Winds were rocking the car in the parking lot while a light rain was hitting the windshield. It was enough to convince Tara and I to scuttle plans to go rock climbing in Eldo for a hike around Walker Ranch.
Conditions improved by Saturday morning when I met Jonathan to carpool into the canyon with the idea of climbing the classic Bastille Crack. It’s cold, north-facing location has kept me off it during the non-summer months the base almost always has a line of climbers queued up. Today we saw one party’s leader just at the end of the second pitch with the second following and no line. Racking up at the car we hurried to the base to start up. I linked the first two pitches and found the radios very helpful to communicate with Jonathan down by the river.
Jonathan re-racked and set off up the steep crack above the ledge I was on with the goal of linking the next two pitches.
As he disappeared over the next ledge and the rope slowly crawled upwards, I watched climbers hiking in and ascending Whale’s Tail and Redgarden Walls.
Demonstrating perfect spacing, another group started up the first two pitches of the Bastille Crack and setup a belay just below me right about when Jonathan was anchoring himself below our last pitch. I followed his wandering route and then chose a 5.8- finish for the final pitch to the top of the Bastille.
Coiling the rope we scrambled to the south and then around the west side and back to the parking lot.
It was only noon, so we tanked up on water and returned to the Bastille where Jonathan decided to tackle Blind Faith (5.10a).
The crux hand crack proved difficult and he backed off to setup a belay just below those moves. I cleaned the lower part of the route, then took on the crack. The hand jams weren’t as secure as I’d have liked, and a rest while thinking through the sequence got me up with maybe just a tad bit of french-freeing (I palmed the top of a cam that was blocking a good jam). For the second pitch, I should have traversed left to join an easier route, however Jonathan proved persuasive in convincing me to lead the 5.9 second pitch. Already tired from fighting through the lower pitch, I only made the crux move with another french-free move. Jonathan was similarly tired as he actually broke out his prussiks to get by this second when he followed the pitch.
Having a bit of time, but no energy for any more routes, we mocked up a couple self-rescue scenarios without leaving the ground before calling it a day.
