that's really me, everybody! jg and i went rock climbing for the first time over the weekend. we were talked into it by our friend, the man with all the plans, chris diersen.
we drove to redlands friday afternoon and met chris at the five ten underground store, where jg and i got ourselves matching red shoes.
chris took us to rei for harnesses. then he made us a terrific grilled salmon dinner complete with green beans and baked potatoes.
yum!
bright and early saturday we went to meet up with a group of climbers before heading up to holcomb valley pinnacles.
team knuckleheads in the esri parking lot
holcomb valley pinnacles
coyote crag at 10:30 am
our intrepid leader rocking his harness
jg studying the lead climbers
we got there fairly early and the park was already full of climbers. chris set a top rope on a 5.7 route and everyone in the group took turn climbing. i was more than happy to climb last.
chris checking my knots
schmee takes on bye crackie
unlike gym climbing (when it took me four tries to get off the ground), i had no problem getting on the rock. the fear of embarrassment must have motivated me. i got pretty far up! chris did a great job giving me technical instructions. jg was shouting all manners of encouragement. he was rather pleased that i didn't give up after climbing six feet like i did in the gym.
schmee shortly before giving up
i didn't want to give up but i just couldn't extend far enough to reach the next hand hold. i tried so hard that my arms and legs got all shaky.
schmee back on the ground
(too tired to give my belayer a high five)
of course jg got to the top of every route he climbed. i tried to sabotage his efforts by shouting "hey jg, why don't you gain some weight?!" i don't know why i'm so bitter that he and i should fit the same size harness.
joe giving jg directions on a 5.8 route
joe making like spiderman
chris setting top rope
pretty clouds in the distance
one of the benefits of wearing tight red shoes
i climbed a total of three routes. jg climbed five. we wrapped up and headed out at 5:30, some seven hours after we started.
team knuckleheads
clockwise from left: richard, jg, joe, paul, schmee, rina, and chris
leaving holcomb valley pinnacles
we drove directly to eureka burger for dinner. chris touts it as the best restaurant in redlands. i ordered a fig marmalade burger with feta cheese sauce. it was delicious!
