Castle Rock State Park—Waterfall Cliff

Climb Review

I climbed here a little more than a year ago with Venkat. I came back to climb The Falls and any other routes that would be available after climbing the waterfall.
The Falls (5.8; Waterfall Cliff)—After failing at the 5.10d start a handful of times, I went up to the easier start and slowly climbed to the top. Although the rating is 5.8 on mountain project, I think this rating is sandbagged, as the feet are horrible almost all the way through the climb. The crux for me was getting on to the ledge, but somewhere I found a crimp and a bad pinch for my hands and I made it up after spending a few minutes trying desperately to find something else. I am very happy with myself though—this was the longest route I’ve ever done at 34 meters and my arms were still functioning at the end.
Degeneration (5.9; Waterfall Cliff)—This was a fun one. The start is an easy 5.6 splitter crack that is solved mostly with lieback moves. Then the top is the crux, with crappy feet and pretty bad hands. But having just done The Falls, I thought the moves here were way easier (and shorter). Still, it felt really good to trust my feet and touch the anchor. I think I gave a happy and involuntary yell when I finished, which doesn’t happen often—I gotta savor it.

What I Learned

God slab climbing is so scary. I mean, I knew this already, but every time I slab climb, this fact gets reinforced.
The mosquitos were bad at the beginning, but as the day warmed up, they left us alone. However, the poison oak were everywhere and they were hard to avoid.
One of the carabiners at the master point had somehow gotten loaded sideways and it was holding all the weight. I fixed it when I got to the top, but it’s something everyone I climb should be watching out for.
I’m definitely less scared of heights than I was a year ago. The fact that I was feeling comfortable (maybe a little too comfortable) setting the anchor at The Falls and didn’t have any issues help setting and cleaning the anchor at Degeneration showed me that the frequent exposure to heights has helped me deal with my fear of heights a whole lot better.
It was so awesome to see Kaylee try and successfully climb Degeneration Left. I think the best part was watching to see how she solved various problems she came across, especially since this was her first time doing lieback moves.
Even though the feet were bad on sandstone with lots of sand, my feet did not slip and let me down today. This is something I need to remember when I’m feeling bad about my feet in the future. Even though it’s super scary, I just got to find the best feet available and trust it!

Fears Faced

Using natural anchors—It was my first time setting a natural anchor, specifically, for The Falls route. To ensure my proficiency, I had practiced the anchor at home the previous weekend. What I found below the observation tower was that the foundation of the observation tower was super solid and that the staging area was flat and stable—much better than I had thought it would be. I was able to put in the same anchor that I had practiced, and then at the suggestion of a more experienced climber (Jeff), backed it up with a third anchor point. Jeff then went down to the anchor point to put in a overhand knot to finish the anchor (and I shortened the backup anchor point to make it flush with the other). With Jeff supervising my work, I felt super safe and I was very happy with all my knots. The best news was that the setup was rock solid. We climbed on it for a few hours, and when I checked on the ropes after, it was perfect—no knots were undone, and everything was supposed to be exactly where it was.

Thanks to Jerry for the first three photos above and Patience for the last one.

Friends

The usual crew—Sarah, Jo, Scarlett, Mike, and Jerry joined for the climb, and it was really nice to have them all there. I learnt from most of them—Sarah with her methodical, purposeful climbing, Jo over coming her fear to try her personal best, Mike staying positive after not finding a crucial hold on The Falls route, and Jerry with his efficient, no-drama climbing. I’m grateful that they chose to attend my climbing meets.

There were new people I met for the first time—Patience, Jeff, Michael, and Brandon. Patience was Scoby’s friend and someone who was awesome—she had been climbing for decades on and off, and had accrued lots of climbing knowledge. It was great to have her there as she was my anchor setting buddy. I didn’t climb with Jeff, Michael, and Brandon, but they were Sarah’s friends, who were there at the waterfall cliff to lead climb. They helped me with the anchor setting at The Falls, then rapped down as they preferred that to hiking the climber’s path. Later on, they borrowed my anchor and rope as they lead climbed The Falls and my group went over to Degeneration. I hope I get to climb with them in the future. :)

What Happened?

I am so blessed to have such amazing climbing locations around me. One of the highlights is Waterfall Cliff at Castle Rock State park, where one gets to climb right next to a waterfall. After waiting out the wet winter and spring, we finally got a good dry weekend, which meant we were done rescheduling this climb!

I got there with my girls right at 8:30AM, and we were soon accompanied by all our friends, old and new. We made our way down to the climber’s path, where we split up. Patience and I would go setup the anchor while the rest would hike down. Patience and I setup the anchor with Jeff, Michael, and Brandon; afterwards, we rappelled down to the bottom, where we all took turns climbing.

Afterwards, we headed over to the right side of the waterfalls to see what routes would be available and we were happy to see that no one was on Degeneration, so Patience and I headed up to set up the anchor.

She setup the anchor and rappelled down while I walked over to the observation deck to see how Jeff and Michael were doing. They were still climbing, so I hiked back after telling them where we were. Back at Degeneration, we all took turns climbing, even Kaylee and Jo.

The hike back to the start was brutal for me. My pack weighed close to 40 lbs, I was hot, and it was all uphill to the parking lot. But, despite the miserable finish, the day was a great one—I got to check off two climbs I had wanted to do for a while and I got to watch my daughter climb her first outdoor 5.6 route!