Summary

Description

The weather was fabulous with unseasonably warm temperatures in the upper 70s to low 80s. The hike in took about 20-25 minutes. Lisa was interested in getting some lead climbing and gear placing practice so we setup on the Practice Wall on the north side of the Fortress where there are some really easy lines.

She did wonderfully leading the middle line -- taking about half an hour and sewing it up with 9 pieces of gear -- and then later leading the harder line to the right -- taking about 35 minutes and placing 8 pieces of gear. She took about 10-15 minutes each time at the top, building a nice anchor from 3 equalized pieces of pro, extended out to the edge.

I seconded each route and critiqued her gear placements. Overall, they were great, with only a couple of them that were questionable which we discussed in detail. Her anchors were also good, and I gave her a couple pointers on how to make them even better. We also practiced placing cams and building anchors at the base of the routes between climbs.

Belaying and seconding for Lisa reminded me that I haven't done either of those in a long time. For the last couple years, I've been the one on the sharp end, and there are skills -- like feeding out rope at the right time for leader to clip and efficiently racking gear as you clean it -- that I'm a little rusty on. So it was good practice for both us.

We saw a few people during the afternoon. No other climbers, but we did see a few people hiking about some guys out 4-wheeling. On the hike out, we got to enjoy a gorgeous sunset. It was a great afternoon, and Lisa did really well leading. We topped off the day by getting cleaned up and going out to dinner afterwards to celebrate.