Part-time sender here, reporting on the great white crackpile du Nord, hopefully in time for reinforcements to sally.
Inspired by resident superhosers, we snuck up on the 'Couve on a quiet Tuesday to ambush a classic. A rendezvous at chez sender produced hugs, yoga and hot Caribbean. Perfect for the send! Then we got no further than the blinky burbs before I was pounced on by a local rush hour enthusiast, Jurassic Park style. The urban jungle is no welcome place for a hippie love child like me. Luckily this lair of desperation let everyone go unscathed.
Our benevolent amigos of the north sent us on our way with ample stoke, including the wheeled and printed kind. Mega thanks for you, friends! Chances were pretty good that we would get to climb something, since we found the second to last open campsite at the Chief. I set an alarm for 5am.
The day-parking trail led us directly to Apron Strings, which upon first sight, was unconscionable not to select as a prelude to l'Grande, and a perfect entrance exam as well. It looked a lot shorter and less burly than the guidebook seemed to suggest. I thought it was maybe the easiest 5.10b I have done in a while or ever, due to lowish angle and a good selection of super grippy foot jibs. Those Envers climbs did some good things for my footwork! Granted the last 5.10b we climbed was Sagittarius, right after Batskins (short) and Slow Children.
AND I was super stoked (recall the copious stoke donations!)
It was a really lovely morning. That dust spot is l'lune.
Then there was some nice rhythm climbing. I started humming some groovy feelgood tunes to myself here.
My partner was super cool and happy too.
Fun angle
A couple of young dudes had hiked around us while we did Apron Strings. We caught up and waited for em a bit at the traverse and the Pillar, but luckily they seemed to wake up quite a bit on the Sword. I felt pretty lucky we wouldn't get behind anyone epic-ing (and fully intended to pass on this good fortune!)
Samy does the Split Pillar tough girl style, with a backpack and some really fotogenic liebacking:
After hearing some guys describe the l'Grande as a long series of right facing liebacks, I was pretty careful to avoid doing unnecessarily pumpy moves on the Split Pillar. Thus the Sword ended up feeling easier than I expected, given the good rest stances.
I hauled the pack and then did more neato A0. My partner looks so tiny on this huge wall!
So far I had cruised everything without feeling close to falling, so I looked up at Perry's Lieback thinking it looked short. At the start of the lieback, it was clear this was a different type of climbing. No really tricky way to keep the arms fresh, feet nowhere near as good I needed to really unweight the arms. So I pretty much cruised up the first 6 or so bolts, started pumping out like crazy where it goes kinda sloper, and decided to hang and rest rather than 'whip.' C'est la vie. Guess that's what I get for not climbing enough pumpy stuff. Supposedly there is a knee bar and/or a chimneying trick in there somewhere, but I only managed to do a head chimney at the exit. Guess I'll have a nice reason to go back.
My partner had a similar experience, especially with a pack.
Cool and happy as ever!
The Flats pitch was a welcome revisitation to zero pump-factor climbing. Then one last mini-pump on the little Flake traverse, a big 5.8 crack runout finish (why not?), and then it was PB&J and Bellygood time.
Samy seemed ambivalent about more climbing, but I didn't have to convince her. The sight of the Black Dike would do all of its own convincing!
This pretty much sums it up for me.
So on me and my partner's behalf, I am happy to pass on our little stoke ripples to you all.
Mahalo!
l'Grande Wall
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- TeleRoss
- from on the beach
- Contact:
Re: l'Grande Wall
Awesome! Such a classic route! Looks like you two had a blast
- skykilo
- olikyks
- from Santa Fe
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Re: l'Grande Wall
Yeah! Glad you did it, can't beat that route at that grade! Hopefully the insurance companies reach a conclusion that's favorable for you.
Very nice to meet Sami, too.
Very nice to meet Sami, too.
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- naomig
Re: l'Grande Wall
Really nice to meet Samy! I'm super happy we were able to assist in making l'Grande work out for you. You got a good taste of climbing on the Chief, so now you have to come back and send some more amazing classics. I hope to see you back son.
Good luck with your car situation.
Good luck with your car situation.
- huevón
- are we there yet?
- from el mundo
- Contact:
Re: l'Grande Wall
Thanks momma sender! hahanaomig wrote:I hope to see you back son.
Yes, thanks for the help and great to see you! I'm definitely inspired to come back and climb some more quality stuff. I'm gonna have to step it up if I ever want to justify a trip to Cochamo!
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- naomig
Re: l'Grande Wall
Anytime kiddo. I'm glad you left the cooler, I'm going to use it this weekend for the festival.
- huevón
- are we there yet?
- from el mundo
- Contact:
Re: l'Grande Wall
Great, yesss, I hope some vibes get in there, then I will be able to open it up and listen.