Back to School

Old School. Sandbagged. Hard for the grade. Kick-ass.

Annie at the base of the last pitch.
That's the big 3rd class ramp she is on.

All terms of endearment for a climbing route that is harder than the rating implies. There is a feature article in Climbing Magazine this month about sandbagging.  I have climbed quite a few of those routes.  This past weekend we went back to the Adirondacks to climb with Toby and Hanna on Saturday and to tick off the Wiessner Route on Upper Washbowl on Sunday.

Hence the topic of sandbagging - old school routes.

Yup. The Wiessner Route is rated 5.6.

There is only one crux in all of the four pitches. - and it is a very awkward 5.6 crux - figure out how to climb up and onto the rectangular block

Topping out

 I tried it to the right because it LOOKED easier.
Nope.
A lot of time spent figuring this one out and getting extremely frustrated.

Uh-huh: that's old school 5.6 - Wiessner style!

Hanna working some magic on one of the variation starts to Tillman's Arete

Annie demonstrates her impressive strength at our campsite

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