With this style of climbing, an anchor point is established above the climbing route at a fixed point by either natural protection like trees or protection established by the climbers. From this fixed point, a rope is placed with one end going to the climber and the other to the belayer. As the climber ascends, the belayer takes the extra rope until the climber reaches the top of the climb. Then the belayer lowers the climber back to the starting position.
You’ll find this route on the center column facing the lead wall and if you like surprise endings, you’ll dig this route. It has some real fun moves and some fun features. You’ll find a nice mix of pinches and buckets with just enough grit to make a nine.
This route is in the back corner next to the auto-belay and it is a douse. It’s a blue route with some nice corner work in the middle but the top is all tiny holds. This route isn’t rated yet but we have a spoiler for you.
It has been too long. The last figure8 Podcast episode was published back in January 2017 so I thought a nice easy 5.7 route would be a good warm up for my day and for the Podcast.
This green route faces the benches on the center pillar and was a fun one with some nice features.
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The last time I climbed this route, I was winding down and wasn’t able to climb it clean. This time around, I made it clean, but also realized again at top out that I was not only on the wrong rope, but the rope was also twisted.
Even though this route is rated a 5.9, it climbs more like a 5.8 so it’s what I call an ego climb. Read more
Here is another fun warm up because it seems like lately, warm ups are the only climbs I can finish. This is a straight route with one small catch. Read more
Okay, so I have to be honest, I may have cheated a bit here. You might not see it but let me explain.
This route is yellow but it was proving to be a white whale. I had tried and failed but this time was different.
Still working through the backlog of unedited clips and I found this route.
Dug up another gem from the archive. This one is a 5.10 from March of 2015 at the newly minted evo ROCK + FITNESS in Portland, Maine.
I just started climbing with a new friend that is a few inches shorter than me.
Contrary to the name of the route. This route was totally for us. I’ve climbed it a few times but the great thing that I like about this route is that I almost always forget the ideal path and have to figure out the middle fresh. Read more
Got a hot tip on a new outdoor place from a friend so we decided to check it out today. This place had no name, a single bolted route rated a 5.9+ and a whole bunch of top rope-able stuff.
The only downside is that neither of us can climb beyond the first bolt on an outside 5.9 and we arrived too late to set up anchors. We ended up messing around a bit before giving up for another day.
Its twenty minutes north of Portland and a 15 minute flat walk approach. Great to know this ledge is nearby.
Recently the new Salt Pump gym opened nearby and they have auto belays. I was initially excited because lately at my regular gym picking up loose change (my code for extra climbing partners) has been hard. Read more