Nevermind last weekend's unfruitful sally. Let's start with this Saturday. Micah and I judiciously chose a route called "Splinted and Screwed". You can even see pictures of one of a first ascensionist's father's x rays on Mountain Project. Anyhow, the approach is a short thrash to a rappel station at the top of the formation.
Micah on rappel.
This is considered a good fixed anchor in the Sandias. Just push the piton into the crack again, all good.
Micah leads the first pitch, a dang-near sport bolted 5.10d.
My hands were cold, fingers numb, I took a hang following it. Let's climb in the sun tomorrow.
Pitch 2 is the crux, 5.12a, and it looks like this from the belay.
Here's how it looks from the top.
The crux is near the bolt then there's a good sequence to make it to the ledge.
I took a couple of pretty good whippers. Sometimes that feels like lots of fun. This time it didn't. I was glad to pull through the dirty slopers onto the ledge on my third go. Micah mostly cruised above the bolt while following.
Pitch 3 is the special sauce. Some very thin dihedrals, all brassies and RPs (one uninspiring small cam in this photo).
After plenty of thin climbing and a strenuous mantle onto a ledge, there's a piton right there leading into strenuous overhanging moves (wouldn't protect you from the ledge, hopefully would protect you from very large fall). This pitch featured a nice sting in the tail to finish, too.
We had a late start, due to an errand I had to run in town and what not.
And the top of the cliff looked something like this....
That was more epic than I wanted for the whole weekend in the first place. How about something easy next? A classic, Warpy Moople, 5.9, 7 pitches, 800 ft -- that should be good.
There's a huge magic puffball mushroom bringing good tidings to the top of the cliff.
Pitch two is a fun 5.9 undercling to a roof.
Micah follows the runout part at the end of p2.
Micah is doing some leading now. Ooops, wrong way!
This is the right way.
Pitch 4 is very entertaining for 5.8.
Micah pulls through the roof at the top of p4.
Pitch 5 is the money pitch and it's a wild Sandias classic. 5.9 face climbing then significant runouts at a slightly easier level.
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Due to delays, once again we were hiking to the car in the dark. Hmph.
