It's been too long

Been too long since my last post. I intended to post on the previous weekend, and then again this last weekend. Keep doing things that prevent me from posting.

Previous weekend; went climbing with Shawn and Mike to the cliff that Shawn and I were developing down by Rochester. I believe we're calling it Coyote Cliff. It's just outside the tiny hamlet of Hammond, MN, a mere 10 minutes drive from Rochester. The guy who owns the climbing gym in Rochester happened upon this cliff last summer and told Shawn about it. Shawn's been kinda keen on doing new routes, so he dragged me down there. The first time we were there we were really ambivalent about even trying to climb it. There was a lot of brush growing on parts of the cliff, and it all looked dirty and dusty (it's right next to a gravel road). But we bushwacked to the top, set some anchors and rappelled, "cleaning" our routes as we lowered from the top - which involves prying anything loose off of the wall. After a good cleaning we climbed our routes, then did some secondary cleaning, and then eventually bolted a few of them. The purpose of bolting a route is to allow lead climbing. I'm too weary right now to describe the distinction between lead climbing and toproping, but suffice it to say that there are now six bolted routes at Coyote Cliff, as well as about six more that are not bolted.

Anyway, we went there. First outdoor climbing of the year. Mike is a great guy, but I was disappointed that his wife Elizabeth had not come along. They're both really cool people, very intelligent, personable, good climbers, good company. Mike can be VERY funny. He is a fount of movie quotes. We started joking about the dampness of the rock, and whether it was clammy or "oystery". Shawn's best route (and perhaps the best route of the cliff) is called Latrans (the scientific name for Coyote) and involves some delicate, crimpy climbing up a sandy face, then long, powerful moves between positive holds, then a big reach to a alcove/ledge, a slap to a rounded top, and finally a lovely, crimpy sequence to get established in the alcove, and then a desperate lunge to an intermediate and then a good pocket. Then two more pockets to the top. I've never made it past the desperate lunge part. And the crimpy sequence was too wet to climb.