Kelly Canyon and Cherry Canyon (aka Traverse Thursdays)

 Woof. Thursday was a lot of climbing and my body is beat. 

I started the day off climbing at Kelly Canyon with Matt, who I last climbed with at the draw at Puzzle Box, for an hour or two. Sandstone climbing is something else! The style is akin to wrestling, with a lot of slopers, full body movements, and complete body engagement. The holds are finger-friendly, which is the direct opposite of roof dangling. At the end of the session, my body was more tired than my fingers. Unfortunately I also reaggravated my right wrist's TFCC injury, so I need to take care of that. From what I've heard, it looks like I need to start adding in reverse wrist curls and some more forearm extension exercises. I should probably also improve my sloper form. 

Climbing wise, I've never fallen off of so many V0 warmups that Matt cruised. I guess his vertical game from California is coming into use! I have a new V0 project at the Warm-up Wall. We also spent some time at the trailer park sector, which has better V0s-V2s. Aloha Arete Right is very good. Funnily enough, I made quicker work on the harder lines at Kelly than the easier ones. I made some good progress on the Traverse, and managed to work out all the moves, as well as putting down the half-traverse line, which goes at V4 and is the last half of the traverse. Now the next thing to do is to go for the link. The first half of the traverse is burly with feet facing the wrong way, as well as a few campus moves. The interesting thing that I learned here is that climbing at Kelly requires a lot more hold cleaning than expected. The friction between brushed and un-brushed holds is dramatically different, so careful preparation is necessary. 

The starting half of the Traverse

The afternoon was spent at Cherry Canyon with Bobby, Kenzie, Dustin, and Whiskey (Bobby's dog). It was my first time there, and I was amazed to see that limestone could also have a reddish-hue. We were mostly working on Truffle Shuffle, which is another amazing Traverse. 

Unlike the traverse at Kelly Canyon, the holds are much better with cooler movement, but the crux has two parts: 1) a rose move unwind and 2) a heart-breaking throw at the end. Power-endurance is the name of the game here. Bobby and Kenzie have been working the line and have gotten very close, with multiple burns failing at the redpoint crux throw. Here is some footage of my attempts. 

Bobby and Kenzie are planning to go back on Monday, and I wish them the best of luck. I can't wait to come back to this one, the movements are so cool.