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QotD: Climbing

Question: What's the most difficult thing you've ever had to climb?

My Answer: I climbed Crested Butte Mountain (if that's the name of it?) in Crested Butte, Colorado. I was quite young, and the last 500 feet up were mostly rocks, and so that made for an interesting climb. According to my parents I "scampered right up" but I remember spending most of the 30 minutes waiting for them to catch up catching my breath as well.

You are encouraged to answer the Question of the Day for yourself in the comments or on your blog.

4 Responses to "QotD: Climbing"

  1. Chevy Suburban 🙂

  2. I there is a climb Columbia, MO called "The Book" which is normally a 5.9, but once day I decided to do it in my rollerblades, which easily turned it into a 5.11.

    But if that doesn't count, then technically it would be some 5.11a or b I redpointed, or maybe the Grand Teton- which was really only a 5.6, but it was so exhausting.

  3. My hardest climb would have to be an awsome crack called Clean Crack (5.11b) by the railroad tracks in Squamish, BC. I used to "scamper" up a 5.11a called Yorkshire Gripper in the Bluffs area in Squamish (but only due to doing it a lot). Then I got a job, a gf, and now I'm barely clawing up 5.10 at the gym 🙁

    One of my first lead climbs was up Deidre on the Apron (also in Squamish). It's only a 5.8 or so, but I was hauling two girls up with less experience than me, and I ended up not only leading every pitch (a scary prospect for someone who hasn't done a lot of multi-pitch stuff or a lot of leading), and belaying both girls up, because they were too tired and didn't like top belaying.

    What made it even worse was more than once I was on the crux of a pitch, scared shitless, only partially confident in my manky gear below (and far too scared to fall on it and see if it would hold 🙂 and I'd look down and the girls would be gabbing to each other or cheering "go alan go! go alan go!". At that point a good belay would have been much more appreciated than a cheering section.

    To my credit though, we made it all the way up, I redpointed the whole thing (actually I guess it'd be an onsite redpoint, as it was my first and only time up that climb), or at least most of it, any falls I took were small and inconsequencial. Oh, and the three of us made it back alive! Took a couple of weeks to get the dye from my shoe leather out of my toes though.

    *sigh* Must climb soon.

  4. I'd say probably Mt. Hood. I just climbed it Saturday so I haven't yet edited my climb journal nor put all the pictures on my website. It was a pretty badass climb though: rockfalls (shudder), ice, crevases, base camp at 5000', summit at 11300'... good times good times