(Photo: my partner V just after the cruxy start of Drunkard's Delight.)
I recently changed my opinion regarding Drunkard's Delight (5.8-).
My first experience on the route, this past April,was kind of a debacle. I was still pretty fresh off my broken ankle and I was trying to take it easy. So I didn't have any 5.8s in my plans. But we did Bloody Mary (5.7) and I really enjoyed it. For the first time since I broke the ankleIwas feelingpretty good on the rock. And when we got back to our packs after topping out I saw both Drunkard's and Morning After (5.8-) were sitting open, and I couldn't resist.
I looked them both over, and while I knew Drunkard's was famously cruxy right at the start, it looked to me like the pro wasn't bad. Morning After, on the other hand, looked very difficult to protect. I read in the guidebook about a piton somewhere up there, but I couldn't seeany pinsfrom the ground, and the pitch looked like it had few if any other placements in the first 25 or 30 feet.
So I decided togive Drunkard's a try.Imoved up two steps andplaced two pieces right away, a red C3 in the vertical crack system to the left of the greasy, chalk-covered holds, and then a littlepurple TCU in thethin horizontal that runs just above those greasy holds. (One puny cam for each of my half ropes.) Then I edged gently to the right, put my hands on those greasy holds, put my feet on the dime edges beneath, and attemptedan awkward high-step up.
Predictably, I fell. Both little cams held.I was safely off the ground with two feet of clearance. But in the little fall I'd hit my bad ankleon the wall and it didn't feel good. I feared I'd sprained it.
I was pissed off-- Ithought I'd just about made the move. And I also felt the move was really much too hard for a 5.8-.
So I started to try again, but then realized I was being an idiot. Falling from ten feet off the deck on microcams was not in my post-surgery recovery plan. I was supposed to be taking it easy. "Why am I doing this?" I asked myself aloud.
Just then another pair came up, hoping to do the route. I gave them my blessing and we retreated. And then I watched their leader sketch through the move in pretty much the same way I had attempted it.
I limped away from Drunkard's Delight feeling defeated, and hating bouldery starts.
Later, I learned thatI was doing it wrong. Those greasy, chalked up holds right in front of your face when you start the route? Those are sucker holds. Don't use them for your hands. The route starts just to the left, and you can step up one more time before moving right and never touch the sucker holds with your hands. Use those holdsfor your feet. But notyour hands. It's much easier.
A week ago I was up in the Gunks with V and he mentioned that he'd been wanting to get on Drunkard's. I was thrilled to let him lead it and see how it went this time. I gave him my gear beta for the first two gear placements and advised him to skip the sucker holds. And he cruised through it, placing gear where I did and a ton more following the low crux as well (as you can see in the photo above). I believe after the red C3 (out of the frameto the left) anda purple C3 (first piece on the pink rope), he'splaced two nuts and he's working on a third.
When it was my turn to follow the pitch, I found it so much easier than I did in April.I employedthe additional step up before heading right. It's still a balancy couple moves, but not bad. The rest of the pitch features good face climbing, pretty thoughtful most of the way, easing a bit asthe routetrends slightly left to the ledge beneath the break in the large roof. I now recognize that this is a great pitch. I would gladly lead it tomorrow.
There's a pathetic, possibly dying tree with some slings at the end of the first pitch; I'd recommend building a gear anchor.
(Photo: just past the roof on pitch two of Drunkard's Delight.)
Pitch two features the biggest 5.6 roof in the Gunks. It's nearly a body length in size. But no worries, this is a super-juggy fun time. This roof is much easier than the roofs on MariaandShockley's Ceiling. There's a great placement for a threaded sling right in the middle of the business (see photo above), and then it's just an ocean of jugs until you're past the roof. There are many, many more holds than you need. After the roof, the pitch trends a little left and up to the GT Ledge on cruiser climbing.
Once you reach the GT Ledge, there's a good tree from which a two-rope rappel will get you down. If you have only one rope, you have several options: a short walk climber's left on the GT Ledge will get you to the bolts above Kama Sutra, from which you can get down in two single-rope rappels. Or if you walk to the right, there is a rap tree above Rusty Trifle from which you can get down in two single rope raps, using another slung tree halfway down.Finally, you can do the final pitch of Drunkard's Delight, which ascends the obvious 5.4 corner above the belay tree on the GT Ledge. (I haven't tried it.)
(Photo: pitch one of Morning After.)
After we had such a positive experience on Drunkard's, I thought I should give Morning After another look. Andthis timeit looked to me like a reasonable lead. I still couldn't see the piton, but I thought I could tell where it was supposed to be, and it seemed like there was gear nearby. The rest of the way seemed protectable.
Pitch one of Morning After features nice face climbing. The crux moves, which are right after the piton, are not as hard as the low moves on Drunkard's Delight. It's a few moves up from the ground before any pro appears, ina thinvertical slot formed by the little right-facing corner just before the piton. I placed a great little nut in this slot, and then after moving up again a good cam. Then, after stepping up so your feet are even with the piton, you should be able to place another piece in an awkward, flaring pod that opens downward. I worked a gray Alien into this slot, and while I thought it would hold, this was the one piece of gear about which I had my doubts. In order to work it into the slot, I had to place it at a rather strange angle. I should have tried a tricam.
After one more thin step up, you're through the crux. The pitch then angles left through easier territory to some right-facing flakes, then back right to the multi-forked tree that also marks the end of pitch one of Bloody Mary. You can belay at the tree, but you'llhave amuch more comfortable belay stance if you build a gear anchorusing the great cracks in the wall behind the tree.
