Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Back to the Wall 5.7 G ***

Dave and I got the chance to get out on the 16th, and what could have just been a nice day turned into a three star route.

I lured Dave out to the 'Linez with the promise of an FA, but when he saw the line he wised up, twice,  on pitch one and two.  Well,  what can I say - it looked do-able, and it proved to be exactly that.

The climb starts just left of No Rest for the Wicked,  behind the giant Shark's Tooth boulder, and follows some wandering cracks.  Up high, the crux delivered on exposure, while you're pulling pretty hard on these crazy lobes!

Dave is saying 5.8,  but I think it would make a Gunks sandbag at 5.7,  and we'll see what other people have to say!

Monday, June 14, 2010

Deluxe Free Beta!

To celebrate the NEW Powerlinez website: www.tornevalleyclimbing.com, just click on the Climb link and there's a whole bunch of pages from the guidebook downloadable in high quality PDF format. Spread the word, it will not last forever!




Monday, May 24, 2010

Tri-cam Rips Out

"This tri-cam is probably a bad example.  They can dig into soft rock pretty easy, and it's in there good.  You got me?"


Kevin was on top-rope on a new 5.6 just right of The Contortionist.  We were thinking that it might be a good easy trad route, and so he was testing to see how gear would hold.


Kevin leaned back off the cliff,  quickly weighting the tri-cam, as the top-rope stretched ... and SNAP! the tri-cam ripped and shot out like a bullet.  Kevin looked into the horizontal crack and said, 'It broke off the crystal that was holding it (the stinger.)'


Lesson learned.  The rock quality at the Powerlinez is at times great for climbing.  At times,  holds break off in your hands.  Trad rock pro places even greater stress on the rock than the pulling, stepping and wedging of climbing.  Trad pro at the Powerlinez is sketchy,  and bolting lines with 3 and 3/8 inch bolts has proven pretty prudent.


The CAMP TRI-CAM manual states: "The ability of TRI-CAMS to convert most shear forces to expansion (when used in their standard mode) means that they are the most secure form of protection available for decomposed granite and soft sandstone ... "  So, this experiment was a good guage for trad prospects at the Powerlinez.  Now to be exhaustive, there are some great trad only routes at the Powerlinez, and quite a bit of thought and expertise has gone into making that call.

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Route Names Anyone?

21 May 10 - I believe this was a pheasant chick.  That I cannot confirm,  but what I can confirm is the existence of two new routes on the Good Book Wall.  Connecticut Rope Gun Kevin Johnson dropped in to give a hand, and sent perhaps our first 10d on the wall.  Dave gave the college try to what perhaps will be our first 10b.  Of course, Kevin Johnson sent our first 5.11 back last October with the God Jam Roof.   We have to invite him back sparingly or he's going to take all our best routes.  And these two routes are definitely plums, on solid, overhanging rock.  This brings our proud total of sports lines to four.




Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Focusing On More Routes

With 2 routes up, Dave and Jon marked two more and decided that they were such high quality climbs that they would wait for stainless steel bolts.

Dave focuses here on a third climb, and until the new hardware comes in,  they'll continue to mark exciting lines and pull friends out to try the new sport climbs.

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Water water everywhere, spring rockfall and new projects!

Got out for 6 hours of hiking and some top-rope soloing on Friday, April 2.  Oh--and some swimming...there were lakes and watercourses where I had never seen them before.
Many of the third class slots were filled with gushing water and the approach trails were mostly mud.  The slabs right after the the carriage road were covered in muddy water and debris from the storms, and by the time I hit the base of the Tower Wall it looked like I had mud boots on!

As I walked along the Tower Wall and the Good Book Wall it was clear that there had been some significant spring rockfall. Looks like the start of the entrance to the Mines of Moria!


Worked my way over to Jon and Dave's new project and checked it out on on rappel.  Shots from the top below.

























 Then off I went in search of some new Spring projects.  Ideas below:
And:

Hopefully it will dry out this week and I can get down to sending.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Slight Access Trail Change

Due to the huge Nor-Easter wash-out,  the fallen tree bridge is gone!  Luckily,  there's another stream crossing 50 yards upstream.



Just walk to the right of the meadow as you leave the parking area,  and overall,  it's about the same distance.

1 Day 4 FAs


17 Mar 10 - For the record,  I am sunburnt and it's not even officially spring.  Dave and I headed up to the 'Good Book' wall and scoped out some lines with super sport potential.  Grade-wise,  it was a steep jump-start to the season, but when you are putting up new routes, the opportunity is too good to pass up!


On the left, you can see Dave on the 5.9/10 vertical wall,  that starts with a few feet of overhang,  on solid red sandstone-like rock.

We did get shut-down on one route,  so if you want to shake off the winter,  and you're climbing strong,  it is waiting there for you!