Morningside on McGillivray Slabs – July 12, 2007
5.7 sport climb (130 m) with Antri.
Antri was kind enough to invite me out for my first multi-pitch sports climb and I’ll have to give the experience 2 big thumbs up. The route consists of four pitches: the first two are 5.7 and the latter two are 5.5. Antri led all the pitches with skill and ease. I followed (with much less skill and ease), finding the climbing to be more challenging than I was expecting, but a great deal of fun on good rock. We were both surprised at the variety of rock on route too: some high friction slabs, low lower friction slabs, a section of coral-like rock, and some more ledgey-type climbing. The most unusual experience for me was doing a hanging belay – a little unnerving at first, but pretty cool once I decided to trust the equipment.
The ascent took 2.5 hours and rappelling the four pitches took 1.5 hours (slowed down a little when the rope got caught on a tree stump as we were pulling it down). Antri was very patient and I learned a few things from him about rope management and setting up correctly at belay stations. Thanks very much Antri for a great first multi-pitch sport climb.
All photos by Linda Breton, unless otherwise noted
Antri and Linda hike to the climb, which is basically about one-third of the way from the right side of the photo (photo by Drew)
Preparing for the climb
Antri starts up
A beautiful flower shot by Linda
Antri at the crux of the second pitch
Me coming up (photo by Antri)
Typical angle of the rock (photo by Drew)
Antri starts the second rappel (photo by Drew)