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A: 6 bolted anchors and an FA.
Sep. 8th, 2013 10:09 pmI invited a bunch of climbers to join me at Lac Sam for the weekend, including sleeping over at the cottage Saturday night. I got 8 climbers (including me) for Saturday, 4 over night, and 6 on Sunday.
Saturday we canoed across the lake and bushwhacked in to lower cliff. I lead a couple (mostly) established lines there and dropped three top ropes. Then re-climbed one of the with my good buddy Hilti and, truly, built an anchor. Then, started bouldering a bit on the start of an unclimbed line to take a look at it... the first few meters looked good, and what I could see of the next 7m looked hopeful, then it would be about 15m of see what I find. Took one fall low down (caught by a white tricam), lowered the couple feet to the ground, cleared a bit more loose rock, and climbed. Bottom tricky bit was probably around 5.8, then the next 7m had enough gear... and the final part, I discovered a beautiful right-slanting hand-crack up the upper slab section. A bunch of gardening, but great gear. The climb wasn't suitable for a top-rope as it angled rightwards the whole way, but left me at the top-anchor (tree) of another climb we'd established. Now, I just have to come up with a name. Despite the forecast for Saturday (80% POP with 3-5mm) we got only a few light sprinkles -- not enough to get anything, including the rock, wet.
Saturday after climbing we had a swim, BBQed, and played a couple boardgames while drinking Port and Scotch.
Sunday we went to upper cliff -- this is approached from the top, rather than below. I set up three ropes, taught three people how to rappel, and after the 5 were at the base, I started bolting anchors, so we didn't have to sling trees any more. Bolted 5 anchors (though a few more, at least, will need to go in), and then rapped down and did some climbing. Picked out a couple more likely-looking lines. Upper cliff has a lot less gear placements available, so looking at sport (or maybe mixed) and top-rope lines. And, Sunday was a gorgeous sunny, day -- warm in the sun on the rock, but cool otherwise. Perfect climbing weather.
Saturday we canoed across the lake and bushwhacked in to lower cliff. I lead a couple (mostly) established lines there and dropped three top ropes. Then re-climbed one of the with my good buddy Hilti and, truly, built an anchor. Then, started bouldering a bit on the start of an unclimbed line to take a look at it... the first few meters looked good, and what I could see of the next 7m looked hopeful, then it would be about 15m of see what I find. Took one fall low down (caught by a white tricam), lowered the couple feet to the ground, cleared a bit more loose rock, and climbed. Bottom tricky bit was probably around 5.8, then the next 7m had enough gear... and the final part, I discovered a beautiful right-slanting hand-crack up the upper slab section. A bunch of gardening, but great gear. The climb wasn't suitable for a top-rope as it angled rightwards the whole way, but left me at the top-anchor (tree) of another climb we'd established. Now, I just have to come up with a name. Despite the forecast for Saturday (80% POP with 3-5mm) we got only a few light sprinkles -- not enough to get anything, including the rock, wet.
Saturday after climbing we had a swim, BBQed, and played a couple boardgames while drinking Port and Scotch.
Sunday we went to upper cliff -- this is approached from the top, rather than below. I set up three ropes, taught three people how to rappel, and after the 5 were at the base, I started bolting anchors, so we didn't have to sling trees any more. Bolted 5 anchors (though a few more, at least, will need to go in), and then rapped down and did some climbing. Picked out a couple more likely-looking lines. Upper cliff has a lot less gear placements available, so looking at sport (or maybe mixed) and top-rope lines. And, Sunday was a gorgeous sunny, day -- warm in the sun on the rock, but cool otherwise. Perfect climbing weather.
