Frustration Creek, 06/15/2012

On Friday afternoon after getting all of our stuff unpacked and getting settled back in at our appartment, we decided that we should head up the canyon so that I could finish bolting a route that I had started several months ago.  We headed up the canyon to hike out to the route which is about a mile from the road, but as we started hiking, we found that the trail was overgrown, there was a lot of poison ivy, and there were tons of annoying bugs, so we decided that maybe the area wasn't a summer area.  Instead we just headed to Frustration Creek since it was only about 5 minutes away and gets afternoon shade. 

Now Amy has always hated the 5.7 called "Rumble in the Rubble", I'm not sure why, but she feels like it is much harder than 5.7, so I decided that it was time for her to lead it.  I lead it first to hang the draws for her, and then she lead it as well and got the redpoint without any problems.  I think she still thought it was harder than 5.7, but she did great.

Next I wanted to do "Three Kings" because it is the route that I feel like is much harder than it's 5.10a rating.  Three Kings is like a slab route that has just be tipped up until it is almost vertical and has these tiny little sharp edges that you can use for holds.  I climbed the route cleanly, then Amy TR'd it.

Showing Danny where to go

After that, Danny wanted to climb, so we had him TR the slab that I had put a bolted anchor at the top of back in April.  Unfortunately, the only photos we got were of Danny's TR, but they are still pretty fun.

 

Climbing next to Danny

Arriving at the anchors

St. George, UT, 06/08/2012 - 06/14/2012

My little brother was gone serving a mission for our church for two years and returned in the middle of May. Since no one in the family had seen him in two years, my parents decided to get a couple of condos for a week in St. George, UT so that we could hang out and catch up with him.  Of course St. George has quite a bit of fun climbing so we obviously had to use the trip to get as much climbing in as possible too.

We drove out to St. George after work on Thursday the 7th and arived in beautiful St. George around 10:00 pm.  We said hi to everyone and talked for a little bit, but soon we headed off to bed since it was June and we wouldn't be able to climb very late in the day because of the heat.  In the morning we convinced my sister Steph and my brother Steven to join us as we headed to Chuckwalla wall to do some climbing. 

We had two ropes and four people with us so we decided to set them both up to make it so we could get more climbs in, but I was the only one who wanted to lead, so I started out by running up Apostasy (5.10a), then set up Sands of Blood (5.9) and everyone else took turns TRing both routes with Amy going last so that she could clean.

Steph on Apostasy

Everyone had fun, but Steven had forgotten to bring his climbing gear to St. George, so he was climbing in dress shoes (they were all he had brought), and Steph, Steven and Amy all got pretty pumped with the first two climbs, so they were all ready to head out.  I on the other hand wanted to get some more climbing in, and since I want to try and redpoint 20 5.12s in 2012, I figured I had better give one a try.

I chose a 5.12a called "Pilgrimage". This route is steep and powerful, but the crux is between the second and third bolts, so I figured it would be good since I'd get it out of the way early.  It was a good thing, I did have to hang once to figure out the crux, but it went just fine, the problem was my terrible lack of endurance.  After the crux I ended up hanging on almost every single bolt just because I was too pumped to hang onto the good jugs.  I also wasn't ready for the 5.11 moves from the last bolt to the anchors and took several falls there before I finally clipped the chains.  Overall it was a really fun route with good moves, but I definately don't have that kind of power endurance.  I'll have to work on that;)

After that it was getting quite hot, and all of us were too dead to continue climbing, so we called it a day.

The next day we decided to climb at Black Rocks, unfortunately we didn't realize that Black Rocks was closed for the desert tortouses or something like that, so since there isn't a whole lot of climbing right by Black Rocks, and since Amy wanted to try making it up Apostasy cleanly on TR, we decided just to head back to Chuckwala Wall again.

