some observations after a day at the hand and knuckle ridge.
Gavin and I left the parking lot shortly after 8 am. he had never climbed on the hand and with the closures looming on Thursday, a few last explorations. when I hiked out to the neglected valley, a bit later in the morning last sunday there was sun on the hand. so the plan was to "warm" up on loveline and then chase the sun for a return trip to knuckle ridge. well, needless to say, the sun never hit us on the hand. 37 degrees when I parked the car and not much warmer at the base of the climb. cold rock made for some pumpy climbing. since we weren't able to feel the holds very well, we held on longer as our forearms grew in size.
a couple of thoughts about loveline. this was only my second time on it and while it was not as loose this time, the first pitch makes for a dangerous belay. helmet absolutely necessary for the belayer. I still think it is a stellar line. with the shade, this would be a good one to do after the raptor closures end in june or in the fall. I also think there would be some value to stringing a rope on the first pitch and pulling off all the loose rock. the first pitch would also make a good tr for running laps and building strength, although I enjoy the second pitch more. finally, the consensus again was 10b my ass.
we also ran a lap on carpal tunnel which is another excellent route, although again we both felt it was quite stout for the grade. very sustained. there are a number of climbs rated harder that don't come near the pump factor of these two. also a good late season climb in that it never sees the sun.
the adventure part of the day came at knuckle ridge. sunday, late in the day, I led up the edge of sundown and as the sun was getting low in the sky decided to leave a quick link on the 7th bolt, just below the 10b run out. although the moves did not feel difficult above the bolt, the rock was crumbly and the fall potential was dangerous. it seemed like definite broken ankle possibility with the large blocks below the bolt. it was then that I realized that when a crux is described as 'very committing' in the guidebook, that actually is a euphemism for dangerous.
so, although the original plan was to lead up the other run out 10, we saw that you could do a 4th class ridge traverse to access the top. what an adventure.
I'm assuming some of you folks have done this. of course, we accessed the northern most knuckle from the climbers right. probably a mistake right off the back. second, there were at least 3-4 serious down climbs required on choss with softball and even football sized blocks breaking off. gavin, especially, commented that there was no way those down climbs were easier than many 5.6's in the park, not even considering the choss factor. of course we were soloing in approach shoes, although gavin did bring his rock shoes and wisely changed about half way through. also, I set up a rope for him to access the southern most knuckle.
so when I finally access the southern knuckle, of course the 2 bolts are so far from the climbs, there is no way they could be used for anything. to make matters more interesting, instead of climbing onto the southern knuckle, gavin was able to down climb to the ground on very easy terrain, which raises the question of why those bolts are even there since you really don't need them to rappel and they're too far away from the climbs. I also down climbed to the ground from that point. but perhaps most importantly, why aren't there a couple of bolts with rap rings near the climbs themselves?
unless I missed something. the book describes a 2 rope rappel that can be made off the southernmost knuckle. but the picture only shows the 'way back' anchor.
so, what we learned is that if you are interested in climbing any of those climbs on knuckle ridge, it probably is best for the leader to trail a second rope to set up an anchor near the top of the climbs.
I guess as a side note, since I've rambled this long already, so many folks are still tapping in bolts to put up chossy, no star climbs, of questionable quality, climbing through lichen and moss, knocking crap on your belayer.
the plums are taken.
and there are so many decent climbs in the monument that are rarely done, in part because the anchor situation is substandard. or you're belaying on one bolt, like flue fire/chimney sweep, or no bolts like bull run or baile de las aguilas. or where a couple of rap rings would so improve the climb, like denied.
just my tired and rambling opinion, but if folks really like to bolt, perhaps doing some anchor work would make more sense then putting up another chossy line that no one in there right mind is going to climb.
of course, that would exclude most of us.
forgive my rambling.
