She Goes!

Placing gear on "Heros and Thieves" - 5.10b/c, Humphrey's Ledge

I had a very exciting afternoon today. I was scheduled to pick up some art work at Plymouth State University after school. I checked my email before leaving the building to discover that the guy that I was supposed to meet had not returned my email confirming our meeting so I called him only to find that he was thinking Friday!!! One door closes...another one opens.

So, I quickly ran back upstairs and emailed Dave Penny who was skiing at Wildcat. The message basically said, meet me at Humphrey's (Ledge) at 4:00...I got an immediate response that said "see you there"! We're on!

To put this whole story in perspective, it was Dave and I a year ago that went out to check out this moss and lichen covered wall, but we both saw the potential that we knew it hid. We did some route rehearsing but it was late in the season, and before I could get the route developed, the snows had blanketed the northeast and I knew the must wait another year.

My palms sweat as I made the drive home to quickly grab my gear. "Could this be the day"? I thought to myself. It was one week ago that we placed the three bolts on the route. Doubts began to flood my mind. Could I even climb this thing? Had it been done before? Will the route be worthy? Will someone come along and chop it? You get the picture...

The sun was shining on the Main cliff as I turned the corner on West Side road, and all I could think about was how badly I wanted to send this route. The nervousness that I felt was excitement and not fear or self doubt. It had been years since I last felt these emotions before a climb and I knew that all was good. "I'm sending this thing".

We quickly geared up, I stretched the neck and shoulders, stretched the legs and took some deep breaths. "On belay" Dave said..."Climbing" I returned and before I knew it, I was stretching for the first bolt. I clipped in, gathered myself, walked the feet as high as I could and shot for the crux hold. I felt my fingers curl over the stone's edge as my feet cut loose. Once my fingers closed my motion settled and all was good. "Got it". The next few moves were tricky and I placed a #00 TCU and quickly clipped in. I edged my way out left on a balancy shelf to good holds and a shake.

I made the move up to the next bolt, stepped up and clipped...."one more move and this thing is over" I thought as I chalked my hands and prepared for the second crux. Right hand up to the thin horizontal and left up to the side pull...right foot up...and I shot up for the shelf. I stuck the hold and quickly plugged a #1.5 camalot in the horizontal...shook out and up I continued...two more pieces...the third bolt...up to the exit....plugged in a blue Alien and I could see the tree ledge. Before I knew it, I was calling "Off Belay" to Dave below. Laszarus had fallen and I hadn't a care in the world...

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