Thursday, August 15, 2013
My garden and Newest Workspace
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Jackson Falls
A couple weekends ago I was in the Chicago-St Louis circuit for work so I took the weekend and rocked it in a rental Yaris for 12 bucks a day and went to Jackson falls.
It is a really neat area. It is sandstone but it is mostly friction technique and movements with interspersed pockets and overhangs. I got in on Friday night and slept in the Yaris which will barely provide enough room for someone that is 5.10. The camping scene here seemed like the best free area that I have seen in a long time. It is within walking distance of the crags (10 minutes or less) and also free. Most sites are near water and a lot of them get morning sun. I felt like this area was really unique.
The climbing area is pretty neat. it is a canyon type feel with short (read 30-75 feet) walls. The hike in is from the top and you can hike and rap or hike the long way around. There are a lot of "towers" that are really just short sections where the block has eroded from the wall providing more of a large boulder with sport climbing on it. These were the primo routes to me at least because there are a lot of arretes and slopers with a unique climbing feel.
For me the hard climbing was in between the angle changes where each time there were slopers tough friction footwork and unique sandstone holds that felt grainy but not too sandy.
I thought the area was really good and I was blessed with finding some random partners that were happy to belay me. It was much better than top rope self belays. I ended up getting a belay on 7 climbs and 4 of them were moderate 5.10s and the rest were warm ups. Given that each day started with snow on the ground and the rock being wet I was very fortunate to have there be enough sun to melt the snow and dry the rock. One of them was called group therapy and I thought it was really good.
All in all I thought it was a good off season trip.
The climbing area is pretty neat. it is a canyon type feel with short (read 30-75 feet) walls. The hike in is from the top and you can hike and rap or hike the long way around. There are a lot of "towers" that are really just short sections where the block has eroded from the wall providing more of a large boulder with sport climbing on it. These were the primo routes to me at least because there are a lot of arretes and slopers with a unique climbing feel.
For me the hard climbing was in between the angle changes where each time there were slopers tough friction footwork and unique sandstone holds that felt grainy but not too sandy.
I thought the area was really good and I was blessed with finding some random partners that were happy to belay me. It was much better than top rope self belays. I ended up getting a belay on 7 climbs and 4 of them were moderate 5.10s and the rest were warm ups. Given that each day started with snow on the ground and the rock being wet I was very fortunate to have there be enough sun to melt the snow and dry the rock. One of them was called group therapy and I thought it was really good.
All in all I thought it was a good off season trip.
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