Anyhow, I contacted my Lebanese liaison at the lab to learn that it was just as well for me to be free on Saturday. I thought Naomi would enjoy the Great Game. Does a better four-pitch climb exist?
Pitch one: 55 m of fun, layback to face moves to cruxy finger crack to steep, pumpy hands.
A nice rest on pitch three if your legs can make the stem.
The last pitch starts steep.
The next morning Naomi said, "Let's do Freeway." I said, "Sure thing, first pitch is yours." Here she is on the first pitch.
We did not climb Freeway. That will have to wait for another day. I thought a late afternoon cock-tale of Wild Turkey would quench my thirst for adventure.
Naomi in Bullethead Gully: just look at that facial expression!
After an adventurous Squamish approach up fixed lines and jungle vines, the climb starts with a wild traverse.
Naomi follows the traverse.
Wild Turkey is all about a 60 m pitch of a monster flaring crack. It was nice and dirty and wet, too. A bit early in the season this year, I guess.
I was proud to make all the moves free through this part.
Then it was getting late and I was getting my ass handed to me. I did more damage to the back of my hands than I have in years. Sunset was approaching and I was getting really worked so I started to pull on the gear. By the time I finished my epic, I guess I had an audience. (The Bulletheads are just above the parking lot for the Chief.) As I finished the climb, a chorus of cheers and applause erupted from the parking lot. I crawled behind a rock and hid. Ha ha ha.
Then I spent three days working at the lab. When the operators tried to tune some energetic charged particles through the superconducting linac for me, they found one of the power supplies for a crucial bending magnet had failed. Short of another 50-amp supply ready to go on the shelf, my experiment got put on the shelf.
But I got to see the second coming of Vancouver's Stanley Cup riots. And we got to climb Angel's Crest. (High Plains Drifter was part of the original objective but that's a bit much when you don't start until one in the afternoon.)
Naomi leads Angel Crack.
This photo is good beta.
Oh, Canada.
