My first post-injury multi-pitch climb!  Also, outdoor climb!  Also, seconding a trad route!  Lots of stuff!

Monday, 03-July-2017

 

I’d finished work the week before… a 2-year contract had ended, and Hood River was nearly behind us.

I was nearly done with PT, and my knee / leg was feeling really good.  Sarah and I had been running a lot, and my endurance was getting back up to where it should be.

So how better to celebrate that whole section of life ending?  A climb up the first route that Sarah and I had ever done sounded just about right.

Rooster Rock – a two-pitch route, with two variations that you can choose from.  Before, we’d started with a 5.6 sport route… but this time, Sarah decided to take the Trad line up, which went at 5.4

So our line up was:

Pitch 1, 5.3 Trad, Led by Sarah

Pitch 2, 5.4 Trad, Led by Sarah

 

And we crushed it!!!  Sarah led fearlessly and without hesitation, and I followed strongly and quickly.  She placed gear, and I cleaned it.  We did pretty damn well, if I do say so myself.

Honestly, I think the best part was before and after the climb itself.  When we were packing up, and re-organizing our gear, it felt like all the good times distilled into this one moment.  This one section of time when we’re sitting at the base of the climb, setting up or taking down gear, either reveling in the energy of the pre-climb, or relaxing in the tiredness of post-climb.