Adventures on June 18th, 2006
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9:00 AM: By the time Jason and I got to the base of Sixish (5.4+), we were all ready sweating like pigs. 92 and sunny was the forecast. By the time I set up the hanging belay at the top of the P1, I was covered in sweat.
Once I finished the traverse, I placed a bomber nut and tricam and was happy that the crux was over with. I jammed myself into the notch, did some wacky arm bar with my left arm and realized I was in some serious trouble. "You watching me Jason?" I yelled down anticipating a vote of confidence. Silence. "You watching me?" I repeat. "Yeah I got you." Jason yelled after I later learned he busy trying to take pictures as I was crapping my paints. Several ugly moves later I found myself at a stance above the notch with easy climbing above. After some rope issues, Jason followed up and said the notch was easy if you stayed on the outside of it and avoid jamming yourself in it.
This being Jason's first lead of the season, he took his time racking up and made sure he was organized before he got above the trees and into the sun. He did an excellent job with P1 and climb the first left facing corner instead of the corner a few feet to the right, The corner required some crazy gaston to mantel move that I would not have wanted to do on lead. P2 is consider the money pitch because of it's long run out, exposed traverse left. Jason climbed the left facing corner about 25, then traversed left at least 40 feet with nothing but two crappy pins that might not even hold bodyweight. A fall would have caused him to pendulum below me into one of the corners (assuming the pins snapped which they would have)! But Jason kept his head on and made it to the next belay. I have never scene something over cammed like the #4 C4 he had at the anchor I had to clean before starting P2. It had absolutely no trigger movement at all. I couldn't move it side to side either. With a lot of luck and 15 minutes of fiddling, it magically came out. Thank God. I was willing to hang out there for hours to get it out. Jason finished strong on P3 and we headed to our next climb. My original game plan was to break into the 7s and climb Limelight. Since I've already followed it, it would only count halfway but it would still good to break in the grade with. I was so wiped because of the sun that I decided to climb something else.
A green alien protects the opening moves pretty well but there was some serious decking potential once you got above it. But the real excitement is the steep left facing corner that leads to the wildly exposed hanging belay. There's a fixed black alien that's been there for years. I clipped it and powered through the corner placing another piece or two along the way. I was much more organized the first time I setup the hanging belay. It took me a few minutes to decide what to do. I finally decided to place a tricam and hang on it while I placed a few more pieces. 3 cams later, I had a bomber anchor complete with a sling to flake the rope. Jason made his famous face expressions as he moved up the crux corner. As soon as he got to the belay he tells me "You're a sick freak." Hahahaha. It really wasn't that bad. I put Jason on the anchor and we start to exchange gear. A few moments later, we hear this loud sound that sounded like a piece of gear popping.
About halfway up the final pitch I realized that Madame G's is not an end of the day climb. I was exhausted and mental drained but I was hanging from some of the friendly jugs in the world. I seriously considered exiting left around the final bulges instead if pulling them. But I tested the water with them and they pulled easy. Jason followed up surprisingly quickly. The first words out of his mouth were "That was one of the greatest climbs of my life." Yeah me, too. We did the free hanging rap to the ground and even managed to stop at My Hero on the way home.
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