Brian, Jim, Craig, and I went out to Index on Saturday to get in some solid trad cragging and take advantage of the sunshine. Since none of us are all that good (in the grand scheme of things), we stuck to the Great Northern Slab area. Index is a humbling place.
We started off with the the infamous "5.8" fist-crack. (p1 of The Lizard/Aries). Brian made a valiant stab at leading it. then I tried, failed, dumped my pack, and groveled my way to the top.
Brian and Craig headed up GNS. Jim and I set out to climb the rest of Aries.
p2 (left-facing dihedral) presented little problem. Solid finger jams. Good edges on the face for feet. comfortably spaced protection opportunities.
p3 was a different matter. This short pitch drained me. I hadn't realized that "5.8 flare" meant "heinous chimney". I skinned my knees, bruised my butt, and aspirated several milliliters of saliva and phlegm in my panic-breathing.You can easily climb around this pitch and still do the next one. My recommendation: do so.
p4 was incredibly fun. A short intimidating lieback around a roof with perfect hand jams leads to a fantastic leaning hand-crack that brings you to the anchor and rejoins the GNS route. I ran it out to the top instead. of stopping. Plenty of rope to do so, and the intermediate station was very crowded.
Some shenanigans ensued on the descent because GNS was so crowded. Finally back to the ledge above the first pitch, Jim led Sickle Crack in fine style. Very fun, with a strenuous and intimidating crux early on.
All in all a fine day with a good crew. As always, Jim was a great partner. Very understanding of my need for a long break after p3! A fantastic day out that really pushed my limits. I need to do that more often.
Photos: apologies in advance for making some of my partners look mildly deranged. Some of these pitches (1 & 3) are enough to unhinge anyone!
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