Another 26F night at Bridger Jack camp ground, but I slept soundly after our first day climbing in Indiana Creek at Donnelly Canyon. I woke up before sun-hit again, but used the time to prep the kitchen rather than take a walk.
The eggs and blueberry pancakes were a hit again and after doing dishes we were on the road.
Megan and Tyson were meeting us at the parking lot to augment our little group. While waiting for them we worked on our tape gloves and stretched in the sun.
Our plan was to head up to Supercrack Buttress and climb some of the routes there. We found the famous Luxury Liner (aka Supercrack) route easily enough.
However, we overshot our intended climb and after consulting the guidebooks retraced our steps.
The route we were looking for was an unnamed 5.10 hand crack that Jenn and Jeremy had followed last fall. Once we found it, Jenn racked up for the first lead.
Once again, Jenn did great and completed her first 5.10 trad lead.
With 5 of us, and nearly all of us taking a turn at the lead it was a while to cycle through our full group. I spent a little time admiring the nearby petroglyphs.
Leading this route was also my first 5.10 trad lead. Once I’d cleaned the anchors we moved further north along the cliff and spread out. Tyson loaded up his harness with a huge number of #1-#3 cams and set off up 3AM Crack.
At over 100 feet long, he needed to take several breaks to complete the full pitch. Jenn, Jeremy and I headed around the corner and took turns leading Twin Cracks.
Tyson had now finished leading 3AM Crack and Meg had taken a lap top-roping it. Jenn, myself and Jeremy now set out to do battle with this long route. In fact, the route was long enough that our 60 meter rope didn’t quite touch the ground and both the belayer and climber had to scramble up to a ledge to get started.
We’d only climbed 3 routes, but felt like we’d made a lot of personal strides and got enough out of the day. Returning to camp we all pitched in for a huge burrito dinner and a welcome warmer night (36F) before returning to Colorado’s front range.