Pitch two is rated 5.7. It looks like it's going to be a roof problem pitch but it's really another face-climbing pitch. From the belay the pitch climbs up into a corner to the right, then around the corner and up onto the face. From the belay stance you can see a piton at the lip of the overhang, telling you exactly where to go. The climbing here is a littlesteep and exposed but the holds are great. The crux of thepitch comes later, in a thin section right after aperfect horizontal slot with an angle piton. Put in a cam to back it up and you're set.
I regret that we didn't have time for pitch three, as it was getting dark. I hear it's a high quality 5.8 pitch. but based on the first two pitches alone I'd sayMorning After is a great climb. It doesn't have any world-class moments but it features consistent thoughtful moves.
From the GT Ledge you can descend with a single two-rope rappel from the Drunkard's Delight tree,or use any of the single-rope options listed above.
They are so close, we give each other a Good Morning wave sometimes.
What a way to start the day! Even better than coffee!
Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful! So beautiful in fact, I've been known to trip on the speed bumps because I'm watching them instead of the road.
Living the life in beautiful Florida!
A month ago, vandals pulled out their chain saw and cut the Shoe Tree down. No one except the culprits saw the deed being done. As it so happens, the Shoe Tree was on property owned by the Bureau of Land Management so if the culprits are ever found, they will face federal charges. The incident is still under investigation.
As mentioned previously, my beautiful Mercier mixte (now named Suzanne) was acquired and spruced up for the important role of Studio Bike. She lives full-time in our photography studio outside of Boston, and is there for me when I need her for local errands. These involve mostly coffee runs and scoping out photo-shoot locations, neither of which are too far from the studio. And thank goodness for that, because my initial impression of the area as "No Bike Town" has only been confirmed over the past two months.
See? Hard at work. Mlle. Suzanne fits nicely in the narrow space between my desk area (a.k.a. negative-scanning station) and the wall. To the right is the Co-Habitant's desk (a.k.a. paper-cutting station), behind us is the darkroom, and in front of us is our studio-mate's work area - including a formal portrait studio that he has been operating for decades.
A portion of the dark room.
Drying area for negatives and prints. Suzanne is overjoyed to have access to this cool space and to work as an artist's assistant. And I suspect being close to the beach does not hurt either.
Over the summer, one of our local bicycle clubs runs what's officially known as the (In)famous Wednesday Night Hill Ride: a loop "encompassing the gnarliest hills in the Boston Metro area." Of course the route does not belong to them and lots of local cyclists who want to cram some serious hills into a relatively short ride use it to train on their own time, particularly racers and randonneurs. Back in July Somervillain began riding this route with a small group as practice for the D2R2 and invited me to join. At the time the very notion was laughable. Me, on the Infamous Hill Route? The women's paceline rides were hilly enough for me, and those were described by the same bicycle club as "mostly flat" (ha!). 
Things started off innocently enough. My level of excitement was almost festive. Finally, I was going to do "real" hills, like the "real" roadies. I managed to get organised and dragged myself out of the house to meet Somervillain at an ungodly morning hour. The temperature was blessedly mild in the high 30s. The sun arose picturesquely over the local Dunkin Donuts parking lot as we convened in front of it on our trusty steeds: he on his '80s Trek racing bike, I on my Moser. It was going to be a great ride! A nice 30 mile ride with some hills in the middle. As we took off, I had a smile on my face (hint: it did not last).
My bicycle is geared fairly high (52x39t in the front and 12-26t in the rear), but still I did not expect to max out my gears quite so early on. Click-click-click! Click! And I was done. From that point onward there was no spinning, only pushing, and I still had most of the hill ahead of me. So I pushed on the pedals and heaved myself forward in jolts.
At the top I felt nothing. No elation, no sense of accomplishment. Maybe some anger at my naivite ("You needed to do this, did you? Racers describe this ride as "infamous" and you decided this meant it was suitable for you?"), but otherwise nothing. I drank water and looked around blankly for Somervillain. Somehow I'd managed to lose him. Could he have taken a different side street to descend? I cycled around the maze of streets along the side of the mountain, climbing some smaller hills for no reason other than to keep warm. I was now shaking violently. Then it occurred to me that we both had phones. I phoned, he picked up immediately, we realised what had happened to separate us and agreed to meet back at the base of the hill. It was pretty apparent to me that I could not continue the ride, and he could hear it in my voice as well. I cycled down to meet him with my head hung low and my face a deep crimson.
Cycling home, we transitioned to the Minuteman Trail and enjoyed the glorious sunshine. We chatted casually about this and that and began to contemplate where would be the best place to stop for coffee.
This climb was very different and I am so glad I did it. It was a big, open road that went straight up instead of winding, and I could see exactly how far it was to the top. It was a steep climb of about a mile and again I maxed out my gears fairly early on, but somehow it was just a more rewarding experience. This road had nice scenery and a more pleasant atmosphere; I just felt better riding there despite the same horrible pain in my legs and the same shortness of breath. Seeing that I had about a mile of this ahead of me, I somehow "settled into" the climb and relaxed. The entire time I was thinking "Oh my God, am I actually... enjoying this?" Somervillain was way ahead of me of course, so I had no illusions about my speed. When he stopped at the top and turned around to check how I was doing, I gave a thumbs up and smiled.
Upon reaching the top, I was delighted by the sight of a beautiful stone water tower surrounded by a small park. I had never been here before, and it's always nice to discover a new scenic spot. Suddenly, everything began to seem okay, even funny. It wasn't so bad. I really should have done the middle two climbs of the route instead of bailing so early on. To make me feel better, Somervillain pointed out that we'd really done more like 3 out of 4 climbs, since we did the first one twice. Plus we'd cycled 30 miles over all. Let's call it a modified route. After taking some pictures, we descended down a monstrous hill with a view of the Boston skyline, climbed another short but steep hill, and then cycled home for real with a quick coffee before parting ways.
