Rib Recap

A cozy little crag pup.

So we thought it'd be a little chilly last Friday. We knew that it was only gonna be around a high of 40, at best, up at Rib. We thought, "We'll be fine...We're tough...ish.".

Wrong. It was f-ing freezing!!!

As we drove up the road going to the parking lot we actually had to drive through two patches of man made snow from the ski area just over the hill. Very entertaining.

After a small run in with the Property Manager we eventually made it into the park and Aaron gave us a mini tour of the main areas. We were gonna try and stay in the sun as much as possible due to the chilly conditions. The high for the day ended up being a balmy 35 degrees.

We warmed up a bit on some really cool moderates that I forgot the names of while Katie and Sara pulled the pads over to No Reservations and some mantle problem just around the corner.

Aaron being awesome.

After a couple of laps on a really nice juggy arete thing Aaron stuck me on a nice eliminate that took off all of the aforementioned jugs and put me at maximum reach.

Close, but not quite there.

I failed to do the problem in a few tries and lost all possible interest. I went around the corner and watched as the group threw themselves at No Reservations. Katie tried it a few times and Aaron followed suit trying to repeat it. Soon after both Josh and Chris started trying. I got my shoes out as Josh taped his right index finger for the crux crimp. After one go he tore through the tape.

Chris had been trying it as well and he confirmed that it was indeed THAT finger and I promptly took my shoes off and stopped obsessively chalking up. I've got bigger goals in mind.

After about a half hour everyone gave up on No Reservations and we moved pads over to the Raptor. I re-warmed up so that I could have a good flash attempt on it. The first move was easy but really painful but I didn't see the key heel toe beta and fell getting my right hand up into the undercling. Oh well. I tried it a couple more times before taking my shoes off. I'd gotten really close, maybe a half inch from the bottom of the only hold on the face but couldn't quite reach it.

I gave Chris a bit of a rundown on the beta hoping that he'd flash it. In the end he did it second go in a really impressive effort. It seemed that the problem was made specifically for him! It was sick to see and I'm glad he did it.

Chris repeating the line for the camera.  Photo: Aaron K.

Sticking the good hold up high.  Photo: Aaron K.

I stepped up after taking a short break and gave it another round of attempts. Sadly the day was only getting colder and I was losing feeling in my heels and it was coming and going from my fingers. I had one really close go where I actually went past the hold and jammed all four of my fingers on the back of the face.

Fingers still throbbing, I gave it one more go. As I came out of the hand jam and into the undercling I could feel two of my calluses rip off. I sucked it up, relaxed and threw for the hold...

Photographic evidence that I had my hand on the hold.

Failure.

I ended up walking away empty handed and down two calluses on my right ring finger. While the problem is cool enough to make a return trip the pain factor makes it a little less cool. Seth's Sacrifice on the other hand looks really cool and the project left of the Raptor looks pretty fun too. We will return in the spring!

Aaron stepped up to the plate in my absence and repeated the Raptor as well. Here are a couple shots of him playing around.




We messed around on the backside and looked at Seth's Sacrifice. It's too bad it was frozen. Icicles don't make the best footholds. I'm looking forward to making a return trip in the spring as the area definitely deserves a couple more trips. Not a ton of problems but what's there is fun and super concentrated.

Here are some more pics from the day.

Josh came absurdly close to repeating it as well.  I woulda been the lone duck if it weren't for his failure.  Thanks for the company Josh.

Chris not being able to hold back his love for Aaron's rear any longer.

He just can't take his eyes off of it can he?!?

A very cold wife.

Katie on the Mantle Problem.

About a half second before her foot popped and Chris caught her out of mid air.

Me at my absolute best.  Click to see how hot I am in this pic.