Journeys: SEND IT - July 15th - City of Rocks, ID

Whatever nerves I had about leading 5.8 trad in the city, I decided would be annihilated today. We rolled out of camp just a bit late, but arrived back at the Breadloaves to tackle Carol's Crack, which had been somewhat crowded the day before. There was another group climbing around on Decadent Wall, but Carol's was open and I did not hesitate to throw myself at the climb. 10 feet up the wide blocky start I thought, what the hell did I just get myself into. The upper half of the route was a beautiful finger crack, but the bottom half was an awkward mess to me. I placed probably bad protection and climbed on pulling up over the blocks to gain the ramp to the finger crack. From there it was a solid piece of fun crack. Although I struggled to relax and enjoy the climb, it protected well and it felt great to climb through to the top.

Beth Ann glad to be finished with Carol's Crack.
Photograph by Chuck Bolte.

This time at the rappel anchors we had no problems borrowing a single rope rappel to get back to the dirt and figure out what to do next. I wanted to do Intruding Dike, but it was taken. We packed up and headed down into the City to see about Bath Rock. Still in the sun we moved on from Bath Rock to Elephant Rock. Elephant Rock was still in the sun, but was free of climbers so we decided to go for it. Check that, there was a couple rappelling from Rye Crisp that needed a second rope which we gladly lent. They returned the favor by letting me borrow a few extra big Camalots for the send. The cams came in very helpful in leading the gaping left facing flake. I think I got greedy and sewed the bottom half up too soon and had to work to place a number 3 higher when a number 4 would have been really handy.

Chuck making moves at the top of Rye Crisp.
Photograph by ???

Beth Ann seconded and overcame a bit of exhaustion to finish the solid 5.8. At the top we ran into Jeremy and Jenny finishing Wheat Thin and we all rappelled down together on mine and Beth Ann's two ropes. The bottom was a bit more crowded than we had left it, but fortunately Wheat Thin was open and we were able to hop right on after a short break. The bottom two thirds were solid fun, a really great climb. Near the top though, the thin crack fades and a large detached right facing block makes a wide flaring crack. I slid a number four in at the bottom and continued to climb looking for protection, but could not find anything worthwhile. So, it ended with a big 30 foot runout with solid holds, but my heart was definitely in my throat. Beth Ann followed and we were soon throwing down our rappel ropes. We needed cash to pay for camping fees, so called it a day and ran down to Almo where we picked up some cash, got some ice cream, and made some quick phone calls before heading back up the mountain. The moon will be full tonight, but I doubt we will be awake to drink in the view.