Birthday Trip (Priest Draw, Groom Creek, Hinterlands) 2022 - Day 3 and Day 4
I felt much better climbing-wise the last two days of the trip. On the third day, I spent climbing with Bobby and Andrew at the Hinterlands, and the last day I spent wandering around the Hinterlands in the morning, and doing an afternoon session with Sylan who was visiting from New York at the Anorexic Roof. Therefore, because I think this one will be short, I'll split this entry into two parts.
Day 3
I found myself rolling through Woody Mountain Road with Bobby, Andrew and Whiskey on Sunday as we worked on Choss Origins and Chossey Posse at Choss Roof; Second Breakfast and Hockety Pockety at the Underhill in the afternoon.
At the cost of being crucified by the locals in the case that they find this, Choss Roof is located near a forest ranger cabin. I believe it's Casner Cabin, but don't quote me on that. Choss Roof is huge, and the climbs on here are hard. It's a large roof (probably at least 50 feet wide, 20 feet deep, and 15 feet high) consisting of many long linkups with varying names that scream "difficult". I don't know about you, but if a roof has names that reference massive mutated spider monsters, like "Kuomonga" or methods to enter the Greek Underworld, like "Acheron", I would be a bit wary. For the grade curious, the easiest climbs here clock in at V8, and the hardest goes up to V13-V14. The climbing here can be equivalent to sport climbing, except you replace the rope with a sea of pads. Unlike the draw, where you can swim and dangle your way through the sea of pockets with decent footwork and beta, you need to be prepared for big, powerful, and physical moves that require a crafty and creative mind to unlock. No beta options are off limits. Many of the climbs used to end on the diving board, but now ends with a massive throw to some holds at the headwall due to the efforts of the previous generation of boulderers. Personally, I'm ok with calling it good at the diving board for now. I've attached a photo, courtesy of Bobby, and video of roof maestro, Matt Gentile, warming up on what seems to be Cobra Commander (V10) last season.
A real-life UFO- ready to transport you into the hospital if you aren't prepared
It's high. Also, don't get in the way of the master...
The climbing here is physical and will get you fit. When we first got to Choss Roof, it was surprisingly empty, which was nice. There are stashed pads here, but still, make sure to bring at least 4 with you. Bobby and Andrew decided to warm up on Choss Origins, while I opted for a smaller warmup on the left-side of the roof called Choss Arete. I'm not sure of the difficulty, but it may have clocked in at a chill V-easy, but who knows? I didn't end up topping this one out due to a very dirty and loose looking top.
We then decided to get to work on Choss Origins. Choss Origins starts near the back of the middle of the cave, and works your way through decent holds out to a diving board. As mentioned before, the climbs used to end here, but past efforts have shown that it is now possible to top-out. So now, that's the way. Unlike the draw, the holds here are very blocky, so foot techniques such as toe/heel-toe cams, are much more prevalent here. The holds are also decent, so there isn't much in terms of tweakiness. This makes Choss Origins a good fitness trainer. Bobby, Andrew, and I managed to create some new beta to move into the diving board with a kneebar after some initial efforts to try to walk our feet around. That being said, I took a pretty gnarly fall trying it out. Footage is below.
Gumby (me) falling off jugs
For what it's worth, I think taking a big fall is actually a good thing here. One of my primary fears climbing on this roof is just taking a big spill and not being able to recover from it. The fact that I immediately got up afterwards showed myself that it was fine, and alleviated my mental fear. I then went on to actually complete the sequence to the diving board the next go.
We then went to try Chosse Posse. I don't have muchany footage of this one, but it's a bit harder than Choss Origins. It is a compressive climb, so I naturally found it a bit harder than Choss Origins. We spent a lot of time executing a lot of teamwork regarding pad placements and shifting in order for all of us to try the ending dyno that's at the left side of the tree. None of us managed to stick it, which I think was due to fear, so we'll have to come back for this. We then decided to call it good on this roof and headed out to the Underhill. On the way, we stopped at the End of the World, in order to spend some time hunting for the Relic Roof. The End of the World is the intersection between Sedona and Flagstaff. We didn't make much process in finding the Relic Roof, but the views were great!
End of the World
It was also my first day at the Underhill. I ended up primarily working Hockety Pockety, while also giving some attempts on Second Breakfast. We also watched some strong local crushers work on the roof classic, Clampdown. We ended up calling it good after we were done for the day and went back into town. I stayed with Evan and his roommate for the night, and showed them some of the footage I had gathered earlier that day.
Day 4
Went back out to Underhill to grab some more footage for me to study on how to climb Hockety Pockety. The footage doesn't show my best, though my movement is a bit stilted since I was still worked from yesterday. Reflecting on it, I rather go right hand to the pocket, but I will need a few more sessions so that I can figure out which option I would like to do.
Chuffing
Chuffing
A self-portrait
I then went back to the Anorexic Roof in the afternoon to session a bit with Sylan, as well as to provide local beta. Sylan is a very strong, experienced Chinese climber from New York, who was on his way to Yosemite to climb with his friend and decided to stop and sample the roofs on the way. He primarily climbed at the Gunks, and most recently took down a very tough, body-tension-y V10 there. Therefore, it was no surprise when he breezed by the crux of Anorexic Sacrifice. We chatted and found out that we had some similarities, including a youth where we both played the viola, and we discussed how our approach to music led us to our approaches when climbing. We then ended the session working on Carnivore, where he managed to do all the moves, but wasn't able to bring out the send, and I dialed in the throw to the big hueco several times from various points along the route. The triple exit is looking more and more feasible now. We then parted ways, and I returned back to Phoenix.
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