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Squamish day 6
Aug. 27th, 2015 09:57 pmToday was a bit of an adventure. Unintentional adventure.
We were going to do Star Chek (5.9 3-pitch, though really only 5.8) which climbs out of a gorge back up to road level -- so you rappel in. It is a popular route, so there was a pair ahead of us, and likely people coming behind as well. The topo shows 4 short rappels down the face, or after the first rappel, a 50m rappel off the edge of the rising ramp -- both ending up at river level. With 3 people and two ropes, we decided to go for the 50m 2nd rappel and do it all in one shot. I go first, and after I'm down, I notice that the bench you land on doesn't connect to the bench the climb starts from. There is river in the way. Oops. But, 50m away, with a river running through the gorge -- we can't hear each other. I manage to wave Jaimy back from following on the rappel. Then walk to the ropes, tie-in to one, walk back out to where I can be seen, to show (hopefully) which rope I'm tied-in on. (The pull rope, not the blocked rope -- that gives me the blocked rope as a backup, and for aid.) Then I get to go up the completely uncleaned, steep, face. Through a combination of tight belay, thrashing, aid off the other rope, and perserverance I do make it back to the top -- though not without trashing 3 of the fingers on my left hand. I didn't notice the damage at the time -- only later.
After I got back out, we finished the rappel, did the climb and some more sport:
Star Chek (5.9, 3 pitches) - follow
Mystery (5.9) - TR
Real TV (5.10a) - TR
Awake in a Ditch with a Horse Licking Your Face (5.8) - follow
Flaming Arete (5.7) - lead.
I was exhausted by the struggle up, and really tired by the end of today. Tomorrow it is supposed to rain -- and if so, rest day.
We were going to do Star Chek (5.9 3-pitch, though really only 5.8) which climbs out of a gorge back up to road level -- so you rappel in. It is a popular route, so there was a pair ahead of us, and likely people coming behind as well. The topo shows 4 short rappels down the face, or after the first rappel, a 50m rappel off the edge of the rising ramp -- both ending up at river level. With 3 people and two ropes, we decided to go for the 50m 2nd rappel and do it all in one shot. I go first, and after I'm down, I notice that the bench you land on doesn't connect to the bench the climb starts from. There is river in the way. Oops. But, 50m away, with a river running through the gorge -- we can't hear each other. I manage to wave Jaimy back from following on the rappel. Then walk to the ropes, tie-in to one, walk back out to where I can be seen, to show (hopefully) which rope I'm tied-in on. (The pull rope, not the blocked rope -- that gives me the blocked rope as a backup, and for aid.) Then I get to go up the completely uncleaned, steep, face. Through a combination of tight belay, thrashing, aid off the other rope, and perserverance I do make it back to the top -- though not without trashing 3 of the fingers on my left hand. I didn't notice the damage at the time -- only later.
After I got back out, we finished the rappel, did the climb and some more sport:
Star Chek (5.9, 3 pitches) - follow
Mystery (5.9) - TR
Real TV (5.10a) - TR
Awake in a Ditch with a Horse Licking Your Face (5.8) - follow
Flaming Arete (5.7) - lead.
I was exhausted by the struggle up, and really tired by the end of today. Tomorrow it is supposed to rain -- and if so, rest day.
