Castle Rock State Park
Climb Review:
I climbed here last week. But I had to come back to send some routes I couldn’t quite send last week.
Magoo Face (V2; Mr. Magoo Boulder)—This was the route I had thought about the most, and so this is what I warmed up with. After a few attempts at moving my right foot at the crux and getting tantalizingly close, I decided to use my left to push against the flake on my left, and it made the whole thing very easy. I sent it!
Garage Door (V0; Garage Door Boulder)—I must have spent 30 minutes here trying this route a dozen or more times. Near the end, I was standing on the knob and just needed to mantle, but I didn’t feel love the hand holds and just backed off. I need like 25% more cajones and I know I can send it.
Unnamed Mantle (V0; Beak Boulder)—After Garage Door, I flashed this one. It’s not that high off the ground, so I could just focus on the problem, instead of imagining what my arms might look like if I fell on them.
The Warm Up (V1; Warm Up Boulder)—I sent the first half and the second half, but wasn’t able to link them in a single, actual send. I would have liked to come with a friend on this one, as I had trouble spotting my feet placement on the second half.
Unnamed Arete (V2; Warm Up Boulder)—I flashed this and didn’t think it was hard at all. I would have rated this a V0.
Unnamed Arete (VB; Dog Dish Boulder)—It was nice and easy. Perfect for a Sunday morning send.
What I Learned:
Because I made plans to come up here just the day before, I wasn’t able to find anyone to come with me. I still had tons of fun by myself, even if I couldn’t give it my 100% on rated PG/PG-13 routes.
Fear of Falling:
Fear of Falling—As I was standing 6’ off the ground on Garage Door, I had a worrying thought about falling on a slightly sloped surface below, but I was able to concentrate to problem solve with my brain before thinking that the chance of falling while climbing up on my side was not worth it. I ended up down climbing. Still, I feel like earlier this year, I would have panicked a whole lot more.
Media Consumed:
Red Notice
What Happened?
Because I had cut my backpacking trip a day short, I had a free day on my calendar to do whatever. Because I had been thinking about Magoo Face for the past week, I decided to go back up to Castle Rock and give that another go.
I ended up sending Magoo Face and exploring more routes that I hadn’t tried before. I thought about trying Waimea Wall, but given the high ball nature of the problem and my lack of a spotter, I decided against it. I also thought about going across the street to give Indian Cracks Boulder another shot, but by the time I sent the arete on Dog Dish Boulder, I felt tired after having bouldered two days in a row. It might also have been the temperature as it was above 80 degrees by 10:30am. I called it a day and headed down the mountain.