05:00AM – an orchestra of alarms rings throughout our airbnb as Raf, Lia, and I roll out of bed. I feel bad for the other people there who aren’t joining us, but then I remember I feel more bad for us and the sufferfest ahead. Raf makes us a giant thing of scrambled eggs while Lia and I load up the car with the gear we had set aside last night. Ropes, quickdraws, slings, lockers, shoes, harnesses, belay gear, water…. “Got everything we need?” “idk i hope so” and with that we were off !
06:00AM – We pull into the parking lot just in time for sunrise (first car there babyy), put our packs on, and start the hike. Winds come at us at somewhere between 27 and five zillion miles per hour, and forecasted to only get worse. Raf and Lia ask if we should turn back. I tell them they’re being big babies, even though deep down I am also a big baby and agree that it might be too cold to climb and too loud to hear each other on the wall. But whatever I want cloimb 😡 so we agree to at least commit to the hike and see what it’s like when we get to the base of the route.
oh deer! 
honestly im not even sure if this is what we climbed but its basically there somewhere
08:00AM – 2 godforsaken hours of steep uphill hiking/trail finding later (thank god for cairns), we finally make it to the base of the climb. We’re pretty sure it is anyway – the guidebook told us to look for a pine tree marking the start. Like o great thx uhhhh except there are approximately five million pine trees around us??? But anyway we did it and the wind had died down and the sun was feelin nice, so we got ready to climb.
09:30AM – Lia leads the first pitch, Raf follows her, and I bring up the rear. I make the last-minute decision to go up without my jacket because “stoke will keep me warm” (spoiler: it did not). We meet at a hanging belay at the top of P1 and swing leads – I link pitches 2 and 3 and belay the others up to a nice ledge. Pretty chill, very flowy balancy moves that I felt super comfy on, so far so great!! This climb lives up to the hype.
spiky boi 
more spiky bois 
but the spikiest bios of all are the frens we make along the way :’)
12:00PM – We take a quick lunch break and engage in general shenanigans while we rest and get ready for the rest of the climb. Raf decides he’d rather not lead, which is music to my ears. I grab some draws and get after it. It starts with a juggy roof move, then two pitches of sweet sweet 10b slab.
12:10PM – I pass the P4 anchor and realize mid climb that I forgot my grigri at the belay ledge… But it’s cool it’s ok no prob no prob I had an atc so i guess we chillin
12:12PM – I pass a second anchor or rap station, but it’s way too close to be the P5 anchor so I decide it’s probably an extra rap station and decide to push on.
12:15PM – Still at it, good good moves on good good rock, except I don’t see an anchor and I’m starting to run low on draws hehehe delightful. Was the rap station I passed actually the anchor I was supposed to stop at? How many more bolts to the next anchor I dont see it yet why god why do i like this silly little sport. I count ten draws left on me, and I’m seeing at least ten more bolts above. Okay so I have to skip a bolt or two that’s fine. I skip the next bolt and clip the one after it – all good? plz?
12:16PM – I realize I also forgot the TR anchor on the belay ledge below so I need to save two draws to set up a TR. Okay.. Sooo I have to skip like three bolts fine whatever. I try to focus on climbing well and keep an eye out for easy sections to run out. Good thing I was comin up on the P5 crux :)))))))))))))))
Raf being an excellent third and belaying Lia up for me 
Lia pulling the last few moves to the ledge 
me about to leave all this gear behind bc im a silly little stupid boi
12:18PM – Keep climb. Keep seeing bolts. Keep not seeing anchor. I get spooked and ask Lia how much rope is left and ope whaddaya know I was past the halfway mark and no one yelled it out HAHA cool so I can’t lower back down to them ok the only way out is up I guesssss
12:19PM – what do what do what do count bolts count draws the numbers are lookin badd… But I try to pull it together. Breathe, climb, skip, breathe, climb, clip. I’m seeing five more bolts above and then o lordy could it be yes i see it its the gawd damn anchor holy fucking shit thank fuckkkk!!! Ok five more bolts and I still have one two three draws…. And I need two for the top. FUCK. Well whatayagonnado I free solo run out the last four bolts and get to anchor without taking a thirty foot whipper omg omg omg omg thank you thank you thank you clip the anchor take plz take take TAAAAAKE !!!
12:20PM – I clip my PAS and sit in hanging belay and have a good cry.
12:30PM – Yeah I spent ten minutes crying what about it anyway the wind picks up and the sun dips and its freezing why did i leave my jacket like a stupid idiot. I belay raf up and he gives me a hug and that helps a little bit both to calm me down and keep me from freezing my butt off. We belay Lia up and she offers to lead the next pitch because im traumatized.
01:00PM – Lia sets up the belay at the top bless her our sweet sweet angel. Raf follows. I try to not think about how im getting hypothermia probably.
01:30PM – We all get to the ledge on top of pitch 6, and SWIFTLY decide pitch 7 is not in our future. We set up a rappell with no realllll idea of where we’re headed but like down is down right? Lia our fearless savior braves the way down.
“summit” pic
03:00PM – We all meet at the hanging rappel station, and we’re thinking we have two raps left to get to the ground. Raf starts pulling the rope, and the rope…. doesn’t move. And at this point I’m ready to call it a day and call in a chopper rescue. But we call our friends (the ones we woke up at 5am hehe) to ask for advice and moral support. And they confer and ask us if we tried pulling the rope hard and we’re like um yes we did in fact try pulling hard and then they were like pull really hard and we were like oookay but then guess what we pulled really hard and it CAME DOWN HAHAHAHAHA
05:00PM – Ground sweet ground o how i have missed youuuu I kiss the dirt and turn around to start packing everything only to find that squirrels chewed through our bags and ate all our food :))))))) whatevvvvvsssss we start the hike back
05:05PM – We immediately get lost and can no longer find the trail. We go try to hike down bc hey we wanna get down right? wrong there are so many spiky plants and everything you step on is loose. so we go up to try and see where the trail is but we can’t see anything. So we repeat that cycle again a couple more times then realize it’s gonna get dark soon and we keep going around in circles and so we are like ok lets just go the fuck down. so we do and we keep seeing these damn cairns and none of them are on any semblance of a trail so cairns are a fuckin scam.
we ❤ the ground
08:00PM – Lia falls on a cactus i accidentally kick one its about to get dark and we still have no idea where we’re going.
09:00PM – Headlamps ablaze Lia finally FINALLY sees the gd trail (damn Lia was such a damn mvp that day im gonna text her and thank her again for saving my life)
10:30PM – We finally make it back to the parking lot. We load up the car, and drive the fuck home.
11:00PM – Our angel hero friends who saved us from calling a heli rescue were already back at the airbnb and waiting for us with beer and tacos god bless their souls
12:00PM – Showered. Dead. Expeditiously passing the fuck out. Happy happy happy.
Into The Gnar 