The morning had started clear, but after breakfast the sky had clouded up again and Gary and I were unsure about climbing in Eldo. Somewhat surprisingly, there were a lot of people out this morning and we hopped across the creek and started up the West Ridge.
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The air temperature felt warmer than yesterday, so I decided to start with a lead up the short Doctor Michael Soler (5.7) which Gary then followed. Not feeling too cold, I decided to lead the slightly harder Lunar Lander (5.8-) just to the right of our last line. I was thinking of tackling Positively Fourth Street (5.9) next, but needed a bit of a rest and another group arrived and started to climb the line.
Gary and I took a little walk up the rest of the West Ridge and were surprised to find shelter from the wind at some of the higher routes. Having rested and warmed up in our hike I was ready to tackle Positively when we came back down. I found the first part of the route pretty manageable, but started to run out the climbing between gear placements up high as the climbing got harder. I did end up finishing the climb without a fall, but wasn’t completely proud of how I’d climbed it. I’d have liked to been a bit more in control and able to place more gear.
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Gary was up to lead something, and the routes just downhill had freed up so he started up Dandi-Line (5.7+).
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I followed and cleaned the line, then thought about trying Sister Morphine (5.9-), but another group was lined up for it. Instead we headed further downhill and hoped to get on Unsaid (5.9-) but were blocked on that one as well. I’d never climbed Washington Irving (5.6), and it was free so up I went.
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The two bolt anchor at the top was horribly placed in a hard-to-clip and awkward spot, the route also felt a bit harder than 5.6 and wasn’t quite the walk in the park I expected after the other routes I’d done today.
