Usually par for the course is Nick and I slogging around World Wall One hoping for a send. Or at least that's how it was last summer. This summer it has been quite different. It seems as if the social, and for that matter climbing circle as of late has been getting wider and wider as well as becoming a mixture of new male and female faces. This outing I had the pleasure of not only climbing with Nick, but Erica and Meg as well. We were headed out to Little si to catch a few pitches before returning Meg back to her mother around 4:00. It was a daunting task to make such a short visit to my beloved crag but we were there to enjoy each others company as well as climb so it was all about the experience and getting to know each other a little better.
Why is everyone looking at me like that?
The day started off nice, really good sending temps, the kind of weather that if you're not climbing you need a long sleeved shirt to stay warm. And this is mid July people!! Aaaahhh how I love the PAC NW.
The girls got up a sweet 5.9 called Devil's Advocate while Nick and I were arm wrestling for who would send Judgment Day next. I felt good but fell at the big throw, while Nick stepped up and just man handled the old girl. He looked really solid on every move and I knew he would send just by his body language after he made it through the second boulder problem. Nice job Nick!! We all gave him a hug and a high five, he deserved it. Time moved fast and I gave it another crack falling after hitting the jug, DOH! It wasn't a send but I was really glad to have this wired and knew that I could send next time. We hit the road and subsequently traffic, but we weren't that late in dropping Meg off.
We ended up trading Meg for Dom and made it to the Tenino Quarry in time for a good evening session. It was Off's birthday and I couldn't imagine a better time to reunite with this great sandstone crag.
Dom was all hopped up on pixie stix or whatever he eats to climb like a rabid badger and warmed up on a stout 5.11d called Futility Bill. I gave the route a once over and decided to save myself the embarrassment but managed a flash on TR, but as a side note it was really fucking hard! The lead is going to be dreadful. We played back and forth on some of the classics and I got myself a nice redpoint of Confucious and then the lights dimmed and the spotlight was shown brightly on Nick and his quest to become the 4th ascentionist of Legends, the quarry's most classic and epic of climbs, not to mention the hardest at .12c. Nick had put in some hard work on this thing and, well, here are the pictures:
As you can see he sent! And what a great send to watch. Super props goes out to Nick, a guy I have climbed with for a while now and I have to say is one of the hardest working climbers I have ever climbed with. To send a .12d and a heady and stout .12c at two different crags in a day wins the NSKLEFT award of the month. The day ended with a game of Settler's which I almost won if there had been a development card that would have granted me total victory of the game. Maybe I'll make one to slip into the pile next time...
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