On April Fools Day, Hayley, Dennis & I wandered up to Alabama Hills for a day of superb climbing. We left Ridgecrest around 9:30am and got back around 8pm. It was great temperature so we climbed in the shade all day until the very end-when we braved the heat at the Peter Gabriel Cliff. There were lots of four wheelers out n about, and a few scattered groups of climbers, but we never had to pick a number for a climb.
We climbed the following routes:
—At Cattle Pocket—
The Split (5.8)
The Fizz (5.10b)
Choss Moss & Butt Floss (5.10a)
—Temple of Kali—
Kali Sacrifice (5.10a)
Kew (5.10a)
Wildest Dreams (5.10a)
—Peter Gabriel Cliff—
Passion (5.10d)
Wanting Contact (5.10b)
—Summary—
Hayley climbed 5 new routes, and onsighted/flashed them all except Passion. The bold move at the bulge taunted her, ever so briefly. I thought it was a valiant attempt, considering it was #7 of the day! Seriously though, she was wearing a smile all day and just a joy to climb with-what fun.
The redpoint of Passion is hers (& mine) for the taking. After a clean run on TR, I’m excited to do it “for reals”. I wonder when that will be? Speaking of redpoints, I led everything clean. My left elbow started bugging me, so I decided to play it safe and TR the last two routes. That way, if it got really painful, I could take it easy.
The Peter Gabriel Cliff was new for me, and I thought it fun. It’s super sharp-Hayley called it a cheese grater. It’s a beautiful cliff as it’s covered with orange and green moss/algae stuff. We both thought the 5.10b at the wall was a lot of fun. We wondered why it didn’t get any stars.
Dennis climbed the routes at the Cattle Pocket-but after that, his fingertips were shredded so he was our belay slave/photographer. THANKS HUN!
We had 7.5 hours of killer climbing, did 8 fun & challenging climbs. What a day. To paraphrase a brit, “It was brilliant!”.