Ring Mountain
Climb Review
I’ve climbed here many times before, though this time was the windiest I’ve ever experienced here (11 mph sustained, 19 mph gusting).
Split Rock Slot (5.4; Split Rock)—I soloed this route, like the two other times I climbed this route, to set the anchor. This felt super easy and I felt great.
The Ramp (5.8, Split Rock)—I TRed this route after Cassie went up and I enjoyed it a lot. The holds felt bomber (although Cassie found a jug that moved), my feet didn’t slip, and the route matched up well with my body/climbing style. This felt like a 5.6 to me.
Split Rock Dihedral (5.7, Split Rock)—This felt like a 5.5 to me and was easy to climb.
East Face (5.9, Split Rock)—This felt like a 5.7 to me and was fun to climb.
North Arete (5.10a, Split Rock)—I tried going up on the right side of the arete to start, but couldn’t find the second set of holds. So, I tried again from the left side of the arete and that felt great. I switched to the right side 2/3 of the way up and found great holds. Felt like a 5.8 to me.
Left Wall (5.9, Split Rock)—I thought this route felt like a 5.10a/b, but maybe I was missing holds that others had found. I fought my way up this route and fell multiple times about 10 feet up. I thought the handholds were tenuous and the feet slippery. Was the hardest climb of the day for me.
Leg Stretch (5.9+, Split Rock)—This felt like a 5.7 and the foot movements were super fun. As the name implies, I found the best foot holds required me to put my feet at a wide stance and had fun with that movement most of the way up.
What I Learned
I was very happy with how my anchor looked. It was so bomber to thread it through two holes, just like last time.
What Happened?
After a morning of cycling and Amy’s Drive Thru lunch, Cassie and I decided to go rock climbing at Ring Mountain. When we arrived, we saw that there was only one other car in the parking lot—I guess the wind scared off others, as other than the wind, the weather was perfect.
At the crag, I geared up and soloed Split Rock Slot to get to the top of the route. There, I found the 8mm holes that were drilled into the rock, which was the perfect size for my 7mm accessory cord to run through.
We ran a pattern of climbing two routes at a time (climb; lower; climb again; lower again) before switching as the routes were too short to need rest. We had a great time climbing and left when we got tired. I feel like this was such an efficient climb as I was able to climb all the above routes with one anchor (the last one was a bit spicy since if I fell, I would have swung quite a bit).