As you all have read, Karsten and I went to Linville this past Tuesday to get a ton of routes in. In total we climbed 7 routes, 27 pitches, and 2200 feet all in seven hours. This was a big boost to my climbing resume and a great day of training. Well did something similar but on a much small scale. Yesterday, we went to the Nose area of Looking Glass and did three routes pretty quickly.
We met at the Fox Mountain Guides office and then headed up the hill. We knew that there would be other groups out there that were working with our guides so we busted up the trail. After a few minutes we were at the base of the Nose (5.8). Though it is one of the more popular climbs at Looking Glass, I had not yet done its upper pitches. That is where we started. Karsten linked the first two pitches and then brought me up. I then led up to the “Parking Lot” ledge. Then we fired to the top. Once up top we scrambled back down to the ledge via a different route, did a few rappels, and we were back on the ground it what seemed like no time at all.
After this we moved over to Sundial Crack (5.8). This is another popular route that I had not done the upper pitches on. Karsten again linked the first two pitches. Then I led up from there. On the third pitch there is the name sake crack. It only goes for about 25 feet at which point you start climbing on eye brows again. For a person who likes crack climbing, the crack is just a big tease. A few minutes later we were back on the ground. From there we hiked over to Dum Dee Dum Dum.
Dum Dee Dum Dum is a superb 5.10a or 5.10c climb. The first pitch goes up a low angle crack, hits a bolt, and from there you have two choices. You can go straight up using the shallow flaring crack (5.10c) or go out to your right, go up a side pull, then go back left into the crack. From there you have a hand crack that goes to the first pitches anchors. The second pitch continues up the crack. The only thing is that it is wide from the start. Luckily, it takes good gear. The crack luckily thins out but just a little too quickly. It quickly fades out and once again you climbing on friction with limited gear. For a 5.8 pitch it is full on. Once you are getting tired of being on this slab you get to the anchors. From there you do a single double roped rappel.
We had to end our day here. Rain was on its way. We headed back to the car. Once back at the office the rain let loose along with massive amounts of hail. This led to some fun time spent in the office amazed at the amounts of rain and hail that were being unleashed. Finally, the threat of doomful weather resided and we made our way up to Asheville to get some more training in. One would think that after the large amounts of climbing that we had already done this week that we wouldn’t need to do any more. Well, we decided we needed to abuse our bodies more. So we went to the climbing gym to boulder for a few hours.
All of this activity has left me tired and desiring a solid sabbath. Luckily, I don’t have any bookings this weekend allowing me some time to chill, maybe get some climbing in, and maybe even organize my life a bit more. Either way, I plan on giving my body a bit of a break.
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