Serrated Arete

Due to snow, the forest roads are now closed! The last two days, I went to the Fortress to try a linkup project that starts all the way in the back of the boulder on The Misadventure of Captain Stabbums and links into Mike's Arete. 

This line is the sister line to the other two existing lines that start there: The Misadventure of Captain Stabbums and Mother of Extension. I couldn't find much information or history on the line, but it ended up feeling somewhere in the realm of Mother of Extension and Misadventure of Captain Stabbums in terms of difficulty, so it was not V6/7 like I originally thought. It turns out that the easy overhanging vertical section of Mike's Arete becomes a bit harder after busting out some cave sequences.

I thought it would be a quick side project that I could dispatch relatively quickly in an afternoon, but due to some poor conditions (read: humidity from the rain the last few days and cool temperatures, the holds felt quite clammy and the sequences felt more finicky and precise, which gave me more trouble than I anticipated and I had to leave empty handed after falling multiple times in the punchy move to start Mike's Arete, and sometimes even in the heel hook bump move. Fortunately, I had a spell of good weather the next day and after trudging back up the hill again, I was able to dispatch the 20-move rig relatively quickly, so I'm glad it turned out to be a nice weekend level project. 

This being said, I think it's good to have some lines in between the stand-starts (that starts halfway up the cave) and the hard linkups that reverse Jack Lester's Shrink Ray (Ray Shrink) i.e. Father of Destruction, Deal Breaker, as it provides a nice intermediate level to build up fitness for the hard lines. In my case, I liken it to the Superstition's version of Seeker in terms of length and style. It is obviously not as good, but it keeps the fitness up as we wait for the roads to open. 

I also tried Jack Lester's Superman. It is the first time I was able to pull on the boulder and not feel wrist pain, though it is very physical in the shoulders. I need to do more climbs like these instead of long endurance-based boulders to build up power. 

Session 1

Session 1