Weekend Warrior

13Jul08

Chris and I managed to go climbing at a part of West Rocks further west on Wednesday this past week. The nature of the escarpment there is sufficiently different and the access is so radically different, that it really warrants another name entirely; however, presently there is really only one bolted line, and our investigation didn’t turn up much potential.

The escarpment through much of Owen Sound is sufficiently low that, for the most part, the rock remains obscured by the trees and lichen flourishes on its surface. When exposed to the sun, lichen isn’t necessarily such a terrible thing; however, within the trees, it seems to absorb the moisture in the air, and the rock becomes rather slick and moist. A motivated person may dedicate time to cleaning some of the lines with more potential, but there are better places to go exploring. So little of the climbing potential of the escarpment has been uncovered, and we’re doing our best to rectify that situation, week by week.

Today, we decided to explore the West Bluffs (or South Bluffs?), which are a bit further south of West Rocks. Like Harrison South, much of the base of the escarpment is rough terrain, and it is much easier to reach the climb from the Bruce Trail above the escarpment than to approach from below.

As a warm up, and to humour me somewhat, we got on ‘Happy Face’ the 5.7 trad route feature the plethora of horizontal cracks up a less than vertical face. I had been thinking about gear placements since we went last weekend, and wished to try my hand at it again. I must say, this time things did go much more smoothly. Not all of my placements were perfect, but some were excellent. Chris thinks that I should try my hand at leading it soon, but I kind of want to save that for an exceptionally easy climb like what can be found at Rattlesnake Point. On the other hand, I won’t really gain any confidence in my placements until I actually have to rely on them.

After climbing that route, we proceeded to West Bluffs, found a shoelace tied to a tree (our only beta), and found an ideal place to rap down behind one of the wide fissures that are so common in that area. We left the rope in place, and hiked further along until we came to a fantastic looking crack in a corner, which came to a ledge above which it then ran along the edge of a roof until it reached the top.

Chris proceeded to get on the route, and climbed the first portion comfortably, until trying to make the ledge. At the point, most of the features disappear on the face of the walls, and you are forced to use opposing smears on either face until you can get your left foot on a half decent ledge. From there he traversed the edge of the roof, using the crack as an undercling and get his feet high, and then proceeded to go around the corner, and layback through the next section where the crack becomes a bit offwidth.

I followed on toprope, and managed to make it through the roof and into the layback without falling, but by that point, I was feeling a little bit pumped. I called out “Take!” to Chris, who then called back “No!” Feeling a little bit irritated, somewhat more desperate, but knowing he was also right, and struggled around, but I think my exhaustion clouded my mind quite a bit, because I wasn’t moving in any sensible manner. After awhile, I finally yelled out “Please take..???” and he gave into my plea. I rest for a moment, before deciding to continue into what was actually a relatively easy layback section to finish the climb.

After lowering, we decided it was likely a 5.9, though a very good quality one. It is by far the hardest crack I’ve climbed (well, sort of) and thoroughly enjoyable.

We hiked further along and decided and want looked like a fairly nice crack, though the protection seemed a little thin. I won’t spend much time talking about it, but Chris lead it while resting on an anchor at one point, and I followed it until near the top I got fed up with the route and bumped the final few feet. It was quite difficult, Chris thought maybe a 5.10a or b, it featured poor protection, and the climbing wasn’t particularly rewarding either.

After investigating a bit further down, we returned to the fixed line, and ascended it with a prussik and autolock.

I should also mention the events of Saturday. Jay had decided to come up to the Bruce Peninsula for the weekend, and I met him on Saturday around noon. We headed over to Cape Croker, had picked out our route, and I was in the middle of putting on my harness when Jay realized he had forgotten his harness at home. Rather than setup a swami belt, which would have been relatively easy, but terribly uncomfortable, we decided to hike to the base of White’s Bluff and check out some of the routes there just for the heck of it. I’m officially impressed. It’s the first time I’ve seen the sort of steepness so common in Kentucky on the escarpment.

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Tags: Climbing, Owen Sound, Sport, Trad, West Bluffs, West Rocks