Offwidth invert #36 and a new route

Pat and I met up with Kurt and Kev for some new stuff that Kevin scoped. As we explored, I stumbled upon yet another OW invert roof...Kinda like Spinning in the Wind(Spin to Win) in Vedauwoo, though longer...turned out to be harder too...The main reason was to do the hand to fingers thing Kevin found. He graciously gave Pat the first go and Pat promptly onsighted...Kevin quickly clipped up the prehung gear as well. All in all a really good day, except for me smacking my noggin on this overhang...my head still hurts...






























Cheers

TK

Ladd's day to shine

Sorry, my darling daughter Lyddie, but today Laddie just plain got down after it. Something clicked for him today and he really felt comfortable on the stone. Sorry for all of the kid's photos, but sometimes their climbing achievements need to be noted.


Warming up on a friction slab



Chicken heads and knobs on less than vert seemed business as usual



Using some fancy footwork to send the problem



Steep-slab to vert with jugs--one of his more proud sends of the day, IMO



Wisely knowing his limitations, he backed off this climb, but watch out next year...

After lunch exercise

A botched lunch with Molly in Whitehall led to a quick outing on the pebbles with the kids. I wanted to peek around the Toll Mountain area and see if there were any near road-side climbs for the kids. With minimal walking, we found a few:

Ladd was the warrior for the day...




Powering the mantle


Crack/jam practice


Lyddie on the death grip crimps


Moving over fine stone



Nothing remarkable, just another good day out with the kids.

New Turf

I had walked/scouted this area and ridge back in the snow months. Tom decided that the place was worth a walk-through and assembled the crew of himself, me, Pat, Ron, Clay, Scott, and Roxie the deaf white wonderdog to indulge on the environs. These are a few captures on the day:



Ron warming up on a short one


Clay topping out


Pat on the second of the "2 Left Shoes Crack"


Me pullin' on some honkin' knobs--only to find that I didn't have the guts to top out the left slab, leaving me with the downclimb alternative



A fine day a another new playground area--lots to be done in this zone/sector...

A day on the steeps

Surprisingly good weather on the East side of Homestake Pass, left the crew with some time to take on a few steep/overhanging crack projects.

The results:


Where is this man's mid-section?


And who is this man spotting?

Pat shows us how to do the problem properly...




Moving on to the Halfway Creek Crack:

Pat in deep


...and heading towards the lip



Kristen Drumheller-Dockins showing fine technique on the left crack (circa ~'87)

New OW roof and more

Linked up with Hutch, Cilley, Ron and Pat for some good times on the stone

warm up



Nasty proj





New OW roof

Pat on the FA(and another lap for the above shot)








Cilley with a delicate repeat





Super fun day, hopefully with more coming up soon!

Cheers!

TK

For the last week, visiting dignitary Dick Cilley has been sampling the Batholith delights. After plenty of solo exploration under his belt, Dick contacted me to do some trad climbing at Spire Rock. He dispatched with a few area classics, then led 3 other seldom-traveled stouter climbs to end the day.


Smiling atop a "sand bag" .11b


The next day, Tom, Pat and Ron came over and we met up for some bouldering action.



Dick feeling out the jams on this difficult project


FA on this OW


Pat succeding on the second ascent of the longer of the pair.


A pretty good two days spent sampling some really fine Batolith offerings. Dick is supposed to be around for a few more days--let's see what else we can do.