Limits in Bloomington Illinois, about 45 minute drive from Peoria, where I'm staying. Awesome climbing! They're set up in some 65-foot high abandoned concrete grain silos, making for some wonderfully long climbs. I'm used to 24-28 foot climbs at Coyote, or a bit more at Vertical Reality -- these were more than twice that, and given the "start height" of the climber (me), essentially about 2.5 times the climbing distance.
I climbed one 5.9 clean the first time up it. What I found was interesting, is that the climbs didn't seem to have the technically challenging moves I'd have expected of the 5.9s or 5.10s in Ottawa (or elsewhere), but that the fatigue of the far longer climb added its own challenge, and while no move was as challenging as I might have expected of say a 5.9, but I think it might have been close to as difficult to complete clean (with no falls, and no hanging on the rope) as the climbs in Ottawa, it would be quite a bit easier to complete than several of the 5.9s I'm used to if you rest on the rope a few times, as there was no real "crux" move that you had to get by to complete the climb.
I'm tempted to go back tomorrow, despite the fact that I need to pack for home tomorrow evening, too. Maybe I'll only climb for a couple hours tomorrow, rather than the 3 I did today. :)
I climbed one 5.9 clean the first time up it. What I found was interesting, is that the climbs didn't seem to have the technically challenging moves I'd have expected of the 5.9s or 5.10s in Ottawa (or elsewhere), but that the fatigue of the far longer climb added its own challenge, and while no move was as challenging as I might have expected of say a 5.9, but I think it might have been close to as difficult to complete clean (with no falls, and no hanging on the rope) as the climbs in Ottawa, it would be quite a bit easier to complete than several of the 5.9s I'm used to if you rest on the rope a few times, as there was no real "crux" move that you had to get by to complete the climb.
I'm tempted to go back tomorrow, despite the fact that I need to pack for home tomorrow evening, too. Maybe I'll only climb for a couple hours tomorrow, rather than the 3 I did today. :)