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Santa Barbara

Kryptor - North and East Faces (03/27/2010)

Today we got thrashed by Kryptor! After getting spoiled by sandstone for so long, it was time for a change in rock in which we were unfamiliar. It was my second trip there, and this time I made plans to spend the whole day climbing, getting as many routes down as we could. My first time there I got the impression that the rock was super grippy and quite strong, but this trip changed my impression!

The first climb out I wanted to do a warm-up lead on What Have You Done with Spock's Brain?, a pretty mellow 5.8 sport climb that I did with Steph on the north face. It didn't exactly go very smooth. Once I passed the second bolt and made my way towards the third bolt, my left handhold popped off, causing me to barn door and go flying. I ended up about 5 feet above the ground, causing my belay partner Mohit to come crashing through a small tree next to him. A kickboxer would of been proud of his flying leg strike. I quickly learned that the rock wasn't strong as I assumed, and to stay closer to the arête of the climb instead of the middle where the rock isn't as clean. After getting a bit shaken from the fall, I jumped back on and this time I did it cleanly. Mohit ran up it as well, and then we decided to try toproping the right side of the arête, Looking For Spock's Brain. It was a bit more difficult at the beginning since it was slightly overhung, and we decided to finish it back on the last route instead of following the arête the entire way up.

Once we got in our warm up routes, I decided to move the rope over on the overhanging side of the north face to toprope the harder routes there. Mohit decided to try the 5.11c, Patterns of Force, directly to the right of the arête. He made some progress up to the third bolt, but pretty soon he was getting pumped and had trouble finding holds for his right hand and then took a great swing. I decided to give the 5.11a, Kingdom of the Green Light, on the right side of the face a shot since it was supposed to be a steep jug fest up to the roof. My first couple attempts resulted in great swings off to the left before getting to the roof, and almost breaking off a big left crimp at the beginning. However, I almost got to the second bolt on my last attempt before my arms died and I peeled off. Next time I'd like to give this one a shot on the correct anchors so we can work on it without swinging. Mohit had a little better luck on this one and was able to make it to the roof, but was not able to figure out how to get over it. We're thinking that you have to go around to the left.

Our next destination was the East Face where we decided to try the only 5.9, Rock the Casbah. At first Mohit wanted to try leading it, but we ran into a couple problems. One was that the first bolt was quite high and the climb up to it was a bit hairy. The second problem was that a fall before the second bolt would probably send the climber into the tree bellow or onto a ledge of rock at the beginning. We tried addressing the first problem by borrowing a climbers' stick clip to setup the first bolt. However, the part between the first and second bolt still felt hairy, so we decided to scrap the lead climb idea and hiked around to the top to setup a top-rope anchor. Luckily, this climb's anchor was the easiest to access from the top and pretty soon we were back on Rock the Casbah and this time with the security of a top-rope. This route ended up being quite sustained and a bit tricky at times, thus it would have been quite a hairy lead climb if we decided to go for it! Also, the climb was quite long and gave you a really good workout in your fingers and toes since you are crimping on tiny edges for most the time.

After getting a good introduction to the east face, we decided to jump on the 5.10b route directly to the right of us, Hero with a Halfshell. This one was also just as sustained and tricky as the other route, but longer and with trickier cruxes! Luckily, we didn't have to move the rope too much because the route shared the same anchor as our last route. After much work, Mohit and I managed to make it up Hero with a Halfshell and the balls of each of our feet were quite sore. I was pretty much done after this one, but Mohit had one more climb in him so we decided to move the rope over to the first climb on the face, the 5.10a-d called This Side of Paradise. Mohit was able to run up the first three bolts, but since our anchor was a lot further right of the route, he had to traverse over and finish on the end of Rock the Casbah. Fortunately, while cleaning our anchor on tope, I was able to find the correct anchors for this route and it didn't look very hard to get to once you were on the anchor for Rock the Casbah.

After climbing for a full day at Kryptor we were quite weary and gained a new respect for blue schist rock. Climbing it was definitely a lot more tricky than sandstone and required a lot better footwork and finger and skin strength (the rock was pretty sharp at times, especially the white quartz sections).

Climbs done:

What Have You Done with Spock's Brain? (5.8 *) Sport - A nice warm up lead climb. Just be careful on which rock you pull on!

Looking For Spock's Brain (5.9) TR - Stay right on the arête. It's quite steep and pumpy at the beginning.

Kingdom of the Green Light (5.11a) TR - A really fun route that's quite doable. The jugs are not too bad at the beginning, but get a little worse in between the first and second bolt. Just make sure to stay right of the bolts. Definitely a project for Mohit and I.

Rock the Casbah (5.9 ***) TR - A very sustained route that is trickier than it seems. The beginning was one of the hardest parts for me, right before you even get to the first bolt!

Hero in a Halfshell (5.10b ***) TR - A classic route that's even more sustained and tricky than Rock the Casbah. You definitely get your money's worth on this one, and when you're done the balls of your feet will be screaming!