Lower Guadalupe Rock
Climb Review
I’ve been to this rock many a time, and my review is the same for the most part.
Unlike the other times I’ve been here, I found more broken glass on top of the rock and even on the routes themselves. I tried to remove as much as I could, but I fear there might be glass bits strewn about. Thankfully, no one from our meet got any cuts.
Bolt Line (5.7, Lower Guadalupe Rock)—The last time I was at Lower Guadalupe Rock, I had seen climbers lead this route, and I thought they were the coolest dudes ever. So, my goal today was to lead this route. After setting up Tsunami Queaky for others, I started up Bolt Line with Cassie belaying. I thought the route was easy, as my personal grade would be in the 5.5-5.6 range. I belayed Cassie from the top, and when she got to the top, we rappelled down. A great way to start the day.
Right Crack (5.9, Lower Guadalupe Rock)—After a delicious lunch, I tried my hand at Right Crack. I underestimated the route as I thought this 5.9 would be more like a 5.7, and even though I was out of shape, I expected it to be easy. Well, it wasn’t. I fell a dozen times, and it took forever for me to get up the route. I don’t think I struggled so much on a 5.9 route since Boy Scout Rock (when I was 3 months into my climbing journey). Today was a humbling experience.
What I Learned
Cassie and I hadn’t rock climbed outdoors in months, and the last time we had climbed indoors was the beginning of September. I personally thought that since I had been doing other exercises, I should be fine up to a 5.9 climb, but I was dead wrong. It felt like I fell a dozen times climbing up Right Crack, and after I finished, my arms were done for the day. I gotta put the work in.
Cassie and I had been very active before this day, and we were both tired. Probably should have rested, but we had such a good time hanging out with everyone that showed up that we have no regrets.
I learned that both Hannah and Jerry were cyclists! Yay for finding cycling friends and future rides with them!
I learned that Patience had just canyoneered in Taiwan! The pictures from the trip looked amazing, and she was interested in future canyoneering trips. Yay for finding a canyoneering friend and future rappels with them!
Cassie rappelled Bolt Line using the Imlay Critr3—this is so that when we go canyoneering later this winter, she’ll feel a lot more comfortable with it. She did great.
I found myself rappelling Tsumani Queaky without a third hand as I had forgotten it with my other gear. I didn’t think it was a big deal as the chance of rock fall was low, and I never had any issues holding the rope with my dominant hand. I quickly learned why it’s so awesome having a third hand when I reached the section of rope that did not deploy smoothly. I needed to untangle the rope, and I only had one hand to do it with! The rope was easily untied with one hand, but in a more complicated situation, this would have sucked—though I would have just tied a quick overhand on a bight or used a sling as a third hand. Still, it was better to have used a third hand and have less stress.
On Bolt Line, there was a lowering carabiner attached to the quicklinks that went by the model of Draco 660. As we wanted a single line rappel, I prepared for a Reepschnur rappel on that lowering carabiner. Unfortunately, the carabiner was so wide that the blocking knot went through the carabiner. There was the backup locking carabiner that protected Cassie when she lowered, but it was very difficult to move the blocking knot back over the lowering carabiner (I thought it’d be pretty impossible to move it back by pulling on the pull line). I had initially wanted to rappel single line too, but since there were people waiting, I just switched it to a standard double line rappel and came down. If this has happened in an alpine multipitch environment, I probably would have to climb back up to free the rope. I should have been more wary of the aperture of the device I was tying the Reepschnur to, and next time, I will be.
We fit 7 cars between the three small pullout spots! I’m mad impressed with everyone understanding how limited the parking spaces were and parking tightly so that all of our friends could park.
Cassie packed a delicious bibimbap for us, and it was delicious. Best meal I’ve had at a crag ever. 5/5 recommend.
Shari let me know that the first 5 meter of my 70m rope was looking a bit frazzled. I’ll have to go examine the rope before possibly cutting it if it’s damaged, but I was glad someone noticed it and let me know!
Friends
I was surprised to see so many new and old faces. When Cassie and I drove up to the crag, we found Jerry and Shari (with her dog Charlie) already there. We were soon joined by Hannah and Abby, and we made our way to Lower Guadalupe Rock. Louie, Patience, and Cher joined us soon after, and we had a great time. As usual (though I don’t take it for granted), the vibe was amazing with everyone supporting each other and being kind when any climber seemed to be down on themselves. I love this climbing community!
What Happened?
With Cassie and I wanting to take it easy this weekend, we found ourselves with a totally unscheduled day. So, I created an event on the Coalition Crag Discord and waited to see how many people would come and join.
In the morning, Cassie and I were pretty tired, so I ended up getting on the freeway and adding 10 minutes to the car ride when I didn’t even need to go on the highway! Good thing we left with a 10-minute buffer. We got to Lower Guadalupe Rock with a few minutes to spare, found ourselves people, and hiked down the slippery slope. We found Lower Guadalupe Rock to be beautiful as usual—the rock itself was its stout self, the trees were rustling gently with the wind, and the small creek was burbling happily.
The day was super fun, with objectives being crossed, routes being topped, and friendships strengthening. I think the highlight for everyone that climbed either Right Crack or Right Face was that the start required the climber to tie in, remove all slack from the rope, then swing across the creek to the start of the route. This was immensely fun, and some of us pretended to be pirates boarding a ship.
At about two, all of us were done climbing, so we cleaned up as best as we could and walked back to the car. We thanked each other and talked about meeting up for future climbs, canyoneering trips, and cycling rides. It was a good day.
