Repentance, Take 2

Kevin Mahoney and I went out to Cathedral today. We rolled up at the extra early time of 8 AM (early if you consider that I had to drive up from Cambridge) but there were already three parties on or queued up for Repentance and another on Remission! We checked our Deidre, which was formed weirdly, but there wasn't much ice on the hand crack higher up, so we bailed after doing the first pitch and trying the second. Then we did Just Laughing, which is probably about M6 (too burly for me to lead right now, but I didn't fall following it) to The Last Unicorn (4? 5?). We thought about doing some ice-toproping, but I've had enough ice-toproping to last a lifetime (at least, for this season). We headed back to Repentance, and magically, everyone was gone! I linked up the first and second pitch. Everything was hooked out, which was nice. Things were going well...I chugged up past the first belay, hooked up the crux (a swiss cheese of ice screw and pick holes), and found a nice little V-thread someone had put in. I even got to stick some screws into old screw holes! Heh. I got higher up and then I realized there was trouble brewing...I was out of draws! I guess Kevin only normally carries 8, but that's a bit thin for a full 60 m pitch. I did all sorts of bullshit like clip things with the carabiners on cams. I even wanted to take the neutrino off my bullet pack and use that, but I was wearing the pack, and that would have been tricky. Because I couldn't extend any of the higher pieces, there was atrocious rope drag, but I grunted through it. I had to run it out (by my standards, not Kevin's) a bit to cut down on any further drag, but I punched it to the belay. Then Kevin led up to the top and I followed. I actually made some progress on this chockstone thing. I feel it's very mean to short people like me. Maybe Hannah can stem like crazy, but I can't. I bridged the wide chimney at full extension, with my toes pointed, and even with my gloved hand in a fist to get a little extra reach and I just barely made it. Higher up, the rock rippled a bit, and I couldn't quite make it happen. There's basically one or two moves in that extremely wide area that I need to work out. After that it's a hook, some turf shots, and a high step to the finish. I swear that it's waaay harder for short people like me. But then again, it might be easier in the chimney section for me. So who knows? I'm just psyched I got to lead one of the classic hard routes in New England...and it wasn't even a sketchfest! I heard Steve House soloed Repentance and Remission and found the chockstone the hardest part. In fact, I heard he nearly decked on it. Holy shit. Kevin said he threw away his glove in an effort to jam, but then found that his hand was too small! I'd be crapping my pants if that happened. Yikes! Oh well, I'm still impressed...