Horseshoe Canyon Ranch, November 16-18, 2012
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| Micah waking up in the morning |
After two weeks of hard work, CR finished the sleeping platform for the Tacoma. Complete with a futon bed, down comforters, built in storage compartments, and a propane heater, our sleeping quarters were ready for a chilly fall weekend at Horseshoe Canyon Ranch. My definition of chilly is anything under 60 degrees, so I was well prepared for the 40 degree nights. In fact, I think I packed enough clothes for Micah and I to survive a night in the Arctic. Much to our surprise, the weekend was absolutely beautiful, allowing us to shed the long johns and leg warmers and climb comfortably under the warm sun. And the friction? Impeccable.
CR confidently jumped on Egyptian Airbus (5.12c) as his warmup climb, a route infamous for its horizontal, all-points off dyno, a move all too familiar for a boulderer at heart. Upon reaching the crux, CR was quickly humbled as his best attempts were thwarted by the sheer distance required to stick to move. And thus, the Airbus remained undefeated and we moved on to my project for the weekend, Mine Mine Mine (5.11d). It’s been a year and a half since I have tried this route. MMM starts with some good holds and leads to a double knee bar rest. After a few technical moves on a short face, it veers left to a small roof, which requires a big dynamic move to reach a good hold. This redpoint crux always gave me trouble in the past as I am usually out of juice by that point. I love the variety of moves on this climb and was psyched to get back on it. I made quick work of the beginning section, which felt a lot easier than I remembered. However, I was quickly shut down at the crux again and realized that I would have to find some new beta in order to send the route. After figuring out a less dynamic way to get through the crux, I was able to tick this one off the list.
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| Hanging out at the crag with Big Steve |
Meanwhile, CR spotted an interesting looking, newly bolted line to the right of Love Slave. Sometimes it is refreshing to try a route without the knowledge of its proposed grade. CR quickly came to the realization that the crux on this route was no joke. After four tries, he was able to send this, but not without a considerable amount of effort and loud grunting. (We later found out this climb is called Goldmember, 5.12b). Since Micah was taking a super nap, we decided to jump on the newly bolted right variation of MMM, which turned out to be a really fun climb through a horizontal roof. (Left for Dead, 5.11b)
We decided to end the day by checking out Crab Louse (5.12b), a horrible name for a superb line. This 3 bolt, 35 foot route has also been done as a boulder problem for those willing to take the risk (i.e. Yusuf Daneshyar). Although it is short, this route has some super cool moves that keep coming at you all the way until the very end. Powerful, burly, and steep, each move requires commitment and a little bit of grrr. CR made quick work of it after getting some beta from Big Steve and sent it on his second attempt. After much deliberation, I decided to give it try. Having never attempted a route of this difficulty before, I wanted to work out the moves on TR first, especially given the ground fall potential at the second bolt. Surprisingly, I was able to do all the moves and came to the realization that I may actually be able to redpoint the route. After one attempt on lead, I had to call it quits for the day, but walked away confident that I was very close on sending it.
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| Yummm....breakfast! |
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| Mountain woman Carine |
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| Devin's delicious egg scramble over the campfire |
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| The boulders + Kettler |
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| Micah and the Baby Whisperer |
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| "I want some of your coffee, Carine!" |
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| Big Steve is happily hungover |
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| Intrigued. |
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| Devin |
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| Chuck |
Since it was the first time Micah has ever co-slept with us in the truck, he had a difficult time adjusting to the change, which allowed us to only sleep in 2-3 hours stretches for 2 nights in a row. After a little sending juice (aka coffee) in the morning, we were ready to go for the day. I only had one thing on my agenda. After warming up on some routes in the morning, we headed back to some unfinished business. CR put up the draws and then I watched Calvin crush Crab Louse on his first try, cruising through each section without any hesitation. My first attempt on this was surprisingly a success. The holds felt amazing, my movement was fluid, and before I knew it, I was clipping the anchors, hardly feeling the horrendous pump I had experienced the day before. Done. Eight months after having a baby, I sent my hardest route to date.
CR finished off the weekend on Petrified (5.12a). As with all men, he refused to read the instructions for the climb (aka the guidebook), which clearly indicates to start on some small pockets. Instead, he inspected the start, refused to use the stones that were set out to help boost you up to the starting holds, and decided to do it the “real way”. After multiple attempts at doing a V10 deadpoint from a foothold to a horrible downward sloping two finger pocket, he decided that perhaps the guidebook was correct and went on to flash the route using the proper start holds.
We celebrated our eventful weekend with Big Steve at Sakura, a sushi bar in Springfield, MO, where we wined and dined on sake, fresh sashimi, and a tremendous amount of food on the house. We made it back to tuck the little bambino into his crib and watched as he drifted off to sleep, already dreaming about our next adventure.
