Friday, April 25, 2014

The Krazy Glue Trick

I cut my finger on Cool Ranch (11b) last Sunday. It happened right before the crux and I had to climb up and clip the anchors to clean our draws. Blood everywhere. I cleaned the holds with my bandana and felt stupid for not having my brush with me. JV. Bring the brush, Emma, bring the brush. Taping the tip of my finger doesn't really work because the tape comes off. Fingertip sweat! But without the tape the cut wont heal and I can't climb. Krazy glue to the rescue!


Krazy glue + tape works!

The next day I glued the tape on my finger. And it worked! I added some glue mid-day and the tape didn't come off until we were done climbing. To give you an idea of how durable Krazy glued tape is, here is the list of the climbs I did. Top roped, duh.

Overboard Full (11d) Pumpy warmup, but once you get it wired, it's not that bad.
Magic Light (11a) Best 11a at Smith!
Cool Ranch Full (12a) Hardest move on the route is the 11b move.
Wartley's Revenge (11a/b) Classic trad! Next time I must lead it.
Shoes of The Fisherman (11b) Trad, Max onsighted, I hungsighted. Bird poop! A little loose at the top. Mikey Schaefer walked past us and was stoked to see someone on the route. Apparently it doesn't see many ascends and when he did it 15 years ago, he couldn't get anyone to second it.
Heresy (11c/d) Boulder problem with bolts.
3/4 of Full Heinous (12c) I got half way up the extension and run out of juice. If you blow it on lead, you might end up taking a 50-footer. That's a 15 meter fall. It impresses me that Full Heinous used to be protected with two bolts and gear. Thanks to retrobolting the 30-meter route is now protected with nine bolts. I wouldn't mind if someone threw a couple more in there.

I used the same Krazy glue trick yesterday too and sent Latin lover (12a) second go! The falls I took last weekend did the trick. It felt liberating to climb above the bolt and not be scared. On my first go I fell twice at the top, before the crux. I got psyched, I almost had it! I took a 15 minute rest. Second go felt relaxed and solid. Max, Wally, Scott, and Shcristophe were all cheering for me. I decided to take advantage of the awesome sending flow and give Cool Ranch a burn. Once again I got shut down by the crux move. ONE 11b MOVE. This time I brushed the holds on my way down. Humbled by Smith.

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