Astroboy Direct

[Fred]

Oh man! This is certainly Welsford's best new route. Gets the knees banging together that's for sure.

[*Chris*]

Fred,
I believe we got on this last weekend. Henni led it and John C. and I followed. Definately a sweet line. Tricky moves.

[martha]

sweet indeed. I love that line. a bit more traffic and it will be even better.

say.. were the limbs cut off the tree at the top when you guys were up there? It is a recent job... and not sure why with the bolt anchor 10 ft to the right....

[*Chris*]

Hmm... I can't recall? Nothing seemed out of place when we were there.

[Shawn B]

sweet indeed. I love that line. a bit more traffic and it will be even better.

I intend on giving it a good cleaning as soon as I can. Will be super nice when all cleaned.

say.. were the limbs cut off the tree at the top when you guys were up there? It is a recent job... and not sure why with the bolt anchor 10 ft to the right....

It's only a couple of limbs. I didn't cut the tree down. There is already a 3rd pitch that goes trad and belaying from that tree is a better spot if you are continuing on. It was also quite difficult to get around the tree with all the branches. Quite nice actually but a few loose blocks that will require trundling and some pretty hollow rock but I think that is mosly ok and its just more spooky than anything. I plan on completing another pitch up the arete behind the tree too. Hopefully get that bolted and cleaned during bug season. The tree can also serve to make it easier for multiple parties not rapping over each other when the big conga lines start forming on this new moderate multi pitch route and will be a much easier decent from the very top once all is completed.

[Fred]

Shawn, if you need a hand bolting and cleaning give me ring.

Also,

do you think that flake on Astro Direct is solid. I know we've all hung off it but it certainly spooks ya when you do.

[*Chris*]

Fred, I'd vote for pitching it off. It moves enough to be "exciting"...

[martha]

It moves enough to be "exciting"...

Well Chris, we are rock climbing you know. If you are into soft and squishy you should check out the ball room they have at the regent mall......

Hey Shawn, I had no idea there was going to be more routes put up above... in that case.... great for the limbs. hehe

[Shawn B]

I don't think it is loose enough to justify taking a crowbar and breaking it off. It is hollow for sure but I think right now it is ok. If it sees tons of traffic and everyone pulls out and laybacks up using the flake it might break off at some point. I really only use the flake to go up and clip the bolt, then come back down and trend up and left. So if you do the moves the easiest way there is no real need to pull out on the flake. At least the bolt below and above are in solid rock. Joe and I did it the other day and he didn't seem to mind the flake but I mentioned to him prior to not reef outward on the flake. Treat it like a red rocks hold and it should last forever. We can take a closer look when we clean though and yes Fred I'd love some help doing that last pitch. It will be super when it is all done.

[*Chris*]

If you are into soft and squishy you should check out the ball room they have at the regent mall......

Hey Martha I sent that ball room last week and it was tough. Next time out I'm getting it free. As for the soft and squishy stuff... leave my physique outta this!

[Fred]

I'd be more comfortable with a rappell kick test to the flake. If it doesn't break with a massive kick then it's probably good to go. Otherwise it might be dangerous for the belayer below.

[Andrew]

Fred,

...that's what HELMETS are for! We all have them, we might as well get some use out of them, right? j/k

RIP IT OFF!! If you can't, then its safe and leaver-be!

Climb on.

I'd be more comfortable with a rappell kick test to the flake. If it doesn't break with a massive kick then it's probably good to go. Otherwise it might be dangerous for the belayer below.

[Fred]

uh.... the piece is the size of a laptop. Even with a bullet proof brain bucket I doubt your neck would take the blow.

[Andrew]

Fred,

I agree. I doubt a Helmet would help for more than a 3/4 fist sized rock.

Andrew

uh.... the piece is the size of a laptop. Even with a bullet proof brain bucket I doubt your neck would take the blow.

[Fred]

the flake on Astroboy Direct is gone. I kick tested it this weekend and it flexed terribly so we took a small pry bar to it. It was about 2'x3' and 4 inches thick.

[STeveA]

I hope you got a video of the trundle. I bet the smell of granite in the morning was great!

[*Chris*]

the flake on Astroboy Direct is gone. I kick tested it this weekend and it flexed terribly so we took a small pry bar to it. It was about 2'x3' and 4 inches thick.

That def. explains what we heard yesterday from Pyramid.

[Fred]

That would have been a hell of an explosion if you heard it on Sunday considering we pitched it off on Saturday. hehe. What you heard were some massive blocks being tossed from the right end of Upper Tier. We were cleaning a route and the top out had some precarious blocs.

[Fred]

I hope you got a video of the trundle. I bet the smell of granite in the morning was great!

no video. Thought about it later.

speaking of video of trundling rocks... there is a video on here rockclimbing.com that shows some guys trundling a 50ft bassalt column using a car jack. Pretty cool.

[STeveA]

Reminds me of the boulder that julien and I trundled on one of the cliffs on the Kingston Peninsula. The car was parked on the road well away from the cliff, or so we thought. We pushed off a car sized boulder and watched it roll and roll and roll, all the time veering towards our Austin Mini. It finally stopped a few feet short of the car. The boulder must have rolled at least 200 feet.