Finally! A new post! It hasnt stopped raining since I got back from California! My outings have been numerous but unproductive, un-blog-worthy. This is also the time of year to get your garden in so every spare minute I have had has been occupied by my garden. But last weekend I got to hang out in the Village for 4 nights, 3 days and got some new routing done. Saturday I got some chain anchors installed on Cube Crack Left, cleaned it and added 3 bolts. By the time I retrieved my gear cache and moved it to the Morning Glove, it started to sprinkle. It wasnt bad enough to stop drilling so I scrambled to the top of the Morning Glove and low and behold I found some old anchors! This is my 5th season out there and I have never seen another human being let alone evidence of old climbs but alas, all my first ascent trad lines pretty much became second ascents. Im not one to claim something that isnt mine. First ascents can be a touchy subject and I would rather just avoid the hoopla and climb on. The anchors, I estimate, are between 5 and 10 years old. I backed each set up with one of my big anchor bolts just to be safe. The old anchors are situated right on top of two beautiful trad lines that Im sure were the original parties objectives. Slightly disheartened and with the sprinkle becoming a torrent, I started the walk out. A couple of buddies said they would come out and find me but I hadnt heard a thing from them so I assumed they bailed due to the rain. About a minute into my walk out I heard and saw them crawling around on top of Ol Two Tier. I walked over and we checked out some other formations. We even found some (black capped?) Morel mushrooms which I had never seen out there. Sunday was all rain all day so I took the trooper for a drive all the way through to Roots and hit the highway just North of Virginia City! I spent a lot of my day at the Gravel Bar and Willies Distillery with a soak at Norris to cap it off. Monday I got the sunshine I had been waiting for and got to work. In between the two cracks that had the old anchors is a huge face that needed bolts, 17 of them to be exact with 3 pieces of supplemental gear. The Raven Memorial (it was Memorial day after all and my hero Dean Potter had just died) route goes at 5.8 55m. I added 4 more sets of anchors on top and started another route, JP Memorial but only got the bottom 1/3rd done.
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| One set (of two) of old anchors. 5 piece bolts with Metolius hangers and caulk. |
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| That dog can sleep anywhere through anything! That doesnt look comfy at all! |
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| Zero fear of heights. |
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| These guys.... |
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| Ol Two Tier in the rain. |
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| Would have picked 'em but the bugs had already eaten a whole in them. |
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| A lil different brand than normal. |
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| The Raven Memorial is left of the rope. Most of the bolts are on that upper face. JP Memorial is around the corner to the left and closer to 30m. |
