Day 3
No trip to
Moab is complete without at least one trip to Wall Street, along the northern
section of Potash Road. The climbing is magnificent and there are tons of
routes of all grades.
Dan and I
hit a couple of easy slab routes (Dan leading both), while Evan and Jordan
climbed an awesome 5.10a/b route called Lacto Mangulation. Jordan was the first
of the group to earn a war wound (that is, excluding my bruised ego from
Owl Rock!) taking a lead fall just as he was about to clip the last bolt on
Lacto. Dan and I were then able to top-rope Lacto - great route!
Dan then set
his sights on leading one of the most popular routes on Wall Street, the
humorously named Potstash, graded at 5.9+. He led the route in fine style and
set up a top-rope. Evan and Jordan were nearby, on the 5.10+ Jacob’s Ladder
route. Everyone climbed both routes
(Slugman receiving another generous belay on Jacob’s Ladder), enjoying the fantastic
rock and stellar weather.
Wall Street
Dan prepares to climb one of the easy slabs
He's just visible at the top of the climb
Jordan's war wound, after taking a lead fall (that's going to sting when he has to shower!)
Jordan gets back on Lacto Mangulation
Potstash
Looking up Jacob's Ladder
Jordan looking good on Potstash
Me in the fetal position on Jacob's Ladder (a very common and comfortable position for me!)
Happy Turk
The
afternoon marked a return to Happy Turk, the bulbous rock formation graded at 5.8,
C1 (although the guidebooks call it 5.6). Evan had ascended to the third bolt
on our previous attempt and he was craving some redemption.
However,
Jordan must have enjoyed his short ride up the aid section of Pearly
Gates and
volunteered to lead the ascent. To everyone’s delight Jordan was able
to make
it all the way to second last bolt before coming down – a magnificent
effort. Evan
then ascended the rope and tried to finish the route, sans rock shoes
and chalk (Click here to see how Evan got them). He was then able to
finish the route. Reaching the last bolt required
a couple of “spicy” moves and did not look like 5.6.
With a rope
set up, Dan and Jordan were now able to ascend it using the combination of a
single etrier, a grigri and an ascender. They both did it with ease, but the
ascent looked like an “arm workout from hell” and so the armless Slugman opted
to stay on the ground.
A wonderful
day of some seriously cool and fun climbing.
Jordan starts up Happy
Jordan's sequence up the climb
Evan climbs the rope to finish the route
Click here to see how Evan got his rock shoes and chalk bag (if you missed it the first time)
Evan is ready to make the crux move up to the crack
And he's up!
Dan ascends the rope
Almost there
Success
Dan rappels
Jordan's turn to ascend the rope
Another success
Last look at Happy Turk and the successful ascenders
continue to DAY 4