Trad, Self-Rescue, Aid, Guiding, and Pouring Rain

I was up in the North Conway area this weekend practicing my trad, self-rescue, and guiding skills with Bayard Russell this weekend. Yesterday, atop the tourist "hello climbers, I'm gawking" lookout atop Cathedral, we basked in unforeseen sun and incredible clouds of pollen while practicing a lot of different skills: racking efficiently, placing gear, belaying and lowering from above, handling two seconds, extending the anchor, escaping belays, counterbalance rappelling, raising systems, etc., etc. I know one hardly ever has to use these skills, but I like to have a full toolkit of procedures to choose from if things ever get complicated. I also feel a lot better when I take out newer people, which seems to happen a lot.

Today we went to Sundown Ledge along the Kanc where it poured incessantly all day. We started by pounding in some pins. I learned that the micro hammer on a BD Cobra is absolutely awful as a hammer and hurt my wrist. Of course, as Bayard points out, I'm a chemist, not a carpenter. Then we practiced a technique called "belayed rappelling" which is a nice technique for situations where you have to belay from above, like Otter Cliffs. I will definitely use this in the future. The idea is to avoid letting the rope run over a sharp edge, which saves it from abrasion damage. You find the middle of the rope, and tie off to the anchor. You then drop down half of the rope (call this strand A). (Alternatively, you could let down one strand of rope until the bottom touches, and maybe give a little extra, and tie off what's left at the anchor. This would prevent rope from getting dunked in the water.) Now then, you have the climber tie into the other end of the rope (strand B). You put them on belay with strand B, while they single-strand rappel on strand A. You can use a redirected ATC or better yet, a Gri-Gri. You probably want to be able to see the climber going down, so it's a good idea to extend the anchor a bit (but not too much, otherwise, belaying will be really annoying). So there you go, a bit of guiding technique.

We also got on Eyeless in Gaza (12b) which actually felt really good to me. I had some trouble with one crux move at the very top, but I worked it a bit and eventually found some good beta. I think I can easily send this thing within a few more tries, especially if I work on my endurance a bit a the gym, which is, thus far, atrocious. However, the bouldering is coming along well, so my power is good. I'm sending a bunch of V5s, and it's not just inflated grades, because I feel stronger, too. I also mock-aid/bouldered for about thirty feet, which was not only my first attempt at aid climbing, but also took an hour and left me begging for mercy. You almost want to have a bandolier plus Santa sack of gear...you have four aiders, a fifi hook, a full rack, slings, plus an assorted gaggle of carabiners, kitchen sinks, and other hangers on. I learned that the scary "top-stepping" manoeuver actually works and greatly increases efficiency, although I certainly have not mastered it. I'm sure Bayard was very bored. But I had a lot of fun placing gear. There's nothing like aid climbing that will teach you how to place gear that well! Every placement gets tested (and welded, so you get the experience of how to place gear that can come out easily, too). I also learned that rotating pieces 180 degrees can often greatly increase their security. It's odd to think that works, but if you look carefully at most trad pieces, they are not C2 symmetric, at least, not under all such rotations. The BD stoppers, for example, of a large radius side and a small radius side, while the C4 cams have the inner lobes on one side while the outer lobes are on the other. Finally, I learned how to jug (I'm awful, but can at least sort of do it now). I thought it was really hard work physically, but I think I'm just not doing it that efficiently. I'd like someone to invent some sort of bicycle type invention where I can just pedal my way up the rope comfortably. Who will invent this for me?