For my second attempt at leading Ant’s Line (5.9), I did have a certain strategy as follows: Climb easily up to the crux, place two pieces, downclimb to the rest, pull the crux, and finish quickly on the easy ground above.

It’s always good to have a plan.

Step one. Climb easily up to the crux.

Is it just me or is this move hard? I don’t even have gear in yet. Has there always been a hard move here? Has anyone besides me noticed that I’ve hardly even left the ground?

Todd suggests that if I’d climb the crack directly instead of trying to step in off the ledge I could have gear. Despite the fact that climbing the crack directly is rather obviously harder, thank you very much, he has a point. I get some gear in and climb through to the corner that marks the start of the route proper.

Step two. Place two pieces.

Ack! This is a godawful stance and I’m going to fall off before I even get so much as one piece in. What was I thinking, climbing up here with nothing but that tiny nut below me? Sure, it was a great tiny nut, but still. I’m going to die and I’m not even going to do it on the crux.

I scurry back down to the tiny nut and augment it with a bigger nut, higher up. Then I lean my forehead against the rock and breathe deeply. Maybe I don’t want to lead this route after all.

Step two, take two.

This time I come prepared. I hang the piece I’m pretty sure goes in under the roof on the front gear loop. Fortified by a brief rest and my second placement, I charge back up to the crux. I fire in the piece I’d selected. Success! Probably the first instance of my ever remembering what the crux gear is. But then, the last time I tried to lead this route it took about five minutes hanging out in this miserable stance to get something in. I’m not likely to forget that.

And the second piece? Yeah right. I’m going to hang out here long enough to figure out where I can place a second piece. This one caught me last time. It’s going to have to do.

Step three. Downclimb to the rest.

Been there. Done that. Twice.

Step four. Pull the crux.

This part goes surprisingly well. I guess all that work on overhanging stuff in the gym has finally paid off. The holds feel bigger and more postive, the feet more plentiful and useful, than the last time I tried to lead this route. I love it when a plan comes together!

Step five. Finish quickly on the easy ground above.

Um. It used to be easy up here. I swear it did. Through the crux and wanting a real rest, I find only a poorish stance and poorish gear. I place the gear, a bomber nut behind a pitiful flake, and climb on in search of the Stance That Is To Come. I never find it. Eventually I look up and realize that the top is tantalizingly close and there are jugs all the way. I abandon my attempts to fiddle in another half-assed piece of gear and aim for the end. Victory is mine.