Division Wall

Last Friday evening during our family camping outing, we tackled the Upper Division Wall in American Fork Canyon. It was only a couple hundred feet from our campsite so most everyone came over and either climbed with us or watched for a bit.

I was belaying Curtis' lead when he made me a bit nervous a couple of times. He was 3/4 of the way to the top and about 5 feet above his last quickdraw when he stopped. From the bottom it looked like he was making very slow deliberate moves - but not upward. Then he down-climbed a bit (not a good sign) and checked out the serious bulge below him. He was is in a pretty bad place if he needed to fall. A couple more anxious minutes, some sewing-machine-leg action, then up he goes and clips the next bolt.

Phew!


A bit of a rest, then a couple of more moves and progress stops again. More very slow movements then up the chains and the route is complete. He takes a couple of extra moments at the top then I lower back to the deck.

Curtis has this look on his face of mixed frustration, stress, and a bit of pain, and a touch of relief to be down. He fills us in how his bad shoulder dislocated FOUR times during the climb! Those movements I was trying to intrepret from the ground were him slowing moving his arm into a position that would allow his shoulder to pop back into the socket without peeling him off the wall!

He also had it dislocate the night before playing hockey so the shoulder was not up to snuff.

The rest of us (Justin, Brittany, Chris and myself) took turns on the climb. Then Maya, Natalie and Parker gave it a good shot too.

On Saturday we climbed the other side of the wall (Les is More - 5.10a) where Jeff lead the climb. Curtis attempted it but bailed about half way when his shoulder dislocated again. I made it almost half way which is a personal best for me as I have never even attempted a 5.10a before.

Great stuff. Can't wait for more. Here are the rest of the pictures: Physical Therapy, Les is More, Others.