Late Climbing Post

I went climbing last Sunday and forgot to post these pics that I took. Alex and I headed to an area called Puma Ridge in Camp Hale. It was a bit of a trek up to the ridge because there was no trail. The rock we were climbing on was pretty loose in many areas. We had a guide book and decided to start on a relatively easy 5.10a route. Alex took the first lead and had a pretty hard time, which is weird because a climb of that difficulty should be a cake walk for him. After looking at the wall more, we realized that the book must be a bit out of date and a route must have been added somewhere. The route we started on was a 5.11a as opposed to the 5.10a we thought it was. Anyway, there was a great view from the top of the climb.

The next route was a 5.10a. Alex took the first lead and we pulled the rope for me to lead it next. It was pretty easy, but I was tired from warming up on the first route, which is at or above my climbing level. So by the time I got towards the top and was going to clip the anchors, I barely had any strength left. I thought about taking a fall and giving it another go, but after seeing what the fall looked like (seeing where I would swing into the wall) I decided to tough it out and go for the clip. I summoned the last bit of energy I had and barely fumbled the rope into the anchor before my grip gave out. That is a great feeling!

Not sure that I would go back to this area to climb again. The approach didn't have a trail so we had to bushwack our way up and the rock on the wall was pretty loose. If the rock was more stable, it would be a really cool place to climb.