| climb on |

Epic...The dictionary describes it as "…surpassing the usual or ordinary, particularly in scope or size…" Epic. In the climbing world, this simple 4-letter word describes that well planned climb turned grueling adventure of lost gear, loose rock, getting off route, nightfall, accidents, and misadventure a plenty. An adventure where everything seems to go wrong...but one that turns out well in the end. As we say...it makes a good story!

yay for adventures! i spent a couple of days in the beautiful red rocks canyon national park in nevada last week. it was a great trip! the highlight of my adventure: TC and i tackled my FIRST EVER big climb. big being the classic Crimson Chrysalis, 9 pitches of sustained 5.8 trad/sport climbing. it was so cool!
10:00am | late morning start. we gear up and start the approach (according to the guidebook, it's 1.5 miles with 1000' gain in elevation ~1-1.5 hrs to hike)
12:00pm | we are still hiking...um why? and not just leisurely hiking...we're boulder scrambling, bush whacking and sweating up a storm with all our gear. we realize that we are going up the wrong way (and by wrong way, i mean much harder way!) to get to the base of the climb *rolls eyes* that is the last time i let a boy navigate.
12:15pm | we finally arrive at the base. there are 4 parties ahead of us on crimson, one just about to hop on. drained already from the hike, we sit, eat our peanut butter and banana sammiches and soak up the sun.
12:45pm | we finally gear up and start climbing. the next five and a half hours consist of alternating lead and following while hauling up a second rope in a backpack (which made following harder than leading!). i link the last 2 pitches and right when im about to clip in at the anchor at the top one of my quickdraws becomes unclipped from my harness and slides down the rock. ah! and then i catch it with my toe! whew...
6:20pm | yay! we made it! we are at the top and it is still light out! 9 pitches, 1000ft up, and the view is amazing :D
then the epic unfolds...
- we're rapping down from the top to the belay anchors at the end of pitch 7. when we try to pull the rope down, it doesnt budge. crap, its stuck. TC has to jumar back up to the top to figure out what is wrong. this takes about half an hour. meanwhile, i am clipped in to the side of a mountain freezing my booty off. its getting dark and really windy. turns out the knot was stuck on a ledge. so TC has to rap back down to where i am - so now we're rapping in the dark with our headlamps on. between pitch 4 and 5, the rope gets stuck below in a crack so we cant pull it up. TC ends up rapping down, placing a piece and clipping into it (scary) while i pull the rope up and set up the rappel.
- as i'm rappelling, i decide to switch the direction of my right hand, so i grab the rope with my left hand to adjust and it gets stuck in the belay device! holy mother, this hurt. i try grabbing the rope above with my right hand and finding good feet. TC says "just dont rip it out!" O.O i finally get it out...ouch. my hand hurts.
- after more rapping at lightning speed, we are back on solid ground. thank goodness! i have had to pee since pitch 7 so i go find a place to pee. just as im finishing my business the rock that im stepping on decides to give so i end up slipping and scraping up my ankle. ouch.
- now the descent. we're tired, hungry (all we've had all day are 2 clif bars), thirsty (we killed our 3 nalgenes), and its dark. as im walking, i kinda jump off a rock onto the trail only to run into a lil bush, breaking one of the branches with my leg. ouch. i have major scrapage of the leg.
- 10:45pm | our bodies failing...we finally get back to the car.