Tue, May 24, 2022
|
With: | Patrick O'Neill |
We followed much the same route I did the previous day with some
variations, taking less than 25min to reach
the summit block.
Having done the approach once already, the brush didn't seem as rough on the
second round. The summit block
is an interesting one. It seems like it ought to have a scrambling
route or easy 5th somewhere, but upon close inspection each side has its
difficulties. I thought
the south side would be the easiest route, with
a near-vertical 4-5ft to start before the angle eases. Our efforts started with
this, but we were unable to get the rope to go over the block and the angle we
could manage was pretty sketchy. We then figured we could get the rope over
east-west, helped with a small groove near the top of the east side to hold
the rope. Patrick wanted to try climbing
the west side first, but that
seemed to set him up for an unfriendly pendulum should he fall (which seemed
likely). The
north side we only briefly looked at, though it has a
decent hand crack running vertically, it is overhanging for much of it. We
eventually settled on the steep slab ascent up
the east side, myself
belaying from the
west side. By now we had spent 45min at the summit block without ever getting
off the deck.
But we were ready now. With climbing shoes, Patrick was able to climb the East
Face free in just a few minutes.
I used a hip belay that worked well in conjunction
with the friction of the rope over the granite block. We then repositioned the
rope to the south side with Patrick sitting at the far north end for added
rope friction. I tied a bowline on the rope around my waist. Patrick complained
that that was a stupid choice and I should use a figure-eight. I thought Barbara
would be proud of me for going old old school, so I backed up my bowline with
another knot and called it good. I then tied a couple of knots in
the rope above me to help me aid the initial
part of the ascent. It was a bit awkward in my boots and it took several false
starts before I was ready. On the first attempt I realized I needed a few more
knots in the rope. On the second, I managed to until my boot lace just as I
was stepping off the ground. Patrick called down to ask if I'd ever rock climbed
before. On the third effort, I muscled my way up, hand over hand, and quickly
joined Patrick at the top. Success!
We spent barely 5min at the summit. Finding no sign of previous
visitors, we
left a register tucked under one of the shrubs growing
from the large crack in the block. Patrick then lowered me down via
the south side, much as I'd come up.
Once down, I untied all the knots and we repositioned the rope going west-east.
I then lowered Patrick down the east side, using a hip belay from the west side
once again. With the rope friction over the granite, it was surprisingly easy
and took very little effort on my part to hold him. All told, we were about an
hour and a half for the rope part, not speedsters certainly, but at least none
of what we ended up doing felt sketchy. It would take us only 15min to make
our way back
to the Jeep once everything was packed up.
We finished up
back at the Jeep shortly before 1p, then spent the next hour+
driving back to Rancho Bernardo. A relatively short day, but a satisfying one
at that...
This page last updated: Tue May 24 18:28:07 2022
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