Secret Gully

It's been a while.

Life has been moving at a breakneck pace lately, and I've been trying not to get left in the dust. I have been getting out climbing, but haven't been able to find much time to share. The camera keeps getting left behind as well, and I'm certainly not a good enough writer to justify a blog post without some sort of eye candy.

Last weekend Clayton and I took advantage of a gorgeous February day and headed up to the Secret Gully. This is one of the more concentrated bouldering areas on Mt. Lemmon, but a bit of a 'shwhack to get to. It is visited infrequently, so the approach and boulders are covered in manzanita and cat claw, making getting around a difficult task. Technical granite skills are at a premium here. Thick callouses also help to keep whining to a minimum, otherwise the sharp and gritty granite will break your spirits quickly. A spotter is also a good idea - many of the landings are less than ideal. My first two trips down the Gully were solo missions, and I felt a little limited without a spotter (although, I am not the bravest of boulderers). Having just one spotter was all the confidence we needed to try a few of the lines that were a bit intimidating before.

We worked some excellent problems, including a few on the Swamp Boulder, and the Buttermilk Boulder. I came depressingly close to sending Swamp Thingie, a simple yet deceptive problem I've tried each visit down there. It is a one move wonder v9 (a little inflated, and easier for the tall and lanky) into a v3ish topout. I've never managed to come close to sticking the hard first move - match your hands on a thin edge, good feet way underneath the overhang and fire for the sloper lip. I finally stuck the move, but flailed on the topout. The finish isn't hard, but I failed to scout it out, didn't find the good hold, and couldn't find my balance to rock over onto the lip. I definitely learn more from my mistakes, though, so chalk up another one in the lesson department...

Clayton put in a proud performance on the Snail Traverse, a slopey lip traverse above a sketchy tiered landing. his first go he fell from the crux with me behind the camera instead of spotting. I was certain a fall from there would be disasterous, even with three pads, but Clayton managed to land the awkward fall unscathed. He tried again, but this time I came out from behind the camera to spot, making sure we didn't press our luck too much. He sent in classic end-of-the-day style, pulling out every last ounce of energy to pull through and summit the boulder. Nice work!

Another goal for this day was to work on my videography skills. The brain trust of Team Tuesday has some MASSIVE plans for this year, so trying to become a better cameraman was my highest priority of the day. I'm not sure there is any hint of improvement in this short video, but I worked on some skills that I'll need to be able to apply to our big project this year. More details on the project coming soon....

In the meatime, here's Clayton and I in the Secret Gully: