Weekend

Headed to Crowders Mountain State Park on Friday September 17th 2011 to see how many of the routes on Middle Finger Wall I can tick. I am a little nervous after my previous experience on Middle Finger (5.7) route. I had led the route about two thirds of the way up and as I grabbed the biggest looking part of a ledge, a piece the size of a small cantaloupe fell off and took me with it.

Middle Finger should be dubbed Bloody Finger.

Thankfully, my last piece off protection held (a #1 Red Black Diamond Camalot). I did manage to take a 15 foot fall. This is the biggest fall I have taken on lead and I fell past the red camalot, past a fixed pin, and past an equalized double nut placement. I conveniently landed next to a big ledge and upon inspection, I proceeded to climb with a small leg gash and a hole on my left pinky and right ring finger. I was scared when I started climbing again but I managed to get to the top and build an anchor in a 'bomber' horizontal crack.

After round two on the chossy Middle Finger route, I'm hoping to do the rest of the routes on Middle Finger Wall. Flexible Flyer (5.9+ R) I don't know how much I want to trust the less traveled rock on a 'Runout' route.

Saturday I'll be either be heading to Moore's Wall, Pilot Mountain or Crowders Mountain depending on my partner situation and the weather.

I'll see you on the mountains!