Index with Alex and Summer

Published on 2003-7-15 by Michael Stanton

Index Climbing, July ??, 2003

Alex, Summer and I drove out for a few hours. I led the first pitch of Princely Ambitions (5.9+), finding it much easier this time, but still a really exciting and fun route. Then Summer led the second pitch, a really neat 5.8 hand crack that widened to a few chimney moves, then featured stemming and more hand jams at the exit. We hiked an exposed ledge over to Beak! Beak! Beak! (5.9), and Alex roped up for the lead. His eye was drawn to the slabs to the right of the climb, so he switched to that. I forgot the name, but it had nice slab climbing. He moved back into Beak! Beak! Beak! and had a few enjoyable moves, then finished in a ridiculously overgrown crack to a tree anchor. Lowering off, he then belayed Summer on a top rope of that climb and part of the slab on the right. Then I top-roped Beak! Beak! Beak!. I really enjoyed the lower section. Nice jams allow you to place some gear then lieback for a few moves. The upper part, with so much vegetation is kind of funny: huge clump of dirt and moss followed by an excavated handhold. Repeat 3x! We made two rappels, reaching the ground at nightfall.