NOTES: Met Jason and Rebecca at parking lot at 8am Friday morning. 30 degrees. Rained hard Wednesday and creek from Salt Box was flooded, had to find alternate way across. Hiked out and were set up by 9:15am. Weather ended up being great. Climbed in the sun.
CLIMBING SETUP: I brought all 3 ropes which ended up being great. We set up the white static on the bolts at the top of “the Handle” with the red cordellete. Also setup the green dynanic on two trees with the blue static. Both lines gave us access to several routes. There is another set of bolts above “Platform 9 3/4” but that area was very wet. Setting up multiples was great and will definitely do again.
CLOTHING: I wore a long sleeve running shirt with black long sleeve over. Black pair of Starter tights under stretch jeans. Wasn’t hot but could have done without the tights under jeans. Got a little chilly when the sun went in. TC Pro shoes.
QUICK CLIMB SUMMARY:
Diagon Alley - Trust chimney smears. Use high feet on smears. Don’t get left foot stuck in top left corner of chimney, very hard switch.
The Handle - A bit easier than 5.9, bottom is trickiest, get right foot high early, use big pinch block. Underclings from there.
Gothic Arch- Bad feet at start, use big point as two handed hold to move, get feet and grab bomber undercling. The rest is super easy.
Diagon Alley - 5.8
2nd roof of Diagon Alley. Crapped out here on my first go, this was my second attempt and had no issues.
The first route of the day was Diagon Alley. Seeing this route is what made me want to try Puzzle Palace. Looks like a really cool chimney climb. I climbed first and there was definitely some rust to shake off. Didn’t trust any feet unless it was on a hold, which is pretty much the opposite of what’s needed for this route. This route is very easy if you trust the smears….and smearing is super secure on this very textured rock. I bailed on the first go at the 2nd roof and let the others climb. They sent with little issue and on my next go I cruised it very easily. I guess I just had to flick that “outdoor” switch and start trusting my feet a bit more. Once that switch was flipped the rest of the day went much better.
The Handle - 5.9
Probably a bit more of a 5.8. Has a tricky bottom portion followed by a ‘bulge’ then it’s pretty slabby to the top. There a couple legit handle holds on the route (hence the name) that you’d think only existed in the gym. Also has a few really really bomber underclings that make this route very secure/easy. Surprised to see the 5.9, probably intended more for a lead which would be pretty unprotected from what I saw.
Gothic Arch - 5.9-
Again, probably a bit of a 5.8 unless protection is an issue. Has some nice traversing right to left and back again. Flashed it, felt good.