Category — climbing gear

The first episode of MSN’s web series Fearless is all about rock climbing, and I have to say, I think I might be hooked on Fearless after seeing this episode.  I love how open and circumspect some of the participants are in talking about conquering the fears that arise while on the rock.  I have felt the same way and it is really encouraging to see how others recognize that fear and deal with it.

I’ll admit that I have been a bit lazy about climbing in the past few months, but Fearless makes me think I should at least grab my chalk bag and climbing shoes and spend some time at the rock gym, if not on real rocks.  It’s time to face down my fears once again!

We spent a few hours Sunday morning at Malibu Creek State Park, investigating some of the routes on Planet of the Apes Wall. It was pretty hot and we were done by noon, but at least we had a chance to put PIC’s new Petzl grigri self-braking belay device to the test. Well, PIC had the chance to test out the grigri while he was belaying a whole bunch of people. I mostly hid in the shade and tried not to melt into a heat-induced puddle.

In spite of the heat, I am a little disappointed we didn’t take the bikes out to Malibu Creek, because it would have been a lot of fun to ride down to the Planet of the Apes Wall. However, riding our climbing gear back up the hill in the midday sun probably would not have been fun at all, so it was probably for the best.

I really want to head out to Malibu Creek again in the near future to check out where M*A*S*H was filmed. Hopefully it will be a little bit cooler next time!

We spent a few hours climbing at Point Dume this weekend and all I have to say is, Wow, I need to hit the gym! Or at least the hang board! The rock is very polished and slippery, and my chalk did not seem to be doing nearly enough to counteract my sweaty palms. I also debated whether or not I need to re-sole my climbing shoes. However, since nobody else seemed to have any real problems with the rock, I probably have to concede that the real issue is my rapidly waning grip strength and lack of recent climbing time.

In spite of my ineptitude, climbing at Point Dume is tons of fun, which is also why it is such a popular destination. If you are planning to go on a weekend or holiday, arrive early to get your choice of routes. When we were there, many of the climbers were willing to share their top ropes, but I have also heard stories of people essentially getting chased away from the wall by climbing schools that have a few ropes set up on the wall.

Here are some links with info on Point Dume and Zuma Beach:

• Rock Climbing.com: Point Dume
• Local Hikes: Point Dume
• Los Angeles County Coastal Monitoring Network: Point Dume
• California State Parks: Point Dume State Beach

Outside has a best gear of the year feature, and I really love their sport climbing selections. The only problem is that all their links go to the product home pages and it’s really hard to locate the items on the site. For example, I can’t find the Nicros hangboard anywhere on the Nicros site. And it took me WAY longer than necessary to find the Edelrid Eddy Belay Device on the Liberty Mountain Climbing site. My biggest complaint, though, is that the Verve Hondo knickers are only made for men. I really need a good pair of climbing pants or capri pants that won’t get shredded on the rocks.

Check out the full list of best gear at Outside.

Partner-in-Climb was fixing up his mountain bike last night when I realized that we now have an absurd collection of stickers accumulated from various sporting goods purchases. I mentioned it to him and he was like, “Sure, it’s a great way for free ads…who doesn’t like to put stickers on their stuff?” True enough. But the problem is that we don’t really put the stickers on our stuff, we let them gather in a box of other stuff and forget about them, then rediscover them, debate the relative merits of saving them, and the cycle continues like that. It’s sticker limbo. Although, I have to say, if the stickers were more graphically exciting, I might be more inclined to actually stick them on things and not just collect them. A few more recent additions to the sticker collection:

• Bell Helmets
• Thomson, maker of things like bike seatposts
• Ritchey, maker of the recently replaced seatpost
• New England Ropes Maxim
  

Anyway, I am thinking about doing a sticker collage or something. Maybe on our Thule luggage carrier? That might be the perfect canvas.

Our weekend plans got slightly derailed on Saturday when the landlord showed up to look at a couple of leaks, so we decided to use Saturday to do some housework, and then spend Sunday climbing, hiking or whatever.

One of our big issues with sticking to a schedule is that we pretty much can’t unless we have made plans with other friends. Left to our own devices, the day usually unfolds as such: I wake up early and get showered, tell Partner-in-Climb what time it is, he says to wake him in 15 minutes, then I get on the computer. 2 hours later, he finally gets out of bed and I am still on the computer. Then of course he wants to check email, online auctions, the news, the weather, etc. This week we were successful at actually getting everything packed and getting on the road by noon. Unfortunately, that was merely the road to the downtown Santa Monica, and not the PCH like we were supposed to be on. However, our “short” detour to Santa Monica did score us some great finds on bike gear, in addition to a new climbing rope, so I will not complain.

And we eventually did make it to Santa Barbara, but that is another story…

I realized the last set of Bishop photos didn’t really demonstrate just how large the boulders are. In this photo from the Sad Boulders, the cars in the distance give some idea of the scale of the boulders. The weather was amazing. It was hard to believe it was late November. At night, the temperature dipped below freezing, but during the day in was in the high 70s and incredibly clear and sunny. It was absolutely perfect for scrambling around on the rocks and hanging out and working problems.

We couldn’t find this problem mentioned in any guides, but there were some chalk marks on a nearby problem, so it might be an area that is still under development. I didn’t try this problem because what you don’t see in the photos is the sheer drop on the backside of this boulder. Yes, I am a big chicken sometimes. But that’s OK with me.

We had to head back to camp around 4:30 PM because the sun was going down and the temperature was dropping quickly, but we did have several great hours enjoying the sunshine, the boulders, and the scenery.

The dusty crash pad in the foreground is truly one of the best investments anybody who spends any amount of time bouldering can make. It’s the Black Diamond Mondo Crash Pad and it rules. When not actually using it as a crash pad for bouldering, we have used it as a “camp couch” and a camp bed. It’s really amazingly comfortable. When the straps are underneath the pad, you can’t feel them at all. The first time we used it as a bed, I thought it would be a “princess and the pea” situation and I’d be turning all night, but the foam or something seems to absorb the straps so it’s just pure relaxation.

It came in very handy on the cold Bishop nights as well. It’s about 5 inches thick so it was a nice layer of protection against the cold ground. I highly recommend it.

I wish we had the chance to stay for a longer time on our last day, but Big Old Dog was hobbling around so we decided to head home a little early to give the poor guy’s hips a rest. He loves to run around when we go out exploring but he usually needs a day or two to recover from all the fun. I totally understand how he feels.

I saw a golden eagle on the side of the road just as we turned onto 395, but I fumbled with the camera and wasn’t able to get a photo. It was eating some roadkill, so it might be best to just leave it to my memory anyway. The site didn’t really do much to kill my appetite;I think I was too much in awe of the eagle. We stopped at Schat’s Bakkery on the way home and loaded up with treats, including a sticky pullaway bread that was mostly devoured by the time we were back in Los Angeles. I am really looking forward to the next road trip to Bishop. Bishop is really an amazing place.