November 5, 2007

"Hanging" Around

Saturday dawned bright and sunny, even though the air temperature was still pretty chilly until lunchtime. We decided to take advantage of the beautiful fall weather and head to Blackfoot Canyon and "hang" around the cave a bit.

After warming up on some vertical terrain, we took the ropes inside the cave to see if we could hang upside down a little. Blackfoot Canyon cave boasts some great cave routes put up by Dean Lords, Chuck Odette and Mat TeNgaio. Ranging in difficulty from 5.11a to 5.13d (that's wicked hard in laymans terms) they are great test peices and lots of fun!

Chad figured out the sequences to Bride of Crankenstein (5.12), and Heather made the redpoint while hanging the draws. Jordan brought his younger brother, Tyler, who found out that there is more to life than X-Box 360.

Speaking of 360...Chad and Jordan both took some fun falls on Crankenstein, getting some sweet airtime and necessitating the use of the "batman" technique to get back on the route. I hung upside down below the lip of Free Fallin' (5.11a) and figured out the crux move.

Mysha hopped on some routes and focused on her breathing and movement, making her ascent of the 5.9+ route look like a lesson in finesse.

Kenna and Jarik joined us for the day and also got some time on the rock, pulling "liebacks" and pushing "mantles".

As the sun melted into the foothills and the evening chill returned to Blackfoot Canyon, we drove toward Idaho Falls, anticipating the sweetnees of a Cookie Monster dessert from Craigo's; and relishing a great day of late fall climbing with friends.


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