ptownclimber Posted June 24, 2008 Share Posted June 24, 2008 (edited) Trip: Snow Creek - Outer Space Date: 6/22/2008 Trip Report: After a stellar day of single pitch slab climbing on Fish Rock and the Off Duty area and a great night hanging out at the best camping spot EVER...Gabrielle, Zen with an edge and I headed up to Snow Creek wall to check things out for the first time. We hoped to do Orbitz or Outer Space and expected crowds. After a leisurely breakfast and some hackie sack on granite (Zen with an edge insisted), we got rolling sometime around 11 or 12. The hike in was nice and warm. Better weather than Saturday. We hung out with a family of goats and ate some lunch...happy to find that we wouldn't have to wait to get on Outer Space. It was warm enough that we didn't think much about layers, wind, etc. We had our shoes, some water and a camera stuffed in one of the rope bags, and two headlamps. We had been duly warned to not descend in the dark Now, heading out as a threesome, late in the day, with no experience on that route was a little audacious, but we lucked into following another party of three...some guy who'd done the route dozens of times. In spite of this obvious advantage, we got promptly got off route, overshooting the traverse left (pitch two). Evidently we were not the first as there were a couple of rap stations just above the bolted anchor. Bucking the stereotype that men have a stubborn compunction about asking directions, we confirmed our predicament with the party ahead. Back on course after the inevitable clusterfuck of a belay station with two fat ropes...we found ourselves in the shade and starting to feel the breeze. It had been a nice breeze on the way in. Gabrielle 'won' the rock/paper/scissors for the next pitch, which she soon regretted, but led the pitch with great style, as usual. Zen and I were both glad we didn't lead the pitch. Very funky moves on that upper ramp. The fourth pitch delivered plenty of rope drag and more challenging climbing than we expected, especially getting to the top of the pillar belay. By this point we were really beginning to feel the shade and the wind. It proved unfortunate that we had to enjoy such fine rock in the cool of the long, near-solstice day. Now, these ladies are not only beautiful, smart, funny, and talented, they are also WARM...which made all the difference in this particular menage-a-trois outing on granite. So here is where the fun really began. First hand in the crack: "oh, baby!"...move feet, hips, hands..."oh yeah, there it is!"...(God this feels good)..."that's it, right there!"...repeat. We could hardly contain ourselves after the long build-up to the really good stuff. And the goods just kept coming. Start of pitch 6: cool moves right off the belay; my first heel-hook on a trad route . More beautiful rock. Farther up: wishing we had more gear in that hand-jam size range. The ladies are clearly having fun, laughing incessantly. I'm starting to wonder what's so funny. I don't find run-out amusing. Still farther - climbing is getting easier and rope drag is getting worse. Still farther - must be close to topping out, getting easier, run-out...running out of gear and slings, getting judicious with placements because of rope drag and lack of gear. Topping out...huge funky jugs like I've never climbed on before. I guess that's where the name outer space came from. I can see this crack right at the top...still have a few nuts, tri-cams and one big cam...damn this rope drag! Just a few more feet...Shit! Something must be wrong. I'm yelling down that I need more rope, can't hear anything comprehensible back. I'm pretty sure they're trying to say that there's no rope left. Pulling...PULLING...I can reach the crack, nearly on the flats...but not enough rope to tie in and zero slings left. Shit. I place a tri cam, a nut and the big cam as calmly as I can...jerry-rig some kind of shitty anchor together using the one remaining quick-draw, loose biners and nuts as slings. OK. PULLING...shit! still can't reach. I've got really good feet and all but I'd really rather not downclimb back to the last piece or belay w/out an anchor. Some more yelling, some more cussing...one more mighty pull and I manage to clip the rope through the 'biner. No knot, but I can tie one after I've belayed up a couple of feet. Better than nothing. First I have to yard up enough to get the belay device in. Gabrielle and Zen follow very quickly, happy to be getting on top so we can get out of the chill. I'm in a t-shirt, Zen in shorts. We get our crap together and cruise down as soon as we've all changed shoes. 8:50. We take a quick look around...a goat is sticking its head around the corner, silhouetted against the skies to the North...looking at us and wondering why the hell we make it look so hard. No time for pictures or high-5's, but we'll have that mental image forever. The ladies both have headlamps so the descent goes off without a hitch. We even had food, water and warm clothes back at the packs. All in all we narrowly avoided some kind of little epic on a perfectly good weather day. We had a blast. Thanks, ladies, for a great climb. Looking forward to the next one. So has anyone else had a rope-stretcher like that on the final pitch? Do most people just sack up and walk around the low angle crap on either side of the large flake/roof? Belay lower down? Gear Notes: -Could have used another red camalot or two...and more clothes -60m ropes -Arugula, salami, tomato and cheese bagels (Thanks, Zen!) Approach Notes: Thanks for all the nice cairns... Edited June 25, 2008 by ptownclimber Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NateF Posted June 24, 2008 Share Posted June 24, 2008 nice. i think the norm is to belay just below the last bulge, then add a very short easy pitch to top out. sounds like this may be avoidable with a 70m rope? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
triggerhappy Posted June 24, 2008 Share Posted June 24, 2008 I had the exact same experience topping out, barely stretching to get gear in that crack, no rope or slings left to build an achor with, had to just clip into a couple of pieces with my daisy and call it good. Next time I'll add one more short belay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raindawg Posted June 25, 2008 Share Posted June 25, 2008 Dude...you are a victim of an extra-long rope. I first climbed it back in the day when the 45 meter Goldline was in vogue and numerous times later with a 50 and 65 modern rope. You belay near the top of the second crack pitch where you can slot lots of crap in the crack, tie off a tiny bush (if it's still there)and even tie off some nearyby chicken heads. Your squealing girlfriends then come up, anchor, and then it's a relatively short climb (5.2?) over a little roof on monster chicken heads and you're on top. Wowza! Clever folk have someone in the party carry a little daypack with the sweaters and water in it (and headlamps just in case you get trapped behind a cadre of slow-sloggin wankers, which is very common on this route.) You were lucky with your late start...being the first on the wall early in the morning is ideal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jport Posted June 25, 2008 Share Posted June 25, 2008 Nice TR P-Town! Sounds like an adventure, alright! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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