Delayed Trip Report from Spring Mountain

[climberchica]

I am a bad person. I posted about finding Spring Mountain, oh, about a month ago. Well, we went, we climbed and it was great. But I never posted a trip report so here it is:

 

We arrived on Saturday morning to rain, which meant it was a perfect time for a nap in the tent. We finally woke up, it finally dried off and we headed to the cliff.

 

Holy crap, I got spanked. I am normally a 10A leader and I LOVE balance climbs. I royally sucked. We started off on Chunky Monkey, with me leading. Everything was good, until THAT STEP. Being 5'2" didn't help the situation. I stood there and stood there and thought and though. I factored the fall on to the slab below me. I factored lots of things. Finally, I gave up and let the 6'1" hubby lead it. WTF? I NEVER bail on an 8!

 

After a few 8's and a 9 which REALLY spanked me the next day, I discovered something. While Spring Mountain is really well protected, all of the clips are perfect for 6'0" people. My husband (barkernews) easily clipped bolts I have to make sketchy moves to clip.

 

Stupid tall people.

 

Anyway, it was a fabulous weekend, with the exception of the Whitman College posse that showed up and took all the routes in the sun on Sunday.

 

Otherwise, an EXCELLENT alternative to the mall-like crowds at Smith.

 

Now, if I could just grow a few inches...

[chucK]

I went climbing a few times with this woman who was shorter than average and her sport-climbing arsenal included what she called her "stiffy". It was a long quickdraw stiffened up with clotheshanger wire. It allowed her to clip Bryan Burdo bolts from the intended stances.

[fern]

another technique for reachy bolts is to carry a small selection of large nuts or medium wired hexes. Sometimes you can poke the wire up through the bolthanger hole, give the rig a little push and it'll tip over (or snag it with a nut tool and pull it through) and the nut will jam in the hanger and the wire will extend down an extra 6" and you can just clip and go.

[Dru]

you can also do a wall stand on your climbing partner, and use a borrowed cheater stick

[kurthicks]

Glad you enjoyed Spring. Chunky Monkey is a very awkward climb for the grade. The moves off the ground are pretty wierd for a sport route (what sporto does offwidth?).

 

The Whitman kids can be somewhat overwhelming, just head further right and usually you'll be all alone again. Good to see them out climbing though. I can't wait to get down there again.

[thelawgoddess]

thanks for the tr - better late than never. i suffer from the same height challenge you do ... sometimes it pays off, though.

[shapp]

I am amazed you couln't reach the bolts. Most of the newer sport routes seem to have bolts every 5 or 6 feet.

[LUCKY]

A stiffy or boner draw is best made with metal banding tape, the kind used to rap heavy pallets .

a double length through the beaner and taped around the sling with cotton climbers tape, tape the beaner well to hold it secure.

TALL CLIMBERS MISS ALL THE COOL MOVES!