Steph on Apostasy and me on Dirtbag, both 5.10a

Steven on Apostasy

This time we did 4 routes.  Once again we started on Apostasy and Sands of Blood, but this time both Amy and Steven also lead the route (we got Steven some new shoes Friday afternoon), and Amy almost TR'd Apostasy cleanly (we'll have to go back some time so that she can get it).  After those routes we moved over and did the two routes to the left of them, a 5.10a called "Dirtbag" and a 5.10c called "Popular Demand".  I redpointed the two routes and everyone else took turns TRing them.  Once again, the shade was quickly leaving the wall and it was getting hot, so we packed up and headed out for the day.

Amy on Apostasy

Me on Popular Demand - 5.10c

Steven on Popular Demand

On Monday the 13th, we decided to go to Green Valley Gap.  My nephiews Aiden and Matty both wanted to try climbing and I knew that there was some super easy stuff there so we decided to let them try it out.  I started by soloing up a 5.3 called "Brazilian Ninjas" to set up a TR for them and they each took turns on the route. 

Matty on Brazilian Ninjas

 

Aiden on Brazilian Ninjas

Mike on Brazilian Ninjas

Once they were done, we decided to do some slightly harder climbs to let the adults try since my brother-in-law Mike had joined us for the morning.  We next climbed a 5.9 called "Perky's Playground", and a 5.10b called "Beggars and Choosers".  Both Amy and I redpointed both routes, and Stephanie and Steven TR'd them both, and Mike TR'd Perky's Playground.

 

Mike on Perkey's Playground

After that all of the tag alongs headed out, so Amy and I decided to do some more difficult climbs before it got way too hot.  I recommended that Amy try leading a 5.10a called "Puppet Strings"  because it is well protected, ends with a pretty good sized roof, and would be good for working her.  She had to hang once through the roof, but ended up doing very well on the route.

Amy pulling the roof on Puppet Strings - 5.10a

Now I wanted to give a 5.12a called "Sandstoner Reverse" a go.  I had climbed this route many years ago and remembered the moves being awesome, so I had to try it again.  We left Steven and Stephanie at Puppet Strings TRing it while Amy and I crossed over to the other side of the gap to give Sandstoner Reverse a try.  This route is awesomely overhung and follows big jugs all the way to the top of the wall with some big moves in between them.  The crux comes right at the third bolt where you have to do a big dyno off of a crappy pinch to get to a big ledge where you can clip both the third and forth bolts from.  I climbed to the third bolt without any problem, but then I wussed out and didn't want to commit to the big dyno so I fell off.  The second time I decided to just go for it and stuck the dyno without any problem (I have to say that it's one of the most fun moves I've ever done on real rock).  After the crux it's just a matter of endurance as you continue up the steep juggy rock, so of course I ended up hanging on the rest of the bolts since I have none.

Me climbing Sandstoner Reverse - 5.12a

That finished our climbing for Monday.  On Tuesday morning we ended up going for a hike as a family, so no climbing that day, but on Wednesday, we headed out to the Turtle Wall because there were some 5.12s there that I wanted to try.  Wednesday ended up being very hot, and it didn't help that Turtle wall is east facing so it gets morning sun.  Luckily, there is a big cave that houses several 12's and keeps them out of the sun. 

Me on Voodoo Economics - 5.8

For our first climb at Turtle wall we did the easiest route on the wall, a 5.8 called "Voodoo Economics".  I lead the route onsight, then left Stephanie and Steven TRing it while Amy and I went to climb a 5.12a called "Lagardo.  Lagardo ended up being lots of fun.  I had to hang once at the crux to figure out the move, then after clipping the chains with a draw, I had to hang on the last bolt because I was too tired to clip the rope to the chains, but I think I could redpoint the route easily now that I know the moves, and if I had all the draws prehung. 

