Summary

Description

[Pictures]

Other people on the trip: Cheryl (Dave's gf), Bill Grantham, Neil Milani, Jason Napier, Angelique Geiss, Barry Meyer, Marcus Speckmaier.

Bill oragnized a trip through the R.O.C.K. mailing list. There were 9 of us total who showed up, getting there in 4 different cars. Amazingly enough, we all got to Tory's Den right around the same time. We parked at the lower trail head (off of Tomahawk or Hooker Farm) and hiked in. (Bill, Neil, Jason and I missed the right turn just below Wailing Wall and took a brief tour of the north end of the crag before we decided that we should turn back.)

We ended up splitting into 3 groups. Bill, Neil, and Jason went to climb My Wife's Pajamas (5.6). Angelique, Marcus, and Barry started up Wailing Wall (5.6). Dave was leading Golden Earring (5.7) with me following. Cheryl sat out the first climb.

Dave took about an hour to lead Golden Earring but did a great job. I followed, feeling fairly pumped and wigged out. I wasn't doing a very good job of racking the gear that I was cleaning. I think I've been in leader mode and not seconding enough. About half way up, I stopped to re-rack some gear and dropped a quickdraw with a large nut attached. I felt really bad and like such an idiot about that. Good thing there wasn't anyone below me. Dave was a good sport about it. I continued on up, getting completely drenched in sweat going up through the harder and crux parts of the face/crack climbing. I made it through all of it and got up to the traverse. No real problem there, although the exposure was a little more than I wanted at that point. Got through and Dave and I rapped down on his single 60m rope. As we got down, we saw that the sun had come out and was just starting to swing around into the Amphitheater. We timed it well to get up and off before getting baked on the wall.

We had a quick lunch and were planning to head over to Head Jam (5.6) which is another route we could do in the shade, and one that I could lead. (I had been wondering for a while if I was ready to lead Golden Earring. After today's performance, I know that I'm not, yet.) As we were packed up and ready to go, Bill, Neil, and Jason showed up. They decided to follow us over to climb Easy Hard (5.5). As we hiked along the base of the rocks, we started hearing distant thunder. Not a happy sound.

We all started to rack up and get the ropes ready. The thunder was getting a little louder. Unfortunately, with the trees all leafed out, we couldn't see enough of the sky to tell where the storm was or which way it was going. I decided to go ahead and go for it, rolling the dice and hoping that the storm would hold off at least until I got to the belay. Started up Head Jam, and did pretty well leading it. The Head Jam move went pretty well. The subsequent traverse was heady move with a long step across, but I did OK on that too. The thunder was getting loader all the time. It wasn't making me happy. I continued on up, getting above the trees to where I could see the clouls with rain coming our way from the north. That and the couple times I saw indistinct lightning gave me motivation to not dawdle while leading. In fact, for the last 15-20' of the route, I skipped putting in any gear since it felt like rain, and I wanted to get to the anchor as soon as I could. The terain wasn't super juggy, but it wasn't *too* hard so it was an OK tradoff. I was very happy when I finally got to the anchor.

Aside: While I was leading the pitch, Lewis and Daniel wandered by. They had been climbing Dolphin Head (5.6) the day before and got caught in the rain. They ended up leaving some gear -- called the Stocket Maneuver :) -- so they spent the night in King and came back the next day to get it.

Aside 2: Neil decided that the threat of rain was too high and decided not to start leading Easy Hard. Good choice on his part.

Aside 3: while I was on the wall, I heard Angelique yell up that she, Marcus, and Barry were at (or headed to) the cars.

I got the anchor setup, pulled up the rope, and Dave started climbing and cleaning gear. Cheryl was going to climb third, but with the impending rain, she opted out. Dave still trailed the second rope for our rappel. The storm kept getting closer and the thunder louder. Dave climbed quickly. As he was getting near the top, I heard the rain start falling on the canopy below then saw it coming down on the face below me. Luckily, the belay was sheltered under a bit of an overhand from the corner so I wasn't getting wet, and the part Dave was climbing wasn't getting wet.

Dave got to the ledge, and we made short work of pulling up the second rope and setting up the rappel. (We found out later from Lewis that a single 60m rope would work for the rappel from that (lower) rap station.) Because it was starting to rain, we decided to simul-rappel so we could get down faster. We also lowered me a little bit first to get the knot over the edge to make pulling the ropes easier.

The rap went smoothly. A little damp, although it wasn't raining too hard. We got down, Bill pulled the ropes, and we shoved everything into our packs. The six of us hiked out, starting on the main trail down then veering off of it onto the trail that heads down to where we had parked. Unlike the hike up to the Amphitheater, it was a pretty straight shot.

We got to the cars and found the rest of the crew there (including Lewis and Daniel). Barry shared some cold beers he had brought, and we all stood around and chatted about the day and everything else for a while in the light drizzle. Eventually, we decided to go to get Mexican food for an early dinner at El Torero Mexicano in King. (Yum!)