Summary

Description

We were up at The New for rappelling (Saturday) and white water rafting (Sunday), and decided to get in a little climbing on Monday morning before driving home. We got out relatively early and hiked in with no problem since we had scouted the approach hike the month before in the rain.

Humidity was brutal, and we were both soaked from the hike in. I was moaning a bit about not being in any mood to climb or lead but suited up anyway (while still moaning) and got on the sharp end. Led Micro Brew. Had some difficultly at the 3rd bolt which is out on the face to the left of the wide crack. Couldn't figure any way to go straight up from the bolt. Tried a few things and hung on the rope a bit. Eventually, pulled back over to the wide crack and climbed up that way which is probably how the route is intended to go since it's all rated 5.5.

With the anchor set on Micro Brew, Lisa climbed and cleaned the route with no problem. I lowered her, and we top-roped Gilded Otter which takes a different, slightly harder line up until it joins Micro Brew at the 3rd bolt. It was definitely more of a challenge. I made it up to the same place at the 3rd bolt and after working at it for a while, still couldn't figure out how to make the move up and over that bolt. Had Lisa lower me from there.

Lisa climbed Gilded Otter and also struggled at the 3rd bolt and hung on the rope a bit. She evetually managed to find a way up, but when I lowered her back down to try it again, couldn't repeat the moves. (Thanks for making me feel a little better!) She finished the route and cleaned the top anchor.

We moved left and slight uphill to Near Beer which is a little shorter (40' vs. 50'). Looked pretty good, although the start was bit damp and muddy. When I went to the obvious crack just left of under the first bolt, there were about a zillion little bugs that flew out. I blew in the crack and more flew out. I picked up a stick and banged it around in the crack and even more flew out. I almost gave up at that point. The bugs weren't stinging or swarming -- other than flying around and out of the crack -- but they were still annoying me, and I didn't feel like starting to lead with that distraction. Eventually decided to go for it since they seemed to have decreased to a managable or ignorable level.

Near Beer was pretty nice. Just challenging enough to make me feel like I was working for it, but not so much that I was gripped.

Lisa climbed and cleaned the route. I started hearing rain in the canopy coming up from the river as she was about half-way up, and the rain started on the rock when she was about three-quarters of the way to the top. She cleaned the anchor in the rain, and we packed up pretty quickly as soon as she got down.

The forecast had mentioned likely rain through the afternoon so we packed up and hiked out. since we doubted it was just a passing shower. Miserable amount of humidity and dampness for the hike out. We changed into dry clothes at the car, stopped for lunch in Fayetteville, and got on the road to drive home.