12 November 2007

Halloween in Jessica's neighborhood


Our neighborhood in the foothills doesn't lend itself to efficient trick or treating - so we headed out east to visit our friends the Coopers in Firestone. Jessica & Julia had a riot - see above. Tom & Karen, thanks for the invite!

01 November 2007

A first ascent - Jacks Knob


Jacks Knob (topo, pic) was deep in northern Robber's Roost territory. A few years back, Bill had discovered it on one of his forays.

We wandered around the tower a few times, trying to pick out the best line with the least amount of "adventure" rock. That decided - Bill headed up.
At one point, he "disengaged" from the rock when a stopper blew.
He called down - Is there any way to gracefully get out of here?
I said - Let me think ... Hmmm, no, I don't think so ...
After a bit of thought, Bill excavated a stopper placement and continued.

The climb naturally broke into 3 pitches. (The picture, at left, shows Bill at the 1st belay.) The 2nd overhanging pitch was mine. Having to go free at the lip of the overhang was my excitement. Lots of "adventure" rock on the last pitch brought us to the summit, where we lingered ... enjoying the moments ... and discovering the bones flown in by raptors.

Watching the tower's shadow march across the Roost reminded us we still had to engineer our way down.

Good trip! More pics here!