A Day of Midwest Climbing
Today my dad and I went to Jackson Falls, a sport climbing area in southern Illinois. The drive takes about two and a half hours, so we had to get up early in order to get back before five o'clock. Up by 5:30 and out the door by 6:00. There was nobody else there at all save for one local on a horse. No traffic, no lines; can't beat that!
Although it's called a falls, we didn't see much water at all. The waterfall was sure dry. I bet the farmers in the area are hurting.
We got in some great climbing, mostly in the easy 5.10 range. First, we started at Spleef Peek. We did a 4 climbs in a row, which almost perfectly increased in difficulty (5.8, .9, .10a, .10a).
Then we went to The Gallery, home to a lot of five star 5.10s. We did three adjacent ~60 ft climbs. The one that I'm looking at in the picture was the first, a 5.10a called Earthbound Misfit, and then right on the corner is Psychotherapy (5.10b) and then the next one, all the way around the corner is called group therapy (5.10c). I had some trouble staying on route on the middle one, but other than that these are great climbs.
We continued down the bluff line where Dad did a 5.9 face called The Sophmore and I worked on a nice 5.11d overhang called The Reckoning. I had to rest on the rope at almost every bolt, but the biggest reason for that was difficulty in finding the correct holds. Although the route seemed awesome to me, I don't think it got much traffic because many of the pockets were sandy and some unfortunately were damp and slimy inside. I would love to be able to try it again soon, because all the moves were really fun. I think the biggest issue for if when trying to climb it free (no falls or rests on the rope) is just endurance.
We finished off the day at Mr. Jimmy on an outstanding less than vertical slab route, and then called it a day. I just got this camera, so I'll post a few more picture. The rest are posted at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2013324&l=46fa6&id=1295520678
Me on The Reckoning, 5.11d
Dad rappelling off after climbing Master Marley, 5.10a.
Although it's called a falls, we didn't see much water at all. The waterfall was sure dry. I bet the farmers in the area are hurting.We got in some great climbing, mostly in the easy 5.10 range. First, we started at Spleef Peek. We did a 4 climbs in a row, which almost perfectly increased in difficulty (5.8, .9, .10a, .10a).
Then we went to The Gallery, home to a lot of five star 5.10s. We did three adjacent ~60 ft climbs. The one that I'm looking at in the picture was the first, a 5.10a called Earthbound Misfit, and then right on the corner is Psychotherapy (5.10b) and then the next one, all the way around the corner is called group therapy (5.10c). I had some trouble staying on route on the middle one, but other than that these are great climbs.We continued down the bluff line where Dad did a 5.9 face called The Sophmore and I worked on a nice 5.11d overhang called The Reckoning. I had to rest on the rope at almost every bolt, but the biggest reason for that was difficulty in finding the correct holds. Although the route seemed awesome to me, I don't think it got much traffic because many of the pockets were sandy and some unfortunately were damp and slimy inside. I would love to be able to try it again soon, because all the moves were really fun. I think the biggest issue for if when trying to climb it free (no falls or rests on the rope) is just endurance.
We finished off the day at Mr. Jimmy on an outstanding less than vertical slab route, and then called it a day. I just got this camera, so I'll post a few more picture. The rest are posted at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2013324&l=46fa6&id=1295520678
Me on The Reckoning, 5.11d
Dad rappelling off after climbing Master Marley, 5.10a.
posted by Robert McGibbon at
10:48 PM
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