Just about everyone has seen the pictures in climbing magazines or in videos of somebody hundreds of feet up on a faceless wall with hands and feet jammed in a thin crack lining their ascent. Well, this was not exactly what we did, but anywhere you are, the first time will quickly teach you that crack climbing is not a naturally born instinct. In fact, after my buddy and climbing mentor Jason lead it with trad (practically whistling a tune as he flew), I top-roped a total of two feet and just flopped! What's the deal? It seemed obvious that the 50 and 60 year old men were doing ok ten feet to my right, so where is the yoda-like wisdom to help..? Jason hollered out a few beta points explaining that to climb the crack, it is necessary to start by fitting as much of the body in it as possible like when "walking" up the walls of narrow hallways by pressing the feet and hands against the opposing walls. Only here, the rock is a bit nastier, and a shoulder blade is about all that wedges comfortably. In a very unorthodox manner, I contorted my skinny frame up a few feet and began to understand the dynamics of what I was doing. Then it just flowed. All limbs were working and pressing in one area or another to free up the next reach or compressed push upward. There is a very distinct appreciation I felt (at the top) for the technical, effective method of crack climbing rather than brute hand/finger strength force needed in regular climbing or bouldering.

After sending "Middle Crack (V8)", Jason suggested we head over to "Sweat (V7)". Feeling a bit strange about moving down a grade instead of trying another, harder route, he reassured me there is a reason for the name. We walked down the path, Jason clanking like a hundred cow-bells from his trad gear, and made our way to a less than vertical slab with a thin crack winding up thirty or so feet. "Easy!"...I thought. After fitting an entire set of new hex nuts on his ascent, he set a top anchor and let me give it a shot. The technicality hit me pretty quick. Because it is less than vertical, deciding to put feet in the slot or to the outside makes the it a tiring climb. When I finished my shirt top was wet and my calves felt like rubber... (thus the name). If you do have a chance at trying this for the first time, don't even hesitate. All this will make sense. Trust me.