We knew Friday was going to be the best chance to get dry rock! As it turned out, Natalie and Mike, Andy and me, and Ross and Jesse all got to climb in great weather on Friday! Andy got to climb a lot of new routes, I was able to send a new one, Mike was getting on some hard routes and Natalie sent Crimp Scampi without preplaced draws! Meanwhile Jesse and Ross were also working on new routes after having visited Haw Creek the day before. Overall a great day with the Ozark Cafe hosting dinner.
We assumed we would get rained on Friday night or at least Saturday morning but the 100% chance of rain failed to develop. Andy and I were joined briefly by Jim Grace and did some work on routes in the corridor.
Click on any of the pictures to see a larger size.
Andy pulling up Jackhole!
Jim takes his turn on Jackhole.
About this time Chuck Millen arrived and he and Jim headed for a day on the river with Chuck's wife Terre and another local climber, Tim. We hooked up with the other teams of Nat and Mike, Ross and Jesse to head to the East side.
Before heading east, we were joined by Carl Brockhoff. First stop was Magoo Rock where Nat was again rocking by sending Mr Magoo, 5.10c.
We split into groups and several worked Swamp Rat and Gracie's Eight. Around 2pm, the rain started. We felt pretty fortunate to have gotten to climb most of the day and headed for dry! Hmmmm what to do? The famouse HCR Spelio box! A simulated cave in a box with crawling on your belly for 100 feet of up, down, left, and right in tunnels around 2 foot square. Jesse was kind enough to leave Andy a gift while Andy was spending his 35 minutes trying to get out of the box.
We prepared for the weather and planned on making this work. Nat, the event planner, had all the bases covered including bringing this great shelter from the rain.
Then, the weather again got confued! It stopped raining and the sun came out briefly. TIME TO CLIMB AGAIN. So, we head back east to get a few more hours in.
We split into groups and several worked Swamp Rat and Gracie's Eight. Around 2pm, the rain started. We felt pretty fortunate to have gotten to climb most of the day and headed for dry! Hmmmm what to do? The famouse HCR Spelio box! A simulated cave in a box with crawling on your belly for 100 feet of up, down, left, and right in tunnels around 2 foot square. Jesse was kind enough to leave Andy a gift while Andy was spending his 35 minutes trying to get out of the box.
We prepared for the weather and planned on making this work. Nat, the event planner, had all the bases covered including bringing this great shelter from the rain.
Then, the weather again got confued! It stopped raining and the sun came out briefly. TIME TO CLIMB AGAIN. So, we head back east to get a few more hours in.
Natalie belays Mike on Aphrodite.
Mike is catching on fast and did several 5.9's on only his third day climbing outside.
Ross on the incredible arete Commodus.
Happy with our bonus hours of climbing and headed back for the FOOD. Carl made a great fire in the wet conditions and Natalie had made up some great burgers. Andy's wife had baked some incredible Friendship Bread in several flavors. The food was great.
Jesse cooking his veggie burger while Nat, Mike, Andy, and Carl go for the Burgers.
Back from the river Jim, Chuck, Terre, and Tim joined us for dinner.
They should post up their adventure but suffice it to say they did some great floating, hiking and exploring.
The group split up for the night with some of us opting for the dry of a cabin but Nat, Mike, Ross, Jesse, and Carl opting to test the weatherman by staying in their tents. As it turned out, a pretty violent storm broke out about 1am and the horses invaded the campsite.
I woke up to goats on the porch.
The morning was damp but looked promising for climbing. We hit the Ozark Cafe and waited to see what would happen with the weather. I was more than happy with what I had accomplished so Andy and I agreed to head home.
The view on the way down from HCR was pretty spectacular!!
I will let the rest of the crew comment on their adventures and what they did on Sunday. As it turns out, Jasper ended up having decent weather while Andy and I drove through the rain most of the way home.
Overall it was an amazing trip. We got in great climbing in great weather and I think all of us got on new routes and got some pretty amazing sends. If you bailed, you missed a great weekend of climbing, eating, and friendship.