 

Starting the crux of Lagardo - 5.12a

Clipping the last bolt on Lagardo

Next Amy, Steven, and Stephanie each took turns trying to TR Lagardo, none of them made itthrough the crux but they all had fun trying.  I TR'd the route once more to clean it, then Amy climbed Voodoo Economics so that she could clean it.  By this time it was too hot to even climb in the shade so we headed back to the condo.

 

Amy Trying Lagardo

 

Steven trying Lagardo

 

Steph trying Lagardo

Amy cleaning Voodoo Economics

Thursday meant that we had to leave St. George, but we decided to hit up the Black Corridor in Red Rock to do a quick climb or two before heading home.  The first route we did was a 5.9 called "The Cel".  I lead the route and hung the draws so that Amy could lead it.  She did a good job, but did have to hang on the first bolt a couple of times to figure out the crux moves.

We didn't have the Red Rock guide book with us, but I wanted to try something a bit harder so I found a climb that looked fun and decided to give it a go.  It turns out that the climb was a 5.10d called "Friend".  This climb didn't go as well as I had hoped.  I ended up slipping off of a sandy hold around the second or third bolt, then at around the fifth or sixth bolt, I tried going directly up between the bolts, which seems doable, but more like 5.12 than 5.10.  Eventually I noticed that all the holds out right of the bolt line were chalked up even there was no route there, so I took that route which ended up being the 5.10d way.  Overall it was a very fun climb, I just made it much harder than it should have been.

After the two routes we continued on our way home so that we could get there at a decent time.  Even though it was summer in the desert, we managed to get a decent amount of climbing in on our trip and had a great time.

The Frankenjura Germany, 05/26/2012 - 05/28/2012

At the end of May I had a business trip to Germany.  Now neither Amy or I had ever been to Europe before, so we decided that Amy would come and meet me on the last day of my business trip, then we'd stay in Germany for an additional week to check it out.  Of course we didn't go specifically for climbing, but I wasn't about to waste the oportunity to climb in Germany while there. 

My business trip took me to the town of Ulm which is about 2 hours south of the city of Nurnberg which is right in the middle of one of the best known climbing areas in Germany, The Frankenjura.  The Frankenjura is a limestone sport climbing area and is where the term "Redpoint" originated. In the mid 1970s a local Frankenjura climber, Kurt Albert, would literally paint a big red dot, or red point, at the base of each route that he lead freely.  We were able to see a few of his original "Red-points" on the rock where we climbed.  Apart from being where the term redpoint originated, the Frankenjura was also the home of Wolfgang Gullich who did the worlds first 5.14d, Action Direct, also located in the Frankenjura.

After I finished up with work on Thursday the 24 of May, we spent the night at the hotel where my conference was, then we checked out some of the local attractions in the town of Ulm the following day. After seeing the town of Ulm, we made the 2 hour drive north to the Frankenjura.

We arived Friday afternoon at Gasthof Eichler which is the center of the climbing world in the Frankenjura.  We didn't bring a tent with us, so we were hoping to get a room in the Gasthof (Guest House).  We met Frau Walter and asked for a room, but she was all full, so she called her son who had another Gasthof accross the street and got us a room there.  We headed across the street, unpacked our stuff, and wandered around the countryside a little bit before heading off to bed.

Sign at the base of Richard Wagner Fels

The following morning we grabbed our gear and headed up the road to a climbing area right on the side of the road called "Richard Wagner Fels".  I don't know what it is with Germany, but for some reason they all seem to be in love with Richard Wagner who was an opera writer.  Everywhere we went we heard about Richard Wagner. Well anyway, the rock was named after him because from one side the rock suposedly looks like his profile.

