Geronimo

Yesterday we did a four pitch trad (traditional = not bolted) route on Jackrabbit Buttress called Geronimo. We expected it to be a short day with only four pitches, but unfortunately another group of three was in front of us. And of course, they were moving very slowly, and had a beginner with them who eventually decided not to climb after failing to get up the first 10 feet.

Luckily, the other two decided to descend after the first two pitches to return to their friend. (We ran into them later and they had come down a longer way and their rope had got stuck and they'd had to climb back up to free it. Not their day!)

We finished off the last two pitches without quite as much waiting around. It was a fun climb - quite steep, but big handholds so pretty easy. The only downside was that one of our cams got jammed irretrievably and it cost us $60 to replace it. On the positive side, it was an old one and we've been gradually replacing them anyway.

The raps (rappels) down went smoothly. The rock here is really nobby and it's easy for the rope to get hung up when you pull them down.

2011-01 Red Rocks 3