Cheese Grater Special

Brand new rope, fluorescent green against the winter landscape. Strictly Spring on March 31st, it is hard to tell on even this low mountain slope in the pines with no wildflowers or deciduous leaves out.

His daughter took a lap on a 5.4. She was tired from sickness a few days back and not energetic like I had seen her previously.

My climbing friend brought a friend and his son who had only been outside the day before here at Bays Mountain. They both did well.

She was content to watch, snack, nap, and look at curiosities on the ground.

It was an easy climb, but it is so good to be back on rock.

Unsnag the rope so that it is not bound up and you won't fall as far. Top Roping is the safest form of climbing, since you don't ever fall more than a foot or two.

You set up top rope from the top with extra runners so that the rings don't get excess wear. On the last climb you clean it and put the rope through the rings. You are always hooked in at two points and never allow the rope to be unattached.

Communication with your belayer and an alert belayer are most important.

For only the second day on real rock, this twelve-year-old was making great progress.

My friend led a 5.9 sport climb (meaning that it is bolted for easy protection) with relative ease and both of us top roped a 5.7, 5.4, 5.9, and 5.9+. Then we moved down to another rock face with a Buzzard's Cave in it. And there was the mama buzzard with a sharp eye out for intruders on her chick and unhatched egg.

If you look real closely, you can see the chick.

I trad lead (traditional, meaning you place gear for safety as you go up) a 5.7, well within my wheelhouse. I easily had the strength to do the climb, but not the endurance to place gear. I placed one piece that fell out, and while I was trying to place another, I gave out and fell about 15 feet. Normally, this is no big deal. The piece below me caught me. I spun around and put my feet in front of me to hit the wall. My left foot planted well but my right one slipped off of a rough place so that my leg impacted the wall just below the knee. I bled something fierce, felt mighty foolish, and felt sharp pain. It also twisted my knee which later swelled. Now a week later, I am mostly pain-free, have 95% range of motion in my knee, and have learned a valuable lesson about strength and endurance. I decided to share this with the knowledge that some will thing me very foolish, but I dislike the sanitized version people paint of themselves and life on social media. In 22 years of climbing, this is the worst injury that I have ever sustained, and I even know why. I plan to climb again, but I know that life is full of difficulties that we bring on ourselves and those that we don't. I am thankful to God to have not been injured worse. In reality, this blog entry is sanitized. I thought about sharing the picture that I took of my blood sprinkled on the wall, but I concluded that it might be a bit tacky. Climbers always say that it is worse to take a fall on an easy climb than a hard one because the holds are large, acting like a cheese grater. I can concur.