Vantage Climbing with Peter and Kim

Published on 2004-3-20 by Michael Stanton

Vantage Climbing, March 20, 2004

Peter, Kim and I went out for some climbing. We narrowly escaped a car accident on the way when a truck cut off a car in front of us. That car wildly swung across the interstate, barely escaped rolling, and came to a stop after 360 degrees in the median. We rode right through their path, also coming to a gentle stop in the median. I helped push the guy's car out of the median where it had dug itself in. He was lucky, we were lucky - the truck that cut him off should feel lucky too. So anyway, Peter led "Chossmaster" (5.7) as one long pitch, a good warm up, but Kim was disconcerted by the different character of the rock from her plastic medium of the last few months! Then I got fired up to go crack climbing, so I led "Tangled up in Blue (5.9)," having to rest on the rope twice, not used to the complexity of placing gear and actually climbing! That tired me out, so I rested while Peter and Kim climbed "Vantage Point (5.8)," a great arete climb they both enjoyed. Then I led "Crossing the Threshold (5.8)," a considerably easier crack climb, but really fun. Kim followed it, maybe it was her first 5.8 crack climb? The exit was really loose and ugly, we had to be very careful getting up to the plateau. Theron and Justin stopped by to say hello, and we finished by Peter leading "Party in your Pants (5.8)," aka "Twin Cracks." I followed it. I'm always giving him a hard time for his hexes, but he made some great placements with them I must say. Alas, we had to go home early for a dinner appointment. Really fun time though, thanks guys!