June 25, 2008 - I Lost My Virginity!

This weekend was the most amazing one ever! :)

I went to Table Rock to climb. I left work at 4 pm and Richard left Raleigh/Durham at the same time. We got up to Morganton, NC, right outside of Table Rock, at about the same time. It was a nice ride up too! Great weather!

It was right at dusk when we arrived at the picnic parking lot at Table Rock. We saw some climbers going up Table Rock with their headlamps on. They were doing some night climbing.

We set up camp with our headlamps and started a fire pit! We drank a beer or two and went to bed.

Saturday morning was awesome. It was a tad chilly when I woke, but warming up fast.

We got all our gear loaded and started the approach. Table was pretty busy Saturday. The weather was absolutely fantastic!

My first time there was back in April with Doug and Jason. It took us a little bit to find some of the routes. But we asked a few people. They were all friendly as usual.

We got on Cave Route. It's a 5.5. It was easy, but still fun though. It was a nice warm up for what was about to come. ;-)

This route was an onsight for Richard though! I flashed the first two pitches cleaning after him.

We get to the 3rd pitch...

I started goofing around. To get to the 3rd pitch, you had to walk off of the 2nd and hike up a little. There were several routes up there. Richard and I started goofing around. He took a pic of me holding a pink nut in my mouth as if it were a rose. lol Then as I was hiking up, he started joking, "There goes Sue, soloing her first lead." haha Very funny! (it was a scramble trail) We get to the bottom of the 3rd pitch of Cave Route, and he and I start joking around again. I started flexing my muscles and we were just having fun being silly.

I looked over the route, and I asked Richard if I could lead it. I told him I thought I could do it. Richard's response was, "I know you can do it." I was ready. It was well protected, and it wasn't a really bad climb to start my first lead on. I felt very confident on it too. It was a great feeling. Richard said I was so smooth, and I looked so relaxed. I felt cool mentally too. I wasn't whigging out like I thought I would if I were to ever lead something. I didn't fall or slip and I didn't hang or rest on any of the bolts. I onsighted my first lead. :)

I know that this is supposed to be a mixed route, technically. However, I felt comfortable on it, and I only used the bolts that were there.

A funny story on the way up...I am leading my first route ever, right? Well, these guys had gone up as we got there at the base. We were joking around and having fun with each other and had not noticed those guys were even up there. Anyways, the guide book says you should walk off. As I am past my 2nd bolt, someone yells out "Rope!" and a huge wad of rope comes straight for me. Before I could even say anything! I saw it, and took a deep breath and just held close to the wall. I remained very calm. I was fine. So on my first lead, I'm having to move this dude's rope out of my way. It gets tangled, and I had to get it all out of mine from below me. I was afraid to climb up with their rope that close to mine! lol Well, basically, it was on top of my rope. Rope is already heavy enough w/o having someone else's tangled up in it! I yelled up at those guys and asked them nicely if they could wait to do their rap. haha "I"m leading my first ever dudes, can you wait?" lol

After we were down, I wanted to go back and lead the other 2 pitches of it since I had just cleaned them. It was sort of addicting. I wand to lead some more routes. haha

We were at the top of the first pitch again, but this time I lead it. It starts thundering, and I knew the 2nd pitch was run out with only one bolt. Even though that 2nd pitch was really easy, basically a scramble, I still got freaked out. I was about to talk myself into it when we heard thunder...and I also really need to practice my belaying technique for belaying a follower, so we bailed.

I really enjoyed leading. I can't wait to do it again! :)

I'm slowly learning, but it feels great! When I lead the first pitch, I used my own rope too! :)

I did cartwheels when we got back to our campsite! lol (seriously, I did) My adrenaline was pumping so hard. When I first got down from the rap, I could barely have a conversation with some of the dudes down there. I was so freaking high! I seriously felt like I was on drugs. I was grinning from ear to ear. I LOVED it!

We met this really nice group of folks that were climbing and camping right near us. We climbed with them on Sunday. I love meeting new random people. So much fun! We drank a few beers with them that evening. And we hiked to the Chimneys where the top roping area was over looking Linville Gorge.

We met up with the guys we had beers with that night at Peek-a-Boo on Sunday. While we were waiting on that route, Richard lead the first pitch of Jim Dandy. He climbed up without me. I was talking to Mitch. Anyways, Richard yells out, "Hey Sue, now that I'm clipped to the first bolt, can you put me on belay?" I was like, "WTF?" And the guys were kinda laughing...but Richard is correct. As his belayer, there is nothing I can do for him until he clips into that first bolt or puts in his first piece. It just seemed weird not to have him on belay though.

Anyways, after he reached the top of that pitch, it was my turn. Of course, I wanted to lead this. :(

A weird thing came over me, and I decided to play a trick on Richard. I had reminded him earlier as he was leading up that I would need to change out of my approach shoes so he would need to give me a sec to do that before I started climbing. Well, my approach shoes are the Five Ten approach shoes with the climbing rubber. They stick really well. I asked Mitch, "I wonder if I could climb this 5.5 in my approach shoes?" I started laughing. His response was so cool. "You'll never know unless you try." I told him he was my kind of man. So I did it. lol

I didn't fall once! It was kinda tough though I admit, even though it was only a 5.5. I didn't have my toes!!! I had a big round shoe. That part sucked.

Mitch asked if he could lead Peek-a-boo. I wanted to climb it again and commit to the 2nd pitch move this time. So Richard told me to follow and clean, and he would go up 3rd. That way he could talk me into making the Peek-a-boo move. I was so scared! That move is scary. You basically have to lean out from a ledge over a gully and put your arms on the next wall. Then you have to get a good hand-hold and get your feet up and move over to that next upper ledge. That is the start of the 2nd pitch. Well, I did it this time. It helped having Richard there to talk me through it.

Mitch going through the Peek-a-boo move:

This is the Peek-a-boo move:

The view from the first pitch:

Mitch leading the second pitch:

My turn!!!

It took me a few times to commit. haha I didn't trust my right foot. I ended up making the move with my left foot first and leaning into it a little.

I did it:

So relieved!!! Whew!

This has been my scariest rappel yet!

After a certain point, it becomes a complete mid-air rappel.

The total rappel was over 200 feet, I think, but we had to rap over huge roofs! Jeez! You sit in your harness and get all the way to your tip toes and then push off. Then there's nothing for your feet to go on for a bit until the next roof. UGH.......

I still get scared rappelling.

I really liked climbing with Richard.

He motivates me somehow. I'm not really sure I would've lead that pitch that day had it been someone else. He's a really good partner. Hopefully, we will be going back out on the rock again soon. He wants to take me to Stone Mountain. :)

It's important for me to feel that trust with my partner or have a connection. The jokes, the sense of humor, patience, fun factor, safety, etc.

I am climbing up at Seneca Rocks in West Virginia July 4th weekend with a new partner from PA. I can't wait!

So I finally lost my virginity, and I lead something! :)

Maybe this is a taste of what's to come? Leading trad??? That's all that is in NC basically. If I want to lead, I've gotta learn trad. I'm gonna be a trad girl.