Ross Bongo!

Ross Bongo. I drive to Gold Bar. My eyelids keep stretching in the wrong directions. So I eat a blueberry muffin for my second breakfast. I'm not going to park in the usual place for Gold Bar climbing. I'm going to park in a place I've never seen, and hope it's the right place, across from a creek. I'm tromping through the woods and the path I was told I would find soon peters out at a campfire now just burnt logs and wet newspapers. This is where my shoes start getting soaked through to the socks and my pants turn from a tan to a dark brown. I don't know how my arms are not more scratched. Just because I don't know doesn' t mean I'd rather have them scratched and know! I don't question good miracles, no matter how small if it means not reversing them! Just like I don't question the need I have to go try

Ross Bongo. I find the path again. It's huge. It's a dirt road, not a path like I was following in the woods. I move onward. I'm anxious to find this boulder, this five-star boulder, The Five Star Boulder. It's huge. It's unmissable. I come around a corner and I find the unmistakable boulder in question. All that separates me is some brush. Ten more trail steps finds me another trail that leads me to the boulder and the image that I've been told is, "Totally your style; You'll love it!"

Ross Bongo. Click! I take a picture. It's awe-inspiring. It's overhung, big moves, decent holds, feet are, feet are, feet are... find 'em! Use 'em how you can! They're there somewhere: on the arete, on the tiny edges, on your hands! They're good. I waste no time. I have no time to waste. It's 11:00am. I have to leave at 1:30pm to be back in Seattle in time for a 3:00pm Climbing 101 class I have to teach. That leaves me 2 1/2 hours to tryRoss Bongo. Try and try hard! It's a V10! My would-be first V10. It's just right for me. I get started. Good climbing conditions are slightly cold and definitely dry. It's cool and drizzling. Close enough! I chalk any hold I can reach that may be damp. I try and brush the moss on top but it's too far to reach. I don't think it'll matter. Time is passing! Set up the crash pad. I try and problem-solve the moves of the route and examine the holds to see which ones I'll use and how. It seems by looking that I can skip some holds that others have used and use some that others have skipped. It looks like my beta for the route'll be different. That makes me happy!

It's 11:32am and Ross Bongo has already allowed me to do each and every move on it some in groups, crux and all, just not all together yet! The first times of doing the moves, my feet cut sometimes, and I'm strong enough to let them and and pull some moves I wouldn't ordinarily. Click! You can see this in the self-portrait below. Thank you Mr. Funky Fresh! You allow me to climb so much harder! I take a break, grab some Sir Strawberry, a favorite juice of mine, drink some and snack a little, too.
After regaining my breathing and working the route from the start a bunch of times, I come really close to sending. I keep falling at the crux before it gets easy for me. My right thumb is starting to throb thanks to keeping half my weight on a sharp thumb hold pinch for the time span it takes me to make three moves. For today, for the first 2 1/2 hours of working the route, I don't get closer than doing the route in two parts, complete with all of the moves.

But hey, tomorrow's Monday. Maybe my thumb'll be strong. Maybe I'll be fresh. Maybe it won't be drizzling or raining. Maybe it'll be cold. Maybe I'll give Ross Bongo V10 a run for it's money!!!

In the meantime, I can think of a great and short day I had working a really fun and challenging route on the most classic boulder I've come across to date. I need to get back! Who wants to come with me and bring a crash pad so I'll feel more OK with taking those big moves over the moat of piranha rocks below!

This 2 1/2 hour session was well worth the 1 hour drive each way! I don't mind teaching a 101 class dreary-eyed, saggy-armed, soppy-socked, dirty-shirted! The inspiration shines through thus. The love-of-it is wrapped in packaging just like this. More to come, maybe Monday!

-Your love-of-it Landescaper, N8