After climbing Ancient Art, morale was low due to the gray weather and the emotionally exhausting climb on the tower so we headed into town to find a mocha and organize our trip down to Indian Creek. From there we hit up the grocery store, a thrift shop and then headed South.
The next day we woke up under some epic Indian ruins, everything was soggy from a rainstorm the night before which meant climbing on the sandstone that day probably wasn't going to happen. Despite the storm the night before, the day was epic and was not to be wasted. We decided to head up to the ruins on the cliff and check them out.
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| Deni and Sage in the ruins |
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| Eric being an Indian |
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| Eric and I with the tallest ruin |
After exploring the ruins we decided to continue exploring the desert and headed to Canyonlands National Park.
Canyonlands is Awesome.
After our day in Canyonlands we arrived back at our campsite just before dark and settled in. A great dinner led to lots of fun and games around the campfire and then an intense discussion upon the next days climbing in the land of splitter cracks.
We woke up to another beautiful day in the desert, I was driven to climb hard and get a taste of this climbers paradise, a dream was lived that day.
Deni and I departed the trailhead first and made a beeline to Chocolate corner, one of the classic 5.9 hand cracks. I racked up and taped and began climbing, climbing in the corner was surprisingly strenuous and had me a little worried for the rest of the day. Soon I as at the top pulling on jugs to the chains where I set a top rope and celebrated my successful first pitch in Indian Creek. I was no longer an Indian Creek, splitter creek virgin. Meanwhile the rest of the crew had shown up and Rory was busy leading a sweet 5.10 called Elephant man which was full cool movements and jams of all kinds. Soon we had quite the top rope party going and quite the line to get on Chocolate Corner.
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| stoked |
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| Deni on Chocolate Corner |
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| Rory on Elephant man |
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| Sage, Belay master |
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| Contemplating a dream |
From Chocolate corner we headed over to Binou's crack, another classic 5.9 featuring a finger crack and interesting offwidth leg jams. We waited a while to get on this classic but again I was stoked and cruised up it finding the perfect spots for each cam the guide book tells you to bring. In places you can tell that hundreds of people before you have put a cam in a certain spot because a perfect little spot has been worn into the soft stone. I set up the toprope again for Deni to give it a ride. She also cruised up and enjoyed the dynamic movements required at the top. Fingers in the finger crack and your right leg squished into the huge offwidth on the neighboring wall.
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| Deni climbing |
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| Deni in the crux near the top |
After climbing Binou's crack we pulled down the rope and headed over to Sage and Rory who had a sweet 5.11 crack top roped. Deni and I both gave it a shot and felt like we could climb it clean on top rope with another try but leading on gear was totally out of the question. Hanging on those tiny finger locks trying to place little nuts seemed ridiculous. Above the 5.11 was a sick looking 5.12 finger that was slightly overhanging, definitely over my head.
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| Deni mock leading a 5.8 the 5.11 is on the right |
After a lap on the 5.11 and Deni's 5.8 we headed to Generic Crack, an ultra classic climb at Indian Creek. Ever since I started technical rock climbing I've climbers cranking hard on the huge splitters of the Creek and I ached to feel the desperation they felt at the top of these amazing climbs. Climbing here, I was finally walking in the footsteps of my heroes. Generic Crack was more than a climb for me but an odyssey and a culmination of the journey I departed on a few years ago when I laced up my first pair of climbing shoes. At the base I racked up with a bunch of cams, all the same size because this crack was nothing but perfect hand jams and went to work. Twenty feet off the ground I negotiated a huge pod and then found myself in an endless hand crack for the next 100 feet. The climb was strenuous and sustained but determination kept me from resting or falling and an awesome zen like focus guided me to the chains.
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| Lance climbing generic crack |
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| Deni climbing |
After Generic crack the day was done, my arms were tired and I couldn't imagine a better way to end the best day of climbing I've ever experienced. Deni, Rory and Sage all got a lap on Generic crack and off we went back to the parking lot. At the parking lot we lounged on crash pads and snacked on peanut butter and jelly on Wheat thins. Delicious, Nutritious and Cheap. We spent that night under the Ruins before beginning the long drive back to Seattle the next day.
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