Dairy Freeze, check!

One of my favorite pictures of World Wall One.
Nick staring down the extension to Aborigine, Technorigine.


Yesterday I took a trip up to Little si, or more accurately World Wall One. The weather was overcast, with brief stints of sunshine but it was only to taunt us and our icy grips. My band consisted of Mika and Dom. The number one priority after arriving to the wall was to get these cursed draws back on Abo. and clear my good name of any damaging associations. WW1 was already alive with climbers and I took no rest and no water and immediately got on Abo. It felt so effortless this time, not that it hasn't in the past but it almost felt like I was climbing it for the first time again, except I knew all the beta. It was a wonderful way to start the day and foreshadowed the kind of day that was to come. After removing the bad karma and having an excellent warm up burn on Abo. we stepped over to a climb I hadn't done in almost two years, Megatherion. Mika gave it a burn hanging the draws for us and then I was up again and absolutely loved getting back on this rig. Lovely sinker flake jugs almost the entire route, with a short crux section in the middle. The route feels exposed and the top is covered in black textured stone that is amazing to climb on. Another excellent pitch was in the bag and I was feeling like climbing today was taking on an almost playful approach, everything just flowed and I was able to really just enjoy each climb for what it was. Dom sent Bust The Move next while Mika TR'd it and then I finally decided to grow some balls and get back on my project Dairy Freeze. I had first tried it two years ago and remembered very little except that the crux involved some serious crimping and trusting of a certain very tiny foot hold. I had re-familiarized myself with the route last week and was ready to send. The temps were cold and the friction was good but my fingers froze up after getting through the first crux move and I fell. I finished the route, came down for a rest as Dom gave it a go, and then fired it directly after. This route has everything, a nice mellow start on good incuts to jugs, a strenuous and technical sequence through the crux, a dyno(but only for me), and one of the coolest slabs with that black textured rock I mentioned earlier on absolutely brilliant little crimpers and smears. It was a joy working and sending this thing and I would nominate it as one of the best 5.12b's at Little si, if not the most diverse. Here is a picture of Dom in the middle of the crux move, his right foot on that tiny little foothold going for the sidepull.


Dairy Freeze, (5.12b)

Dom wasn't able to pull the crux with my beta, but he remembered his own beta from years ago and he will send next time we are out there. After giving the mandatory visit to the loveliest woman in the PAC NW, by the name of Rainy Day, we wandered over to Psychowussy and I hung the draws and pumped out on the extension. Mika gave a nice clean lead of Psychowussy followed by Dom to wrap up the day and we were back in Oly just in time for a hillarious game of Telephone Pictionary and some interesting mead tasting. I'm really psyched on cleaning up some of the other 5.12a's I haven't done at Little si like Sweet Tooth, and State of Perplexity. I'm also really psyched for harder possibilities like Propaganda and Sluglover. Dom and Laura's work have ended now so hopefully this means lot's and lot's of Little si! Or other areas, whatever works...