Saying you went on an SFA climbing trip only reveals a small piece of the adventure. Truely, the trip begins before ever leaving Nacogdoches. My alarm failed me, so Steve and Marisa are taking off while Eric is waiting on his ride (me). I squeeze some toothpaste in the mouth, load up the Neon, scrape a thick layer of ice off the windows and head out like the Indy 500 (scaled down to Neon power). Fifty feet later, I have no view and resort to the head-out-the-window technique racing down Pearl Street, snot freezing to my face, in search of Eric's apartment with his directions vaguely sketched out in my memory. No Eric. I rip out to Steve's dorm. No Steve. I fly back to my apartment, call Steve, call Eric, wait for Steve, and finally pick up Eric. So we're finally off to climbing at 6:30? Well, besides Steve's battery dying and my stepping in a nice slosh of parking lot throw up from some poor soul with alcoholic tremors, yes we were off!
We met up with Jason and Brianne at Reimers around 11:30 and I got lucky enough to lead a 5.8 first climb on the left side of Dead Cat's Wall. After flailing on the 5.10c last week, this was a motivating lead. Note to the wise, watch out for the cactus at the top. It hurts. After cleaning the route and setting it up for toprope, we hitched up a rope to Eric's harness, threw some shoes on him, and sent him on for his first rookie climb. He finished it like a pro. Typical for Eric. What do you do with a rookie who's too good for a rookie? Well, next climb was fun. Another newbie, Adam, roped up and although his back-to-the-wall technique was a bit funky, he also topped the climb.
So, as any skilled instructor in the art of climbing would do, we picked out a 5.10c, Jason lead it, Steve and I topped it... nodded our approval, and got the rookies ready. Oh how much different our former aces looked. With the crux at the beginning there were grunts, panicing hands reaching for anything positive, and a quick dismissal to any thought of technique. I must admit, it wasn't the kindest thing to do. With a boost from a human ladder (me) they advanced through the first section and quickly learned what it means to use small feet holds and keep the hips tucked into the rock. They finished sweating like hogs, but hey, they just finished a 5.10 on their first day out. That says enough. Oh, another note to the wise, there is cactus at the top of this climb too. It also hurts.
Three new climbers arrived and, learning from our now experienced rookies, we started them out on the 5.5 climb. Much better. With the sun almost down, Steve, Jason, and I took off for some quick bouldering by the river and found an outstanding problem (at least V3-4) on the inverted section of a large boulder. Finishing up the day, we left Reimers to "Maria's" for excellent cheap Mexican food. Climbing makes you ravenous and this food was GOOD. We stopped by the local gas station, lined up at the bathroom, left our tokens of appreciation, and headed out for camping in Perdenales along the side of Lake Travis. It may be hot during the day, but it is was another icy cold morning when we woke up.
By 10:30 we were back to climbing. Eric climbed a couple 5.8 routes including the classic 8-Flake (which Steve lead) and a climb on Prototype Wall, which Brianne lead. Yet another successful SFA Climbing Trip.
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