Last night I had a wet Dreamer

[Toast]

CBS, my friend Jim and I climbed Dreamer in the rain yesterday. It was one of those "character building" experiences. We got a late start due to farting around waiting for a fourth who never showed (motherfucker )

 

Driving up the road, we were pleasantly surprised that there weren't any other cars parked. Maybe they'd read the weather report and smartened up. Whatever the case, we had the area to ourselves.

 

A short hike took us to the creek, and the trail from there was a bit overgrown. Good thing it wasn't wet. About an hour later we were at the base of the climb. I looked down at Jim and Catbird's shoes as they laced up, nice comfy 5.10 spires (sigh.) I had a tight fitting pair of Montrail Smoothies. Don't get me wrong, they're high performance little Ferraris and all, but they're the last thing you want to wear on a long climb. My toe nails were already black and blue from a summer of similar abuse. It was gonna be a long day. Just about then we felt the first drops. It's just sprinkles I said. it'll pass. Sure enough it did... for a little while.

 

About the fourth or fifth pitch, where the real climbing begins, it begins to drizzle steady. The three of us look at each other. We'd all had a lame summer of cancelled climbs. We weren't gonna let a little rain stop us. It's just water after all. Besides, the rap route goes straight down the climb route, we could bail any time.

 

The climbing was surprisingly good. I was amazed at how reasonably grippy wet granite can be. CBS led a fine pitch on the Dreamer Undercling. I followed with a hand jammed into the slimy crack. Some kind of red algae was dripping down my hand as water streamed down my other elbow. All I could think of was, gee, I can't believe my feet are sticking.

 

Let me say this, climbing in a party of three were everybody wants their share of leads on a great route is one thing. Doing so with a wet pair of brand new doubles that twist every which way adds color to one's vocabulary. Tying in and swapping ends adds thinking to the process. None of it adds any speed to the equation.

 

About 5 o'clock the light turns that certain way and you know it's time to turn back. None of us wanted to dig our watches out to see what time it was. We were about a pitch, maybe two away from the top, and we were just stupid enough to pull it off. Sure enough, we top out and begin our descent as the light wanes.

 

I headed down first to clear lines. CBS and Jim simul-rap to save time. It's just about then I realize how much I hate my BD Supernova headlamp. Don't buy one of those fucking things. When the batteries run low, it has this habit of going into blinking mode, shifting from bright to dim light... just enough to tease you with a bright burst of light, then dim so you can't quite see the rap station you're looking for.

 

After much cussing, we make it down. It's nine o'clock, pitch black and raining cats and dogs. The hike out is a slippery dance down wet slabs and bashing through wet brush. Somewhere we got off route and into steep terrain. It was a Klenke moment. Nonetheless, we made it down to the creek. It's incredible how much longer things seem when it's wet and dark outside. I'm just glad nobody was telling any ghost stories on the way down. It was kinda creepy.

 

We get back to the car around midnight. We're soaked to the bone but all the richer. We'd just climbed one of the best rock climbs in the state.

Topo here.

[larrythellama]

nice work guys..better a tad wet then baking hot in my opinion!

[catbirdseat]

It was an interesting experience. It really built my confidence to know that one can still manage to climb in the rain.

 

Here's Jim leading the first 5.9 pitch.

Here's Toast leading his 5.9 (note the rope-eating flake).

Toast and Catbirdseat at the summit

Edited September 5, 2004 by catbirdseat

[ncascademtns]

Toast, you're just a rain kind of guy ! Good work!

Hey Jim, Great work on your part too!

Oh, you too Catbirdseat.

[skyclimb]

Sounds like a messy wet dream...

Nice work