Wednesday was a warm albeit windy day. I planned on getting in a few hours of bouldering and there was one rock in particular which was garnering my attention. Located at the second junction of the Silver Fox and Homestead trails when you leave the west parking lot, the 12-foot-tall piece of granite overhung beautifully on two sides.
I had tinkered on it before but nothing with any earnest. My first problem I figured would go at V3. Severely undercut at the bottom, you start with two huge jugs with your right foot toeing a little cove deep underneath and your left smeared on a less-upside down contour.
It took over a dozen tries but finally I linked the problem together, the crux being throwing a slap to a slopper with the left hand from the starting position. From there the problem goes down easy. I think I was conservative with my initial grading but would want an independent arbitrator to confirm before I chestbeat.
Starting holds. You shoot for past the hump at the top skyline.
Pleased, I went to the other end of the rock and came across a fun traverse on a rail, to a heel hook and reach up to small but positive pinches. While not a hard problem, it is fun and adds the spice of a large fin of rock underneath you that would like to fillet you if you fall.
Easy stuff on the east side.
My undoing was trying to develop a line in the center of the face. There was a beautiful starting hold but I couldn't scry a clean line that didn't seem contrived.
However the angle of the rock and the starting jug tempted me to try to forge something after dismissing it several times earlier.
I tested the start, putting one hand on a vertical rail which resembled a tufta soldered to the rock. Right hand went on a corner knob. To the left was a big incut cleft on a angled shelf - too easy. Straight up was some frictioned pinchery and slaps. Tough but maybe possible.
So I positioned my pad to the left of me to protect from the fin of rock in case of a pendulum in the likely case of failure.
I positioned myself on the ground for the sit start, took a deep breath and shot up to my planned slap. But a funny thing happened along the way.
I felt momentum up and then I felt momentum backwards. When I got my senses back, I found myself on the ground on my back, legs sticking up in the air - rigor mortis in the positions and angles they were on the rock during my dyno.
I craned my neck and looked and saw a big rock on my stomach and looked up to see my hands fountains of blood.
The big welded tufta wasn't as solid as I suspected and now the big chunk was on my. During my dyno, I must have pulled so hard that not only the rock came out but, my momentum carried my quite a ways away from the rock.
I picked up the 20-pound chunk and removed it from me. As I turned to toss it, I noticed the familiar firmness of rock on my right side. I was lucky. If landed a little to the right I would have landed back on a half-buried boulder.
The rock. You can see my toes in the bottom of the photo for size comparison.
Where the hold pulled from.
This was my second straight bouldering session of pioneering problems on terra incognita where rock broke and I found myself unceremoniously dumped on the ground. The last time was at the junction of the Hidden Fawn trail and the Dedisse Park trail when I made the same error of not listening to my gut.
I attempted an overhanging face with less than dubious rock and when 12 feet up a crystal I was pinching while doing a cross-over popped out. My movements caused me to helicopter off and I landed equally on my face and shoulder - thankfully on the crashpad.
The lesson I have now had hammered home -- If it looks suspect, don't force it.
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