Enchanted Rock and Granite Gripper 24' in Texas
On February 24th, Ksusha, Leon, and I went to Enchanted Rock in Fredericksburg to launch the dome into outer space!
The classic line, Dome Driver, rated at 5.8 is the most generous 3 pitch in the park. We took the westwardly approach around the main dome, avoiding all of the crowd that like to hike to the top of the dome and occasionally gawk at the climbers coming up the backside of the dome. On our approach, we met a guy and his pack of dogs. My body involuntarily froze up at the sight of the various breeds and sizes running toward and then around and past me. I let out a sigh of relief. I’m used to hiding my discomfort around dogs pretty well since the last time I was bit by one. Each of my legs carry a scar from two separate attacks by dogs that had a collar and leash but their owners were not near or in control of their dogs. The guy was wearing a turban and had the kindest blue eyes and words to say while he bummed chalk off of us for his crew. Ksusha went off trail for a bio-break during while we conversed. When she returned, she proceeded to indulge in the obligatory petting while we talked about the Lunch Rock boulder and the V2 highball that it featured. We said our goodbyes and continued to base our climb at the Cheap Wine Wall on the main dome.
If I were bouldering for the Granite Gripper that year, I wouldn’t have considered Lunch Rock or any other highball. It’s more appealing to me to pull and fall on something harder and safer than risk injury on something that I am supposed to be able to send without falling. That attitude may change one day, but for now, doing what I do and the way in which I do it is fulfilling. I think about how easy it is to practice “escalating behavior” in our sport as we walk and I point out different features while taking some photos.
As I reflected, I realized that frustration in my life could be catalyst towards riskier climbing, but I don’t have any major frustrations that haven’t been addressed in some way. In fact, the climbing I do helps and motivates me to do better next time and to not judge myself or others harshly. It’s a good thing I hold these thoughts to be true because the week after, March 2, the date of the Granite Gripper 24', there would be a lot of frustration that turned into motivation.
When we arrived at the base of Dome Driver, a party of three were already on the climb. The last leg of the triad, Alison, had a nice chat about how she was visiting from New York and how she was tired of The Gunks because everything seemed obvious. In other words, she was used to the style required to climb there and was having fun exploring what E-rock had to offer. What E-rock has to offer is some very specific, sequence dependent, foot and hold scouring and we found out the hard way during the day of the competition.
Ksusha and Leon lead the two pitches and we stopped at the third pitch anchors and took the picture below. 30+ years after the guidebook authors snapped this photo and became the first dome drivers, we followed suit.
We didn’t have time afterwards to try the cracks that we intended to do March 2nd for the GG competition because we spent a lot of time getting “the shot”, but we had a lot of fun. We had to improvise a lot of anchor building, descending, ascending, and piling the tail of our rope into a makeshift camera stand. We also didn’t get the shot the first time because we weren’t sure if the GoPro was on or off. We used my phone the second time around and the thought of it falling down the slab into oblivion, breaking into a million pieces, and someone finding all of my credit cards and license and having a vacation at my expense crossed my mind. At least I left my keys in the backpack that was at the base of the climb in the backpack that contained about a thousand dollars worth of gear to make it easy for thieves to get into my car a drive off. The great thing about Texans is that they wouldn’t dare do either atrocity. Instead, they would attempt to find me or turn my phone into the ranger station and leave my stuff alone. All I know is that coming out to E-rock puts you in high trust environment, you stop and talk to the occasional stranger, and enjoy some pleasant chit chat. It’s a necessary break from city life where I feel we’re buried in a sea of people, but we hardly have the time, reason, or setting to get to know the people that make up your community. Contrast to the climbing community, our niche circle is filled with generally pleasant people that you see every year at the same competitions.
This was the third year in a row where I attempted to place first in the advanced. I logged into Mountain Project and saw a fellow competitor looking for partners before I contacted Leon about being partners. I contacted Peter on the forum but he never responded so I figured he found a partner, so I called Leon and he accepted the challenge.
Jump to the day of the competition. I was able to spend the night before camped by pavilion because we left Dallas in middle of the day and were able to find a spot unlike in previous years. I went to sleep immediately and woke up an hour before the start time. Leon took about half an hour after the competition started to get going on, but it wasn’t a big deal because we had ten hours to do five routes each. We hiked to the base of Burning Down the House, the first of the five 10.Ds we needed to do, to the sight of Peter and the partner he found somewhere attempting the climb. I asked them what were their plans for the rest of the day and Peter named the five climbs I wanted to do, in the order I wanted to do them in. I told them that we had the exact same plan!
So now all of my focus was to send Burning Down the House and Leon was on board. We tried and tried, falling a little further each time. I must have put in at least six attempts before my energy and enthusiasm began to waver and the reality of the situation was setting in. We moved on to the route to the left, Ivy league. I was able to get to the top with a two takes and made the critical decision to change from competition to fun mode. Leon agreed. If I decided to continue to compete, and I was able to send Ivy League clean, then I might have placed third because I was absolutely confident about doing the other climbs cleanly and had sent them in years prior. However, even a fool is wise after an event. Shot out to the third place winner, Vincent Pham, this year, someone I subscribe to on YT because they climb around Austin on climbs I aspire to try one day. His videos are similar to the ones I put out on my channel, either first or third person ascensions that are linked to Mountain Project so the community can benefit from it.
We followed a pair of guys to Amazon Boulder to watch one of them attempt Welcome to Boot Camp S 5.12b/c and then decided to watch the sun set as we tried South American Crack 5.8+, the hardest 5.8 I’ve ever done at the end of the competition. We wrapped it up and walked back to the pavilion without turning in our score card. Claudia and Ksusha were waiting for us with food, but I didn’t have an appetite. We decided to head back to DFW that night instead of hanging out for the raffle or the clinics the next day with Marcus Garcia.
When I arrived home, I fell asleep for a full half day and woke up with the pain of the worn skin on my arms and legs that were continuously being jammed into the crack that I kept falling on the day before. I talked to Leon and he shared that he had similar soreness, which somehow made me feel better. It’s better to commiserate, I guess.
I will go back to E-Rock to practice Ivy and Burning so that I can be ready for next year’s Granite Gripper, 4th times the charm!