One-Legged Fun Hog
Posted on Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009
I’m not a first ascent guy.
I’ve done first free ascents, second ascents, but firsts are just not my thing. I don’t have a problem with them, some of my best friends love to do them, and I love to go check them out after, just not first.
But as I ride up the hill near my house, past a very large block, I feel the tug.
It’s like it has a magnet on it. I stop and look, gawk is more the word. I can see the line, a blind man could, an overhanging arête that scrapes the sky open and is calling my name.
I’ve ignored this for over a year, like I said, I’m not a first ascent guy.
But finally, Friday, I give in.
I walk over and this time I’m doing more then looking. I look at the line, it looks clean and tight. Not a lot of loose stuff, but I can’t see the top out, 15 feet above me. I just figure I’ll cross that bridge if I get to it.
I sit in the landing zone as I bolt on my climbing foot, and look for anything that can mess me up if I come off.
Then I shoe up, chalk, and set off into the unknown. The first moves are easy so I get off the ground fast.
About halfway, it really steepens and I start to trust all the holds as I approach the lip. It is much more rounded then I thought, and as this is my warm up, I’m pumped already. The good news is it’s steep enough that if I come off, I should fall straight, the bad news is, I really don’t want to come off.
It hurts too much to land with a body like mine.
A hidden crimp gives me the key to the top out, and with a high left foot, I pull over the top.
The problem is not hard, most likely V2 or so, but for me, its fun.
I look around the valley, there must be 25 or 30 blocks strewn up the hillside.
All unclimbed, all waiting for the right hands to find them.
It’s a good thing I’m not a first ascent guy.
Craig DeMartino is one of Cloudveil’s Inspired Mountain Ambassadors.
I’ve been a climber most of my life, but in 2002 while climbing with a friend in Rocky Mountain National Park, I was dropped 100 feet due to a miscommunication. The fall resulted in the loss of my right leg, a fused back and numerous other life long injuries. After about two years of rehab, I was back to climbing at about the same levels of pre-accident, and in 2005 became the first amputee to climb El Capitan in under 24 hours. I love to ski and mountain bike with my family when I’m not scaling rocks.
Yeah Craig,
the unknown is rad. That problem looks incredible.
fc