Chris and I were looking for some good crack climbing and wanted to avoid recent snow. Sheep’s Nose fit the bill. We left Monument around 8:30 and decided to try going north to Sedalia, west to the mountains and then back south to Sheep’s Nose. The drive turned out to be WAY longer than going through Woodland Park. Oh well, nice drive anyway (we saw two deer along the side of rd 67). We were the first to the cliff, but about 5 more cars would show up throughout the day. We hiked up to the rock and took the most convoluted path, as always. Maybe there should be a trail building day here to define one main path instead of many small paths to the base of the cliff.

Since we haven’t been on real rock for months, we decided to warm up on The Evening Stroll (5.8). This crack looked short and sweet from the ground. Well, as expected three months of bouldering in my cave did nothing to prepare me for straight crack climbing. I flailed a bit and ended up resting on the rope. Not a good sign on a 40 foot route! Anyway, the climb was nice and we dispensed with it fairly quickly. Chris had no trouble on TR, but humored me by saying the one section actually was awkward.

Next up was Ten Years After (2 pitch 5.9). We had talked to a couple guys who recommended bringing one wide piece for this climb. Chris was definitely happy to have the 4.5 Camalot during the first pitch. The first pitch is an incredible arching layback (intimidating looking, but fairly straightforward). Chris cruised up to the wide section, placed the 4.5 Camalot and took a rest on the gear. Damn, we both got pumped way too early on our first leads. After resting, Chris pretty much cruised to the belay station. I seconded the pitch and found it very enjoyable and easier than it looked. The guidebook states there is usually a rap anchor at the top of the first pitch. There was one and we should have used it. The second pitch is totally lame. There is one 5.8 move followed by about 70 feet of traversing 5.2 climbing. I only placed three pieces the whole pitch. I should have placed at least one more piece to protect Chris while seconding the traverse, but I forgot to since the climbing was so easy.

After Ten Years After, I thought that maybe we’d climb something 3 or 4 pitches long, but it looked like weather was coming in. So, we perused the guide and found 5.9 Dihedral. Looked good in the guidebook and even better in real life. The climb reminded me of a Turkey Rocks moderate crack and it looked short enough that I shouldn’t pump out. I redeemed myself on this climb and led it in fairly decent style. There was one spot that I stepped up to check out, backed down, stepped up to place a piece, backed down, and then climbed through. Not perfect, but at least I didn’t resort to hanging on the rope.

All in all, it was a great day back out on real rock. Good preparation before our trip out to the desert next week…