Left Out

This is me at the crux of Reggae

I met Anton Krupicka this morning for another Eldo session. We had hoped to do a couple of laps on the Bastille but the ripping winds and 40-degree temperatures drove us over to the friendlier Wind Ridge. We warmed up by climbing the West Overhang (5.7) and then rapped down to the halfway ledge and climbed a rarely-climbed gem called Left Out (5.8, S+). This route is on the corner of the more gentle Southwest Face and the intimidating South Face. I'd done the route a couple of times before, but probably not for at least five years. It's exciting and the cold temperatures had my hands feeling pretty wooden. I took my time putting in what gear I could find and even then got a small cam semi-stuck and then didn't use slings liberally enough so that rope drag was an issue and I had to stop just before the pitch reaches easy ground. Thankfully I was at the one location on the entire pitch with lots of bomber gear. Tony climbed easily up to me, but had the common courtesy to pause at the crux and to blow on his hands, mimicking my troubles.

I finished the last tricky bit and then over to the rappel anchors we had used after the West Overhang. We rapped to the halfway ledge once again and did our Reggae Loop. This is where I climbed up Reggae and immediately downclimb The Bomb while Tony climbs up Ruper. I downclimbed all the way to the ground and Tony did as well, after unroping at the top of the Bomb, since I didn't place any gear on the downclimb, which we previously agreed on. This is interesting because I'm always on belay and never soloing, but Tony down solos the entire Bomb route. He has a very good head for soloing, though.