Straight Up 5.8?
Heavens Gate 5.9*
Gerties 5.7 tr far left side* [this needs rings]
Gerties 5.7 sw face left *
Gerties 5.8 sw face right *
Gerties 5.10a sw face middle *
Hampster route at tourist trap 5.8 * [this needs another anchor bolt]
Ridge Rock "5.3" route to the bolts.
So Straight Up was interesting. Posted elsewhere on that.
Heaven's Gate seems more stable generally than before, but still lots of hollow sounding chunks. That second to last bolt is a killer to clip for the grade, but Marc styled it on the lead no prob.
That 5.8 on SW face of Gerties is fun and quite the arm stretcher the way I did it. Might be worth a couple stars for the roof move alone.
I debated on leading the 10a, but decided to try it. Out of shape, as usual. I couldn't figure a way to make the move easy. Attempts to muscle it felt really awkward and I have no endurance so I hung on it and tried to puzzle it out. It wasn't until Marc mentioned a quasi mantle that it dawned on me what I had to do with my feet to make a reach to a gaston like edge up on the right. Once the foot could be brought up, the reaches were do-able and the rock over was not difficult. The redpoint should be easy next time.
On the way down we checked out the formation above Ridge Rock, naming it "Sidewalk in the Sky" for a sandy ramp that leads to the top at a heartbraking 2nd class.
On Ridge Rock proper, the 5.3 route I inspected pretty closely. I couldn't see a way to top the northernmost feature without at least a dirty move of 5.5 or possibly better. Even if lead, if you pitch off and fall it is damage central, so it looked "R" rated too for a 5.3. I didn't try traversing out onto the east side to see if there is another way to top it out on the northern point, so it would be good to get another person's thoughts on this and add a correction as needed.
To finish up the day, I had Marc lead one of the new Hampster routes. ULTRA CLASSIC, naturally.
Marc saw Joe D as we were driving out to get back early. Also briefly glimpsed Greg, Karin and Caitlin. Sounds like they had a great day at Disco.
Traffic back was murderous. It seemed folks were coming home from Salinas compounded by Gilroy Outlet shops backing things up. Holiday traffic jam.
