Saturday got busy.

Saturday down at Manuels was pretty cool, except the bugs were out in full force.  There were 10 or more people out climbing.  Matt came out to do some bolting with me.  Andrew, Giz, Beth an Ben came to check out the climbing.  They had a bit of fun on the established lines.  Jan, Bob and Kelly came to do some more exploring.  Tak showed up solo and later on ever Justin managed to get out of bed.

Weekend Climbing

It looks like Saturday is the better day for climbing this week.  40% chance of showers.  We will have to play it by ear.  If all goes well...Sick Like Dog!

Rock Climbing In Newfoundland

I was told that Paul Chaisson had set up a blog for the Jr Climbing Team and their exploits in Squamish.  They arrived June 29 and were out scoping the territory yesterday.  It sounds like they are pretty stoked.  I wish them all the luck.

I have put the link into my blog.  It is the "Rock Climbing in NFLD" under links to the right.

Noel on Acron 5.8

This is me just starting Acron.  The first bolt is high off the ground and you need to be careful about swinging if you fall here.  If the bolt were lower, there would be a risk of ground fall.  

The route actually starts under and to the right of the bolt but I started from the left arette.  The left definitely makes it harder than a 5.8.

Bob on Shallow Grave 5.8

Bob leading Shallow Grave (5.8) last Sunday.  It is calling for rain on the weekend but hopefully that will change.  I want to get out to Manuel's again.  I have a route I want to bolt (Sick Like Dog).

Pretty Thin

We had a bit of a crew out this morning: Bob, Tak, Marcie, Alex, Hakase and myself. We went to to Justin's Face and set up 4 TR's. I found the bolts over the 'dyno' route were quite a bit to the right. I wasn't comfortable TRing it for fear of a pendulum swing. I don't know if those were the intended bolts for the top of that route.
The next route had really thin feet off the ground with a really cool lay back up to crimps. The crux was just getting off the ground. Marcie and Alex really liked it and spent a fair bit of time trying to work thru the sequence.
The 3rd one followed a thin crack line up to a shallow corner with a good foot ledge. The crux was moving off this ledge up onto some thin crimps with poor feet. It then goes a bit over hanging with some nice holds to keep it all together.
The 4th is not an established route, but it should be/will be. At the start of the 3rd route, a second crack leans off to the right. It provides good hands but with very thin feet. You can then gain the ledge which is actually the extreme left of the access switch-back. From here either a hand jam or an under cling lead to a sidepull high up on the prow. Reposition the feet to get a lovely pinch/jug and then the top. We used the right most bolt and two pieces of gear to create the anchor.
All the routes were good, but my fingertips are sore. You need good edging shoes as many of the foot holds are small.

Justin at International Wall

Justin had just shown us around International Wall when I took this picture.

Justin is a home grown Newfoundlander, a townie at that.  He had dabbled in climbing prior to him and his girlfriend moving out to Calgary.  While in Calgary he took to climbing seriously.  In Alberta, Justin was redpointing mid 5.11 and was starting to knock on the door of 5.12.  He also began to look into developing.  Life changed and Justin and the better half moved back to Newfoundland.  That's when the sandbag hit Justin.  Drop the grades by a couple, but he is still a solid 5.11 climber.  

Justin brings back a great set of skills.  He is a developer with his own gear (that makes 3 now),  he has a serious enthusiasm for putting up routes (he has put up at least 12-15 routes in the last year), has a great back ground of climbing in the mountains on various terrain and to boot, he is a good shit.