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1991-1994 Photo Gallery and Theatre
Click to enlarge/play. Commentary by Brad.
1994: Last Able-Bodied Climbing |
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Prince George's other only crag. "The Thing" (5.10c), I think. This was my first lead climb. Mark took this shot as I pulled over the slight overhang off these open handed holds. It was hard to trust the friction generated by only cupping the breast shaped rock. It certainly made for a nervous first ever lead—even though it was all bolted. Dan and Jesko were out there on this day. J took a few falls off this route, the first I ever caught.
I bolted the route next to it with another Prince George local climber. Again it is one of the few steep chunks of rock close to town. I was out here every weekend I could not get to Jasper or Pope's Peak.
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The dungeon—I built this modest climbing wall in my parent's basement out of scrap wood and hardware stolen from my bedroom furniture. After getting a good paycheck from working with Dad at the mill I added plywood panels and gritty plastic holds. I did the hardest climbing moves of my life in this cramped corner.
Notice my motivational Lynn Hill picture, and the "Z" hold that I would continually sand down every time I stuck the dyno ten straight times.
Funny that one day a hold slipped on me and I fell, smashing my back into a concrete corner that stuck out of the floor. I laid there on the cold floor for a bit, tools and scrap wood digging into me. I thought how I could have wound up a paraplegic by breaking my lower back. It always freaked me out when I thought about the possibility of a spinal cord injury. I remember having many moments of dread thinking about what if... |
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Ha, both of these cave pics are scanned and cropped. I'm not more than a few feet off the deck.
The cave is way off the ground, however. It is the start of the third pitch, starting with the munge crawl.
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Hell's Bell's it's called now, and is about six pitches. I never got to come back for this route. It still is the best-angled rock in the area and has lots of potential for new hard routes. I'd say there are a few easy 5.12's and a hard 5.13 or too in there. I wanted to sleep up there in the cave and bolt it with my brand new Hilti drill. Oh well, I guess Peter will bolt the routes out there. |
1991: Evening Rock (Age 15) |
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| This place was close to home, and made for a good jog and an quite place to boulder. Before the concrete company blew it up, there was a short top rope climb and a killer boulder problem that I never got. I enjoyed climbing here alone, and once a bear actually walked by the trail as I sat up on the rock pealing an orange. I have seen bears before on hikes, but then we were making so much noise that it was never an issue. On this day it was something different. I was doing my thing and the bear was doing his, no need for loud and offending noises to break the serenity. I could never be satisfied by just watching the Discovery Channel on TV, I need to take part. |
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Dad took both of these photos.
I can still remember every move that was on this boulder. Often in the summer I would run out and climb here a few times a day. I clearly remember the crack being hard to climb the first time. The next summer I was free climbing up the crack with boots and a pack on. |
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