Alpine Adventures

At the base of Sunshine Wall, near the end of the day, Carl phones home while Richard looks for more routes to climb.

This is our group. We enjoyed a two-day excursion to Vantage, climbing as much as we could! L-R: Richard, Jon, Carl, Jesse, me (Brian)

Vantage consists of hundreds of these basalt columns, with climbing routes varying from easy class 5 to 5.13, both sport and trad.

This route is called 'Throbbing Gristle', a 5.9 sport route with 13 bolts to the top anchor!

This is part of the Kotick Memorial Wall. Routes being climbed are "The Rod of God" sport route and unnamed trad route.

ANother view of part of Sunshine Wall.

Here, Richard tried his hand at a trad lead, 'Party in Your Pants', 5.8. He did great, getting over halfway, and I finished it out.

A long view of Kotick Wall, from the Near Trail entry point.

The next day proved damp and cool, so we attempted another area out of the rain, Jigsaw Wall. Climbs here were a bit of a challenge.

In these pics, Jesse is working Jigsaw Direct, a 5.10B, by adding a few pieces of pro before the bolt.

Though he thrashed quite a bit, he was successful, and the rest of us top-roped it.

While Jesse was working the pitch, I belayed him.

The beleay-boy at work

It was a group effort, as Carl helps to reposition a piece of 'pro' that popped out.

Then I worked a 5.11C route called "Give Me a Second My Elvis is Pinched." Now, it is Carl's turn.

It was quite the challenge from the level at which our group normally climbs.

Carl took a few launches off the rock before he got to the last bolt.

Ok, I think we all agree that a soggy day climbing pretty much beats, hands down, a day at the office ...

After Carl went through all the effort to finish the lead, I still wanted to at least top-rope the route.

With the overhanging rock, the route was very 'pumpy' and required a different skill set to complete it.

Almost there . . . as with many climbs, the start proves to be the most difficult.

Now it's Jesse's turn . . .

But alas . . . after the effort he expended on the previous route, there was little left to finish this out! But a worthy effort none-the-less!