Girls Climbing Weekend

With Marcus in Red Rocks with a crew of NC folks and Phil manning the shop, I was the lucky participant in a Girls Climbing Weekend this past weekend. I joined up with Katherine & Katelyn and hoofed it to Chattanooga, where the steep rock abounds. Saturday we had a beautiful day at T-wall and climbed some goodies like Motor Booty, Bugs From Hell, Electric Rats and the classic Digital Macabre. Thanks to abundant daylight, we headed back to the car around 8:00 and scarfed down delicious vegan food at Sluggo's.

We made it out the door Sunday with some determination, despite buckets of rain falling out of our ears, and headed to Little River Canyon in Alabama. This place is gorgeous and well worth a trip- that is if you like steep, overhanging, sandstone sport climbing that stays dry in a downpour. We were rewarded by super fun and ultra pumpy routes.

I am really needing a nap today though, as it has been a while since I climbed anything so steep. I better rest up, because this weekend's forecast for Brevard looks stellar and 475B is open for business again, making the access to Looking Glass climbs a breeze.

Phil was happy to report a busy weekend at the shop. The new Montrail Mountain Masochists seem to be running, not walking out the door!

Indian Creek Crack Climbing

Having mumbled repeatedly about my lack of crack jamming skills, Indian Creek has long been high on my list of top climbing destinations. Despite the repeated tales of being smacked down and humbled by Indian Creek's splitter cracks, I felt a strong pull to lace up my most comfy trad shoes and give desert sandstone crack climbing a try.

Phil and I spent a week throwing ourselves at every classic we could jam our hands and feet into after flying into Grand Junction, Colorado. Despite many gobies, scratches, knicks and cramps, we made our way up classics like 3am Crack, Super Crack, Chocolate Corner and Mr. Peanut.

Hands down, my favorite climb was Deseret Moon, a 140 foot crack that slurped down every number two we shamelessly borrowed from friends and every ounce of gumption we could muster.

We stumbled into Moab for more supplies and a supposed rest day, but we grabbed our gear and headed to Wall Street in the afternoon. While Wall Street pales in comparison to Indian Creek in respects to scenery and quality of routes, it is a fun place to send a few routes, and the bumper belays pacify the most approach-adverse climbers.

Once we were completely spent, we took a spin aroung Arches National Park and headed back to Grand Junction for a true rest day tooling around the Grand Mesa. With one last day to spare, we headed to Rifle to rest the cams and clip some bolts.

It was a week well spent, and one that already has us dreaming about the next climbing trip. Check out Dan's blog for the best pics!