Start of Pitch 3 of Beginner’s Delight.
CLIMBING SETUP: We brought Jesse’s rack, my TC rope, 2 Rocky Talkies. GigaJoule.
CLOTHING: Jeans, Grey Tshirt. Switch to shorts at the Nears.
QUICK CLIMB SUMMARY:
Beginner’s Delight 5.3 - Lead Pitch 1 and 3. Pitch 1 so super simple. Pitch 2 is very long and slabby. Use lots of nuts and the perm pro. Pitch 3 is very easy and VERY fun.
Yum Yum Yam Yum- I lead the first two pitches and we both bailed on the third.
Beginner’s Delight - 5.3 - Lead - Follow - Lead
This is such a great route. Pitch 1 isn’t anything too crazy. I only place one piece and it was more like I felt like I had to, it’s basically a staircase.
Pitch 2 is the long pitch. It’s very slabby but has good protection in a corner. I remember there were two parts that had some poor feet, but using the other wall in the corner made them pretty managable.
Pitch 3 is very easy, but very rewarding. It has an intimidating opening 12’ slab that leads to a quasi-roof pull. If you can get to the crack on the top of the slab, the rest of the entire thing is super easy with great exposure and great views. There is another similar quasi-roof a little way up, but that is even easier. It’s one of those routes that just make climbing fun.
Nears - Yum Yum Yam Yum - 5.4
This route was a little sketchy. In fact, the Nears in and of themselves is a bit sketchy compared to the Trapps. Pitch one is short and easy and you belay off a tree with a pre-tied anchor. Pitch 2 is long and hard. It has a small traverse about 12 feet up that has a pretty commiting move onto a corner that leads up to the face climbing which constitutes most of the pitch. After that move nothing is particularly hard, but nothing is particularly easy. I was pretty drained after that second pitch, enough to ‘call it day’ without doing the 3rd pitch. We rapped off the 2nd pitch belay ledge and this was by far my sketchiest rappel ever. It was a pretied rope around a tree. The rope at the top of Pitch 1 said 2020, but this one had no date. It looked to be in good condition so we just went for it. Getting onto the rappel was an adventure involving some downclimbind and a pretty harrowing lip. But overall it felt okay. Hope to return one day to finish off that Pitch3.