Back at Santa Barbara, at The Brickyard.
A forest fire tore through this place last year I think. So all the shrubs were burnt to a cinder. The entire area was covered in a fine powdery sand mixed with black ash. Pilar feared the ash powder we stirred up would be carcinogenic. I'm not sure about that, but it did feel like we were walking around inside a used fireplace. Incidentally, Skip discovered a melted beer bottle, no doubt the glass buckled under the heat of the blaze.
Above is The Extremist V1 - onsight/warmup. I tweaked my left tricep on this silliness. So much for the warmup. It's tall with slopers at the top. That's nice - you can't take anything for granted until you top out.
"See you at the Schoolyard, Meat" V5 - failure. I couldn't do the first move, which is to slap a font-like sloper from a couple of crimps. At least that's what seemed like the first move. I could very well have been using bad beta. It's been known to happen. God friggin dammit! What is it about V5? I can't send them. I can do 4, 6, and even a 7 if I get a good night's sleep, 4 shots of espresso, and there's a dozen shucked oysters at the top of the problem. But V5? nope. And the rock looked so beautiful too. 
Yeti V4 - redpoint. This took 4 tries and 2 falls from the crux mantel on slopers. Despite my cat-like landings, both my knees and ankles are still in a mild pain. The top of the problem is sort of scary because there are no gimmes up there. I think it was around 15 ft tall. The best thing to do is pull up and turn your right hand into a palm and push for dear life. No more working an unknown boulder problem without a crashpad. In sum, this area is quite amazing. It's like a little piece of Fontainebleau just outside of a posh beach town. I am grateful to Pilar, Marlene, and Skip for their patience. While I was busy feeding my climbing addiction, they suffered heat, dust, and swarms of black flies that created a veritable buzzing helmet around one's noggin while trying to enter any available orifice. Also Thanks to Pilar for the photos above; they are much better than what I take with my point and shoot.
Above is The Extremist V1 - onsight/warmup. I tweaked my left tricep on this silliness. So much for the warmup. It's tall with slopers at the top. That's nice - you can't take anything for granted until you top out. 
"See you at the Schoolyard, Meat" V5 - failure. I couldn't do the first move, which is to slap a font-like sloper from a couple of crimps. At least that's what seemed like the first move. I could very well have been using bad beta. It's been known to happen. God friggin dammit! What is it about V5? I can't send them. I can do 4, 6, and even a 7 if I get a good night's sleep, 4 shots of espresso, and there's a dozen shucked oysters at the top of the problem. But V5? nope. And the rock looked so beautiful too. 
Yeti V4 - redpoint. This took 4 tries and 2 falls from the crux mantel on slopers. Despite my cat-like landings, both my knees and ankles are still in a mild pain. The top of the problem is sort of scary because there are no gimmes up there. I think it was around 15 ft tall. The best thing to do is pull up and turn your right hand into a palm and push for dear life. No more working an unknown boulder problem without a crashpad. In sum, this area is quite amazing. It's like a little piece of Fontainebleau just outside of a posh beach town. I am grateful to Pilar, Marlene, and Skip for their patience. While I was busy feeding my climbing addiction, they suffered heat, dust, and swarms of black flies that created a veritable buzzing helmet around one's noggin while trying to enter any available orifice. Also Thanks to Pilar for the photos above; they are much better than what I take with my point and shoot.
1 comment:
man, glen, what is pilar feeding you? you're getting super buff...makes me feel pretty scrawny. hehehe
pilarita, nice pictures!
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