Monday, April 11, 2005

Cracks and Flakes!

For years I have heard my French friend Pascal talk about a hard climb called the 'flex' down at Harrison's Rocks. He would mention this climb again and again, and how he would try it every New Year's Day, sometimes successfully, sometimes failing miserably. I was intrigued by this climb's name. I would try to imaging its crux sequence involving some 'flexy' moves. Last summer Pascal showed me the climb, and after checking the guide book I realised that it is called 'The Flakes' (6a), and the climb itself involves a rightwards traverse using a series of flakes and a very hard move pulling over an overhang to gain the top. Last Saturday I went with my climbing mates James and Geraldine to Harrison's and had a go at it. None of us could handle the crux moves but nonetheless were satisfied by our performance. I reckon that a couple of weekends more and we will be able to handle it!

Yours truly hanging onto the Flakes:



Jame's Stupid effort:



Another crazy climb we tried was 'Stupid Effort' (5b), to be tackled with one of the most wicked sequence of moves I have seen in a climb at this grade. The above pic shows James sending the crux slab, involving a mantle shelf for the left arm, a tiny sloper for the right hand and an awkward stretch for the left leg!

Geraldine getting 'high' up onto Stupid Effort:



Other highlights of the day included the savage 'Slimfinger' (5c), and the squeazy peasy 'Long Crack' (4b), the latter one a true classic, where inproper offwidth technique can take more than one experience climber into an unexpected struggle.

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