Seven climbers were at Mill on Friday. Eric, Brian, Hobbs, Dane and Ken arrived at the rock around 8:30 a.m. We started on the Tiger Stripe's Tiger by the Tail and Shere Khan. Eric and Hobbs dispatched quickly with on-sights of both climbs. Brian opted for toprope burns, claiming that he's out of shape, only to walk Shere Khan without pausing even once --impressive endurance on what is becoming a notoriously pumpy route.
Eric had to head back to town by noon. The rest of us turned attention to the main project of the moment: QED. We have all the bolts in, and the opening third's gear placements cleaned and sussed. The development is complete. All that remains is to climb the thing. The links are getting longer, but the climb is burly and very sustained with a ton of beta to refine and execute. We sessioned for most of the afternoon, with each of us getting spit off at least a few times.
Late afternoon Cole and Ben arrived at the Tick Farm. This was their first visit. Cole fired several leads with Ben following. As we hiked out at 6 p.m., they were setting up for the Tick Farm's hardest, Witness the Tickness.
Here are some images from the day:
Dane - Shere Khan
QED "Staircase" Feature. The Roof Comes Next.
Hobbs - QED Roof. 70 feet Climbed, 40 to Go.
Brian Lowering from QED Anchors
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