Pentapitch...

Since Clarks is going in for surgery on monday... he's having open heart surgery..(just kidding, he's having his knee scoped because he tore his meniscus... just a little nurse humor there), he decided to take Saturday morning and head up Little Cottonwood Canyon for a little trad climbing with his good friend Paul Larkin. I think this is clark's latest favorite climb. It's a multi-pitch trad climb, which means that you have to climb up a third of the way up placing your own protective gear in cracks as shown above, then anchor yourself to the side of the big slab of rock while your climbing partner climbs up behind you removing the gear along the way. When he meets up with you, then one of you starts climbing up the next third of the way, then anchor yourself again while your partner climbs up and so on and so forth. The reason for doing this climb in thirds is because it's a LOT longer than your rope. Which means it's REALLY high up above the ground. I've done this climb with Clark a few times and for some reason whenever it gets to the point of just hanging up there on the side of this sheer cliff looking down on the itty bitty cars driving up and down the canyon below, I find myself reflecting on the good memories in my past, times at the cabin, trips to lake powell, the sweet feeling of ground under your feet, as if you assume I would plummet to the rocky surface many many many feet below. I don't care how not afraid of hights you may be... hanging up there just brings it right out of you! I will admit though that it's absolutly breathtakingly beautiful! And when you finally do make it down the 200 foot rappel to the comfort of the dirt below, it's a rush to realize where you just were. So hopefully this trip will hold Clark over for a few weeks until he's recovered from his liver transplant (ha ha, gotcha again!)