Ann and I had just gotten back from our summer road trip, and semi-settled into our respective Tri-State
area jobs. We took a small trip to the Daks, went hiking and climbed some of the longer slab routes
there. Catharsis is a quality climb. The last pitch was a bit of a
scarefest for me, but has excellent climbing nonetheless. It features 5.6 face moves 50 feet above
the belay with no pro in between. And the belay is nothing to write home about either ... Lots of
great moves after that, although still pretty run out ... You get the drift. The climbing up to there
is reasonably well protected, at least the way we went.
On the last day, under threat of rain, we did the
Chappel Pond Slab Regular Route. According to Ann,
this is the fastest she has ever seen me lead, and we completed the 7 pitch route in less
than 3 hours. It started drizzling midway up, however I felt committed to the climb, so shortly
thereafter I was making some 5.7 moves above the p4 anchor (the easier moves were wet), and led
the rest of the pitch on friction with no gear. The headwall (crux) pitch is quite
easy, no problems even though we were getting completely soaked by then. The mandatory hard
moves on this climb are much better protected than on Catharsis, so overall easier going.