Crystal at Exit 38, I-90
Posted by markhwebster on July 22nd, 2012 • 0 Comments • Full Article
Sue, Crystal and I climbed at Exit 38 yesterday. We met Crystal 3 years ago in Joshua Tree. She has moved up here for her job. It’s awesome to climb with old friends.
Crystal above i-90
Crystal and Climbing Barbie
Crystal has a mascot called Climbing Barbie. Barbie has a climbing harness of her own, with tape gloves and painted on climbing shoes. Barbie is tied to Crystal’s harness. We climbers are proud of our eccentricities.
We got on some hard routes yesterday. I got up a 10a, but the 10b Crystal is on did not go well. I had to rest on every bolt, and at the crux, there was a 20 foot run out. It looked like the climbing was easy enough up to the next bolt, but you never know. I did not have any beta about the route and this sport is dangerous enough without venturing up into unknown territory.
I chose to back off rather than risk the fall. When we rapped down I discovered that the reason there was a run out was the holds were good, no harder than 5.6. Next time I will run it out.
I’m thinking I will continue to practice the guitar, but I’m going to work on some instrumentals…possibly accompanied with my harmonica. Lots of guitar players are very good, but they don’t sing. I thought I had the possibility to be both, but after listening to my recording…I realized I need to focus on the guitar, and forget about the voice. And that’s ok, I love the sound of my old Martin.