Sandias, Tarantula & Sorcerer's Apprentice
Posted: Mon Jun 25, 2012 5:03 am
Florian and I climbed some quality pitches in the Sandias yesterday, linking Tarantula with Sorcerer's Apprentice on Torreon. We hiked La Luz trail then did a short cross-country dash to the base of Mexican Breakfast Crack and Tarantula. Florian and I did paper, scissors, rock to decide whose lead it was. He cut my paper and jumped on Tarantula first.
Tarantula climbs the small formation on the bottom left of center. Torreon is the big formation; Sorcerer's Apprentice takes a line just left of the massive roof where the sun meets the shadow.
Photo taken the day before Naomi and I climbed a Mexican Breakfast Crack-Mountain Momma Linkup last October.
Florian below the roof: "It's so big!" And it is. Tricky, too.
The guy on the right is climbing Mexican Breakfast Crack. Funny thing is both the 9+ Mexican Breakfast Crack and the "11a" Tarantula direct have full bail anchors fixed below the roof. These routes are both full value.
Florian follows on the first pitch of Sorcerer's Apprentice. There is an even longer version, but the way we climbed it was 45 m of heady face climbing bliss.
The pitch follows a crack/seam that offers intermittent protection. After you get a piece there are guaranteed to be some interesting 5.10 face moves above it before you might get another piece. Those pieces above Florian in this shot are offset brassies and I'm not sure anything else would have worked.
Florian leads the warmup dihedral on the second pitch of Sorcerer's Apprentice.
A short traverse on a flake leads to the second dihedral. Here I follow the money dihedral.
Then there is a funky traverse to join Mountain Momma. The traverse goes above a big roof with inconsistent pro and plenty of loose blocks to keep it interesting.
Florian leads through some runout on the next-to-last pitch of Mountain Momma as a thunderhead builds.
I follow the same.
A cruiser rope-stretching pitch put us atop Torreon and we made for Madrid, to drink 100 oz each of various cold fluids and get some grub. Thanks for an awesome climb, Florian!
Tarantula climbs the small formation on the bottom left of center. Torreon is the big formation; Sorcerer's Apprentice takes a line just left of the massive roof where the sun meets the shadow.
Photo taken the day before Naomi and I climbed a Mexican Breakfast Crack-Mountain Momma Linkup last October.
Florian below the roof: "It's so big!" And it is. Tricky, too.
The guy on the right is climbing Mexican Breakfast Crack. Funny thing is both the 9+ Mexican Breakfast Crack and the "11a" Tarantula direct have full bail anchors fixed below the roof. These routes are both full value.
Florian follows on the first pitch of Sorcerer's Apprentice. There is an even longer version, but the way we climbed it was 45 m of heady face climbing bliss.
The pitch follows a crack/seam that offers intermittent protection. After you get a piece there are guaranteed to be some interesting 5.10 face moves above it before you might get another piece. Those pieces above Florian in this shot are offset brassies and I'm not sure anything else would have worked.
Florian leads the warmup dihedral on the second pitch of Sorcerer's Apprentice.
A short traverse on a flake leads to the second dihedral. Here I follow the money dihedral.
Then there is a funky traverse to join Mountain Momma. The traverse goes above a big roof with inconsistent pro and plenty of loose blocks to keep it interesting.
Florian leads through some runout on the next-to-last pitch of Mountain Momma as a thunderhead builds.
I follow the same.
A cruiser rope-stretching pitch put us atop Torreon and we made for Madrid, to drink 100 oz each of various cold fluids and get some grub. Thanks for an awesome climb, Florian!