Path from the road to the cliff

Since we were new to the area we wanted to start on something easy to get a taste for the rock, so we started on a 5.8 called "Adolf Gottner Ged. - Weg".  Unfortunately it wasn't the best choice as an introduction to climbing in the Frankenjura as the rock was crumbly and rotten, and the climbing just wasn't that good.  The route started up a crack system past two bolts and a mankey fixed pin before traversing right past another bolt to a single bolt anchor.  When I got to the last bolt, not realizing I was in Europe, I spent a bit of time searching for where the route went after that.  I looked around for a while and concluded that there weren't any more bolts, so I would have to either top-out and belay Amy from the top (it was over half a rope length to the top and I had nothing to build an anchor with), or I could just use the highest bolt as a one bolt anchor.  We decided to take the second option for obvious reasons, but due to the traversing nature of the route I decided that it would be easier to belay from the top of the route rather than the ground, plus that way I could use the top two bolts as an anchor rather than just the top one.   I belayed Amy up, lowered her off, then rapped off the single top bolt.

Adolf Gotner Ged. - Weg follows the crumbly crack system

After that lovely route, we decided to walk around the corner to where the guidebook showed some higher quality routes. Next up was a 5.10a called "Kleine Westwand".  This route worked its way through a wierd pod/cave thing  and ended up being of much better quality than the first route.  I went up and got the onsight, but as I reached the obvious top of the route there was only one lone bolt, I also noticed from that vantage point that the route next to me ended with only one bolt as well and then it dawned on me that in the Frankenjura they don't have two bolt anchors.  I had already known this from conversations I had had with Jim Titt who does a lot of bolting in the Frankenjura, but somehow I had forgotten this fact.  Luckily, the majority of the bolts in the Frankenjura are bomber glue-ins which is great for strength and safety, bit it does make it difficult to identify the top of a route since you can lower directly off a glue in and no chain is necessary.  Well anyway, I felt a little bit foolish for not realizing this earlier, I lowered off the route and belayed Amy up as she TR'd it.

 

Kleine Westwand - 5.10a

 

Next up we decided to do the route just left of Kleine Westwand, a 5.11b called "Rheingold".  I started up the route and made it to the second bolt without any dificulties, but the crux ended up being between the second and third bolt.  I worked the moves for a while, taking several falls as I worked the moves.  The crux was slightly overhanging with nothing but slick, blank limestone for your feet, and small crimps for the hands. Eventually I figured out the sequence and finished the route, but I had worn myself out in the process.  I lowered off and Amy tried to TR the route but eventually had to just pull herself through the crux because she couldn't do the moves.  We decided it was time for lunch so we headed back to our gasthof.

 

Reingold - 5.11b

After lunch we decided that we should find an area with quality easy routes since I was worn out after my attempts at Rheingold.  Looking through the guidebook we determined that an area called Grune Holle fit that bill so we headed there.

Sign at the base of Grune Holle

Let me just say that Grune Holle was an amazing area.  To get there it was about a 10 minute hike through the most beautiful green forest.  The area felt like it was in the middle of nowhere, and it's interesting because it is just a big rock in the forest, it's not like on the side of a mountain or hill or anything. The area has two distinct sections, a lower wall that is steep and hard, and an upper wall where all the easy stuff is.  We arived at the wall, saw the local hardmen on the lower wall, and promptly walked around to the upper wall.

Amy on the hike to Grune Holle

Once we got to the upper wall, we started by climbing a 5.10b called "Die Fette Elke".  The rock here was crazy pocketed, the only problem was that most of the pockets weren't any good.  It made climbing very difficult because you had to feel around through all the different pockets to figure out which ones were good.  I ended up falling off the route a couple of times because I had such a hard time reading the rock. Amy TR'd the route and also had a hard time reading the rock, but it was still a cool climb.

 

Die Fette Elke - 5.10b

Next up we climbed a 5.10a called "Dr. J."  The route was similar to Die Fette Elke, but it was just vertical instead of a few degrees overhung which meant that I could hang out and feel all the holds without getting pumped so badly.  I got the onsight on that route, and once again, Amy ran up it on TR.

