Saturday, 23-July-2022

(Edit: 20-Aug-2022, I realized that these weren’t my first outdoor climbs of 2022! Instead, my first outdoor adventure climbing was at Rumney, back in April! How crazy is that… I’ve climbed equal amounts on both coasts!)

How has it been over seven months, and I haven’t climbed outside??

I mean, I don’t think I have… And I have to admit, there’s good reason. An excessively rainy spring, far longer than most, leading into a summer approximately a billion degrees during the day doesn’t really lend itself to getting out of town and rock climbing.

But none of that matters now because I went climbing!!!

My friend Lexi and I headed out leisurely on a Saturday… it was a bit impromptu, with our plans varying the few days before. Thankfully, everything worked out in the end, and we found ourselves eating breakfast sandwiches in the morning and then starting the drive while the day was still comparatively young.

Our goal was Ozone – to do a bit of exploring and just feel out the climbing. This would be our first climbing trip together, and her first outdoor climbing in 7 years or so, and we weren’t aiming to push grades or do anything particularly crazy… just get out on the rock and enjoy ourselves.

So… we did! We climbed, we crushed, and we had a great time!

Okay, so… photos. There really weren’t any. Since, you know, we were climbing. But I did get a cool shot of Lexi looking up at an impossibly tall section of the wall! And of some BBQ that we had afterward!

What did we climb, you may ask? Well, ask that I may answer!

Stairway to Heaven – 5.6, Sport, Lead

Stigmata – 5.7, Trad, Lead

Rusty Cage – 5.8, Top-rope (climbed on Stigmata anchors)

Stigmata variant (Left) – ~5.8, top-rope

Ripper – 5.9, top-rope

Ripper Variant (left) – 5.9, top-rope