Steven and I are planning to head to the Daks for four days over the 4th. This weekend was a chance to get myself ready, which I guess means getting accustomed to climbing on wet rock with the threat of rain. To that end, the weekend was a great success.

The rock was only wet in spots Saturday morning at 9:00, which gave us hope that it would all be dry in a few hours. We started by looking at Overhanging Layback because I needed to scope out an exit strategy for leading Star Action without Todd around to bail me out. Both walls of the initial corner were damp so we slid down a bit further to Tequila Mockingbird. Belaying from the first ledge, I basked in the sun and thought about what harder things we might get on that day. Traverse of the Clods, I thought. It was white rock high above the treeline. The only potential problem was that it might be too hot.

Back down on the ground, I tried to sell Steven on this plan. He was waffling and then the rain started. Traverse of the Clods no longer seemed like a good idea, even to me. The light rain didn’t last long and somehow didn’t even seem to get the rock wet, so we went back to Overhanging Layback again and found it drier than it had been at 9:00.

I wanted to see if I could get to the Star Action anchor from the end of the first pitch of Overhanging Layback. If not, I was supposed to be able to rap into it from the end of the second pitch. Steven wanted me to run the two pitches together so I searched for and found the supposed “step left” option at the crux of the first Overhanging Layback pitch. It was a quick (and easier) escape from the crux that kept the rope line nice and straight. I slung the belay tree with a cordelette and felt comfortable continuing with no noticeable rope drag at that point.

A peek around the corner revealed the Star Action anchor. It looked like about 30 ft of mostly unprotected 5.6-ish traversing so climbing the second pitch of Overlanging Layback seemed like the better choice. Except that the rope drag started almost immediately. I don’t know if it was the first piece I placed near the arete or if the rope got caught under one of those pointed tiers. Steven said later the line looked perfectly straight and all the parts of it that I could see were. I did a lot of downclimbing and back cleaning, both to try to straighten the line even further and because I need to recover the long slings.

Nevertheless, I made steady progress and was even thinking that this would be a very enjoyable pitch if I weren’t battling rope drop. As I neared the top, it started to sprinkle and I arrived at a cruxy bit. The gear here wasn’t good and I was runout from the back cleaning. I told myself that the rock wasn’t going to get any drier and forged on, but I was starting to wonder if I’d wandered onto the second pitch of one of the 10s in the area.

I found myself under a big roof with no escape to the left or right. I couldn’t believe the roof over my head was only 5.7, but I could see one jug up there and the rain drops were coming more closely together. I was too far away from Steven to communicate with him effectively. My best hope was to rescue myself. I popped for the jug and made a couple quick moves to get my hands on the top of the cliff. Unfortunately, the rest of me was still somewhat lower and the rapidly wettening, somewhat muddy, very flat cliff top was offering no purchase.

The clock was ticking, the rope was pulling on me, and all I wanted was a tree. I hand traversed across the top until I found a single muddy side pull that was (barely) enough to get my feet on the ledge and shuffled, just in time, to the tree I’d have killed to have been able to reach a few minutes ago. The skies opened in earnest now. Steven would have to follow in the rain.

Schizophrenically, the rain had abated again by the time he got to the final roof and the rock was already showing some signs of drying. Seven finished the roof move with a lovely heel hook/press-out/rock-on mantle. “That’s not how I did it,” I told him. I put on my shell which he had thoughtfully carried up but it was already not necessary and by the time we reached the ground again, it was hot. At the base of Overhanging Layback once more we looked up and saw the rock in about the same condition it had been at 9:00.

Nevertheless, we were done. In the time it took us to get to Bacchus it rained once more and although the sun was shining when we walked into Bacchus, it was clear by the sparkle of the pavement under the sun when we walked out that it had just stopped raining yet again. As I drove south on 87, there were splatters on my windshield and I shook my fist at the sky and asked, “Why do the Gunks hate us?”

Saturday with Steven
Tequila Mockingbird, 5.7+ (P1: Dawn; P2 & 3: Steven)
Overhanging Layback, 5.7 (Dawn)