Rock Climbing --- 5/12/2005 - 5/13/2005 --- Gunks

Climbing with Alana at the Gunks. This is the earliest I have ever arrived at the Gunks following a three hour drive from Ithaca. Alana and I were climbing by 9:30am. We even had the best parking space in the West Trapps lot (the one opposite the handicap spot at the trailhead) for both days. On Thursday we climbed Son of Easy O, Ant's Line, and Snooky's Return. That night we stayed at Camp Slime and I was quite distressed to learn that my Exped FAM sleeping pad had a hole. Must have happened when I was biking back from the Finger Lakes National Forest. A platypatch and duct tape failed to fix the problem. So Alana and I both managed to sleep on her bouldering pad. It was very firm and too small, so I didn't sleep well.

Friday we climbed Farewell To Arms, which is a very scary 5.8 with lots of difficult moves, mediocre pro, and a scrunchy traverse. I was glad to follow Alana on this one. We set a toprope on To Be Or Not To Be and I was psyched just to reach the crux, which I could not do. Alana and I were stopped at the same point on the climb, but I feel like it is probably within my limits and would like to work it again in the future.

Alana had to be back in Ithaca early, so we left after a half day of climbing. Beautiful weather and five of the hardest climbs I've strung together in two days at the Gunks.

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