Tagger, March of Dimes, Werk Supp with Warren

Warren and I met at 5:30 a.m. this morning in Eldo. It wasn't windy, but it was only 45 degrees. That made for a cold first pitch of Tagger, which Warren led for the first time today. He was solid, as usual, and in these temperatures that was impressive. My hands were freezing by the time I finished following this pitch. I led the next pitch over the big roof and I seem to have this pitch down now. That's the third time in a row I done it without weighting the rope. This used to be a nemesis pitch of mine. Warren flashed this pitch, following! That's impressive as most people find it pretty tricky. He did have a foot slip as he was pulling the foot and got a nasty scrap on this chest as a result. He didn't weight the rope, though, and caught himself.

We descended and headed for the first pitch of March of Dimes (10b/c). I led now because I'm a bit faster and we wanted to cram in a couple more pitches before Warren had to leave at 8 a.m. I led up March of Dimes and Warren followed, calling the pitch 10a. That might be right, but I've had trouble on this pitch before. Today it felt solid.

I then traversed into Werk Supp and led up the first pitch to the base of the fun second pitch. This only took me a few minutes and Warren followed quickly. I then went up the Yosemite-like fissure of the second pitch (burly 5.9) and it felt very reasonable and not even awkward today. I think I was doing it wrong before. This is a great little pitch. Warren followed nicely, but said he couldn't feel his hands at the top because of the pressure from jamming them.

We descended back to the car and were driving out of there by 7:59 a.m. Fun stuff!

Bill

Outer Space with Dave Mackey

I met Dave Mackey in Eldo this morning at 6 a.m. He led the first two pitches of the Bastille as one and then I led the first pitch of Outer Space (10a). I don't think I did the lower section right, as it seemed harder than it should have. This is a tricky pitch and getting the stemming just right makes a huge difference.

Dave led the crux pitch (10b/c) easily and I followed, feeling pretty solid. It was a good return to Eldo. Now I just need to get out regularly. We hiked down and headed to work.