Send Sunday

Another fun day was had on Sunday May 20th 2012 at Crowders Mountain State Park, in North Carolina. I know what you probably thinking, "Don't you ever get tired of climbing at Crowders?"  I get on something new at Crowders almost every time I visit so I'm not yet bored. Although I would love to climb somewhere new, I don't want to spend half my day in the car getting there. Crowders being the closes rock to Columbia, beggars can't be choosers.

Destination Variation is the first roof and Secret Service is the second roof.

After catching up with several Crowder's locals, I met my friend Ashley Navarro at the Linwood Parking Access at about 9:45am and we were off.  Ashley and I kept a steady hiking pace all the way to Two Pitch Wall were we continued our smooth pace.  As we geared up and I opened my pack, I realized I had forgotten my climbing shoes and I was happy I at least brought my Evolv approach shoes. We warmed up on the first pitch of Two Pitch (5.4) and then I onsighted an unknown pitch that I refer to as Two Peach (5.6) because it is in between the second pitch of Two Pitch and Eat A Peach (5.7).  Ashley hit the nail on the head when she finished up Two Peach (5.6) and said, "That pitch was very exposed!" It was a great way to start the day.

Poop Gully in between Middle Finger Wall and Two Pitch Wall.

Ashley and I hiked down and got back on the first pitch of Two Pitch (because it is the first pitch of five different routes on this wall).  I snugged up my shoes and got to work on Destination Variation (5.8+) and as I slipped on several spot through-out the climb I exclaimed,"I wish I had climbing shoes!" As I heard myself saying this I realized I was whining and quickly stated, "oh well, gotta use what you have."  This pitch of climbing was absolutely thrilling. It starts with a mellow traverse and then gets straight to work as you climb on a dihedral under a balcony-sized roof and then traverse cliff right to pull-out of the roof. The exposure is great and the climbing is fun, especially exciting on lead. The feet get smeary and I would have enjoyed having some better stick to the wall but the hand holds were big enough to keep me calm about the lack of footwear.

After climbing Destination Variation we hike back down the gully between Middle Finger Wall and Two Pitch Wall (someone apparently didn't know that this was a high frequency gully because they decided to poop right in the middle of the gully). We packed our goods and then proceeded to the base of The Balcony (5.5) on Middle Finger Wall. This route has been one that I've wanted to do for a while. I've heard of a flake on this route that moves quite a bit. As I led this route I pulled on a lot of rock to find it but I had no luck. Ashley did find it on her way up and said that it moved quite a bit. Anyway, it is a fairly easy route with a lot of gear options but definitely some questionable rock. The nice thing is that the anchor is bolted and can be Top Roped easily. The sun said hello as Ashley climbed so we moved to Red Wall to have lunch and decide our next plan of attack.

Brandy Gibson Walters leads Master Beta (5.10c) on Red Wall at Crowders.

As we arrived at Red Wall  we met up with some of my friends from Columbia. They were set up on Master Beta (5.10c) and were taking turns watching the children and belaying each other on the route.  I lead The Gimp (5.10d) in my approach shoes (which was awesome and hard) then Ashley and I had our lunch break (mostly water and trail mix).

The rest of the day was spent top roping Master Beta and The Gimp until we tuckered ourselves out and headed to Azteca Mexican Restaurant and filled ourselves with food and beer. What fabulous day I had and we climbed mostly (5.8) and under. I am always grateful to share the mountains with everyone. Which reminds me of what a small world it is. I met a gentleman whom is the father-in-law to a friend of mine that lived in Columbia and now resides in Charleston, South Carolina. Luke, the father-in-law, was at the top of Two Peach and Destination Variation.

All in all it was a fabulous day at Crowders and I love that I can head to the same mountain to get multi-pitch experience as well as climb hard sport routes. People who knock Crowders all the time are missing out on one of the most versatile climbing areas that I know of. Not only that but you can climb year round at Crowders if you know your way around the mountain. I'm a couple more routes closer to climbing all the guidebook recorded routes at Crowders and look forward to completing my goal. I also look forward to climbing the routes that haven't made it to the guidebook pages as well as climbing some harder variations. I know that most everything, if not everything, at Crowders has been climbed but it is still and adventure to me when I haven't climbed it!