Amy and I at the base of Dr. J. - 5.10a

As we were both feeling pretty drained at this point we decided to do a few really easy routes before calling it a day. We decided that a 5.6 called "Zweisplat" was just what we needed.  I ran up the route without any problems and tried to get Amy to lead it, but she didn't want to try since she was having such a hard time on the very pocketed rock.

Zweisplat - 5.6

After Zweisplat we climbed a 5.7 called "Kummen Getummel".  More of the same good stuff, I got the onsight and Amy TR'd it after refusing to try leading.

 

Kummen Getummal - 5.7

Our final climb of the day was a 5.6 called "Das Weiss Der Geier".  Again it was easy pocket pulling up the highly pocketed rock, and again, I got the onsight and Amy TR'd the route.

We decided we had had enough climbing for the day, and we needed to do some shopping so we headed into Nurnberg to get the things that we needed.  After getting back from shopping we wandered around and checked out some other climbing areas, we also hiked up and checked out the castle ruins that were located behind our gasthof.

Playing around at Wolfsberger Grotte

The next day we took the day off from climbing and once again headed into Nurnberg to do some sightseeing there.  If you want to see what we saw and did there you'll have to check out Amy's blog at amynoyce.blogspot.com.

On Monday, we were planning on heading to the town of Regansberg, but we wanted to get some more climbing in before we headed out, so we hiked over to an area called "Wolfsberger Grotte".  This area was right across the street from our gasthof, but it was a few hundred feet into the forest which made it seem like you were far away from anything else.  The wall consisted of a cave with harder routes inside of it, and easier routes on the edges.  We just climbed the routes on the edges of the cave.

Our first route at Wolfsberger Grotte was a 5.9 called "Gell Nancy".  The route was kind of dirty and wasn't the best that I've climbed, but it worked well as a warm up.  I onsighted the route and was amazed when I reached a two bolt anchor with chains.  I decided that this route must have been bolted by someone from the US.  Another odd thing about the route was that the bolts were standard wedge bolts instead of the typical Buhler glue-ins that we had seen everywhere else in the Frankenjura.  Agan, Amy wasn't interested in leading the route so she TR'd it.

 

Gel Nancy - 5.9

Next up we climbed the route just to the right of Gell Nancy, a 5.10a called "Superhussy".  Again the route must have been bolted by someone from the US because the bolts were all standard wedge bolts, and it shared the anchors with Gell Nancy.  Superhussy was much cleaner than Gell Nancy, and the moves were more varied and fun.  I once again got the onsight and Amy once again TR'd the route.

A couple of days earlier on Saturday evening we had hiked over to Wolfsberger Grotte to check it out, and while there I had bouldered around a bit on the bottom of the right-most route on the wall.  Amy thought some of the moves looked fun, but didn't want to try them without a rope, so we decided to make it our third climb.   The route was a 5.10d called "Tropisches Gewiter" and followed good big pockets with long reaches between them out the right side of the cave.  The route was tons of fun, probably my favorite of our trip.  Once again I got the onsight and Amy TR'd the route.

 

Tropisches Gewiter - 5.10d

 

 

We were starting to get a bit tired (since I have absolutely no endurance), and Amy was wanting to leave so that we could do more tourist stuff, but I wanted to do at least one more route, so we decided to jump on the 5.10d heading out the left side of the cave, a route called "Bambus".  Again the route was tons of fun, and had some very interesting moves through the lower cave section before exiting onto the vertical face above.  This time I made it through the crux without any problems, but my arms were to tired to go on so I had to blow the onsight with a take. After I rested a bit I finished the route, Amy tried the first few moves on TR, but was too tired, so we packed up and headed out to Regansberg.

 

Bambus - 5.10d

 

We didn't get to do a ton of climbing on our trip to Germany, but it was still an awesome trip.  The climbing we did do was very fun, and much different than the climbing that we usually do here in SoCal, and we got to see a ton of new and interesting things as we toured the cities.  Check out Amy's blog amynoyce.blogspot.com for more of our tourist stuff.