Tuesday, March 27, 2012

It's fun to do a little rock climbing again

Ogden weather is fickle.  I can't figure it out.  Saturday Phil and I went rock climbing  and it was 70 degrees and sunny.  Today it snowed.  Tomorrow it's supposed to be almost 70 again.  I'm not sure whether to pray for snow (which has been in extremely short supply this winter) or embrace the sun.  Either way, the climbing on Saturday was really fun!

We headed up Ogden Canyon to Utah Wall.  There's a route there, Air Time (5.10c), that is really fun.  It is slightly overhung in places and follows an arete that eventually hangs out over about 100ft of air (hence the name).  I think that this route was originally climbed by one of the Lowes (Greg or Jeff), but I'm not 100% sure.  The fact is, the majority of the best routes in Ogden were first climbed by the Lowes, so it's usually pretty safe to give them credit for it.

Because we wanted to get pictures and there were only two of us, we decided to fix a couple lines and rope solo.

Anyway, here are some pictures:
The lower part of the route is slightly overhung but has nice, large holds.  Really fun section!





The middle section is the crux.  The moves go from a mediocre undercling with the right hand with poor feet to a thin but decent finger crack, to a small crimp, to a decent pinch, to a perfect hand sized crack that pulls the roof.  It's a really fun sequence!  At the top of this picture is a bulge.  You pull the bulge into a small pod and at the back of the pod is where the hand crack roof starts.

The finger crack is actually where the nut is placed.  I got a little off route right here and had to climb back down to get on the correct moves.


If you tuck your shoulder in there is a no-hands rest before the roof


Perfect hand-sized roof.  Careful, this section eats #2 and #3 camalots, especially if you're tired and a little worried about the exposure.







After the roof there is a fairly easy, albeit awkward traverse with about 100 feet of air below your feet.


If you live in Ogden and haven't tried this route, or you are visiting Ogden and want to try an exciting, 5.10 trad route, this is a great option!


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