From Powerline Wall, someone climbing on the Headwall A nice view, with the islands in the background.
It's been an unproductive year climbing so for, for Alex as well as me, and so we decided to do the 'improbable traverse' on Guye Peak this weekend. But Sunday dawned (after I found my way through the winding culs-de-sac to his house) with rain on the pass. Rain at Leavenworth. Rain at Washington Pass. Okay, well, it wasn't actually raining at Annacortes, was it?
So, Erie it was. Alex had never been there, I had a couple of times. And, I had some bits of beta. So back to my house to get the route info, then up the highway. It's nice Sunday morning, it only takes about an hour, rather than an hour and a half, to get there from my house. Of course, we missed the turnoff from Hwy 20. And, wound around south Anacortes a bit before finding the correct road.
We started at Powerline Wall, because that's the easiest one to find. The goofy thing about Erie, for a small area inside the city limits, is that it's a bit complicated to find the actual crags! We did a couple of routes here, remembering how to put pro in and how to keep from crying when the exposure got high.
There were other folks around there, to our right and left, but it never felt crowded, just kind of collegial.
Eventually, we decided to head off to the Summit Wall (which used to be called the 'Practice Cliffs' in my old beta) so we packed up everything and headed off. But, we got lost, and found ourselves on a smaller crag that wasn't on either my old beta or Weekend Rock but which had some bolted routes on it, probably less than 50 feet high. So we did a few routes on this one as well, and I pretty well blew out my forearms trying to get up an overhanging start. I have no idea what it was rated -- I'd like to say 5.10, but probably it was more like a stiff 5.7. I need to start doing pullups.
Then we headed off again, and actually found the Summit Cliffs. There was a family there, dad belaying his daughter, ten up on this 5.7 route called The Nose, mom down at the base with the other daughter, about three. It was pleasant to stand down there chatting with them while Alex, in his own private purgatory, struggled up a crack to the left of the Nose. After he got to the top, I followed. It wasn't that tough until just below the top, when there was an awkward puzzle. I struggled with it, scared and very glad to be on top-rope, until I figured out that it was a chimney, and once I realized I could lean back against the back, got right up it. I was *really* glad Alex led that one! He said he was so scared that he just thrashed right up it.
I wanted to do Caveman, but it started drizzling and, like last time, I couldn't identify it, so we headed up to the car, dropped off our gear, and sat with a couple of beers under the trees, looking over at March Point and enjoying the soreness in our arms.
One of the things that makes Alex a good guy to climb with is his patience. It seemed like today I spent a lot of time just standing there looking at the problem, trying to get up, dropping off, unable to figure out how to get my increasingly weak forearms and hands to cooperate, grasping for holds that don't slope the wrong way, but he never gets impatient with me. Or, if he does, he doesn't show it.
Anyhow, a good day on the rocks, good for getting reaquainted with the vertical world and salvaging a day rained out everywhere else. Not many photos, but rock climbing is like that.