Arm and Hammer

Brent and I climbed my first multi-pitch climb on trad gear this last Friday and gosh was it a blast! Here's the climb, and what a beauty! It's called Arm and Hammer, about a 2 hour hike up Bell Canyon in Salt Lake. It's technically 6 pitches I think, though we did it in five, and those are tall pitches! We figure we summited at over 700 feet, which makes this route like 12 Logan-sized climbs stacked on top of each other! It took us 6 hours to get up, and another 2 to rappel down. There's a thin little crack that goes up that blank looking face in the middle- that's where the route goes...


Each pitch was really different! This first pitch was basically a layback all the way up, except for the end which was more like a really awkward chimney.

One pitch followed a crack, which I loved!, that was small enough for finger jams in some places, and off width in others. This next shot is at the end of a pitch which followed a crazy flake (that actually flexed when you weighted it!) and then suddenly disappeared to reveal nothing but slab to chains. Yikes! I told Brent that move was the hardest thing I've ever done! Haha. Maybe an exaggeration. I mean, he DID have me on belay, but it felt really hard!

And here we are at the summit, looking...adventurous? The view from up top was glorious! What a perfectly beautiful day. :) I was a little nervous to untie from the rope at 700 feet to scramble to the top. In the end I made Brent hold on to one end of the rope just in case cuz I'm afraid of heights (after all, it'd be a shame to roll off the edge after working so hard to get there!) And I was glad he made me summit cuz it felt like a grand achievement.




Brent looks hard core without even trying. :) He's m' hero.

Prolly the Best Trip Ever

My latest and greatest adventure in City of Rocks/ Castle Rock is also probably my worst documented. I guess I was having such a grand time that I forgot to take pictures! I have some sweet videos but they aren't loading! Arrgg...free sites! Also, day one included only two participants, and when you're belaying someone on a crazy trad climb, it's wisest prolly not to try and pull out the camera. It's too bad, cuz Brent was looking pretty hard core on those crack climbs! Despite the intermittent torrential downpour, the rats keeping us up all night, our pathetic damp and smokey fire, and one darn lousy multipitch route, we had a grand time!! All but one of the climbs we did were stellar! Any one of them would have made the trip worth it. It was mostly slab climbing (which always feels insecure but is always fun!), and we discovered some RIDICULOUSLY fun cracks that reminded me of why I love climbing!!