I had never climbed in Cooke City before but decided enough was enough and made plans to go camping and climbing out of that crazy little town. Usually during MLK weekend I go to Cody but Sam couldnt go this year so I roped Kyler in to going to Cooke City. Our first day was Kyler's day. We went to the Fossil Cave where he dry tooled a super hard cave route called Blonde Ambition (?). There was no time for me to climb by the time he was done. I dont even want to talk about the 'ski' out of there. Lets just say I suck at skiing in mountain boots.
Sunday was my day and I wanted to climb ice. One of the longest ice climbs around is called Hydromonster. Its pure ice and a within my abilities.... usually. For some reason, upon seeing the monster, I psyched myself out mentally. But we carried on. I try not to ever back down from a climb until I am standing at the base, harness on and roped up. It gives you time to think about things and calm down if needed. I calmed down and we free solod the first little pitch up to the main flow. I lead until I ran out of screws and had to belay Kyler up and he finished it. I had to sit on just about every screw because the pump in my forearms was too bad to climb continuously. That usually means you are over-gripping and using poor technique which means you are usually battling demons in your head. Whatever the case may be, we got to the top with out any falls.
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| Fossil Cave. Kyler sent the gap he is standing in. |
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| Thanks Conrad for the customized bottle. |
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| Doing everything he can to avoid the ice. |
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| Slayed that puzzle and that box of wine. |
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