50 degrees, mostly sunny, should be a nice day right? Well, there was that wind in the forecast.
Jenn and I met in the nearly vacant parking lot in Eldo at 10 for a pre-climb tailgate brunch (donuts and cold pancakes).
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Walking up to the Redgarden Wall we warmed up and found the 5.8 Mr. Natural in the sun. The crack was still cold and we definitely weren’t sheltered from the wind, but let’s give it a go.
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Racking up I pondered how my first climb in a month would go and quickly found that between the cold and being out of practice this felt as hard as some 5.9′s I’d done a month prior.
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Coming back down I cleaned all the gear then we pulled the rope and Jenn got ready to lead the same pitch. On the way up I heard an “Uh-oh, that cam might be stuck.” Sure enough, as she lowered and cleaned the gear the #1 red camalot was not coming out. She worked on it for at least 15 minutes, getting it inverted. I offered to climb up and try to finagle it out if she needed a break.
Trading places I went up and at least managed to reset the cam into its original orientation. At least we were only 15 feet apart and could carry on a conversation while counterbalancing one another. Discussing college majors brought mention of my religious studies minor then questions on our personal beliefs. 20 minutes into my shift working on the cam I declared atheist leanings, but conceded a bit of agnostic. Maybe I’d believe in a higher power if shown an undeniable mir. . ., mira. . ., Miracle! The cam pops out and I hold it up triumphantly!
Back on the ground I’m sure it was my own tenacity, but our will to climb in the cold wind is steadily weakening. We check out Jenn’s stated project for the day, a 5.11a route that is now in the shade of Eldorado Mountain. Slowly the sun creeps around the other side of the peak and throws some weak light on the rock. Jenn psyches her self up for the climb, one that looks hard and possibly a little dangerous. A few moves up she decides the rock “feels cold, like death” and we agree to bail, head to Southern Sun and get a beer and warm up. Feels like the smartest thing we’ve done all day.
Later she sums up the day as:
“ate pancake, climbed one pitch, fought gear, ate donut, drank pint, ate fries”
and “discussed religion”
You caught what I txt’d Jenn back that she was missing from the summary.