Sandrock Trip Report

Arriving at around 9 a.m. local time (10 EST), two carloads of club members met up with Andrea and Kathi, who had come over to camp on Friday night. While John, Sarah and Susan worked on some warm-up topropes on the beginner’s wall, Chuck, Andrea, Kathi and Denmark went to work on some of the West Side Rock routes like Kitty Litter (5.7); Frank and Jamie headed for the Sun Wall.

It wasn’t long before more ACC members straggled in. Jeff, Bryan, Stacy and Gary arrived and went straight for the hard stuff in the Sun Wall/Turtle Rock area. Trisha joined the crew on the West Side; and finally late-sleepers Huong and Larry got there in time to toprope Kitty Litter and Thin in the Middle (5.10d) with the rest of the group.

Under the warm sun and clear sky, jackets and other layers were stripped off and club members continued sampling the variety of climbing that Sand Rock has to offer. Knob Wall (5.6) was another popular moderate route; newer climbers got to test their skills on harder lines like Pebble Power (5.8); and even the more experienced ACC climbers were humbled toproping the devious and lichen-infested Cease Fire (5.11b/c).

A number of nice leads were done by the club’s lead climbers. Highlights included Sandburger (5.10b/c) by Gary; Thin in the Middle, Pebble Power and Shallow Stemming Corner (5.8) by Denmark; an un-documented route (maybe Horned Devil?) with a hard finish by Chuck; and Sneakers (5.10a), Midget Digits (5.11b) and Pressure Sensitive (5.11c) by Jeff and Bryan.

By the time the gear was cleaned from the last climbs of the day, dusk was falling. Gathering at the parking lot, club members who weren’t staying on to camp for the night drove into the town of Centre for dinner at a nice Mexican restaurant, then headed for home.

It was a fine day of climbing with a good turnout for the club, and the weather couldn’t be beat. Join us next month for the big weekend ACC club trip to Rumbling Bald. See you there!