Doing Mexican Crack

I headed up Little Cottonwood Canyon before the weekend of snow came and enjoyed an afternoon of warm climbing. I spent the first hour babysitting, but babysitting on the side of a mountain isn't so bad. Where are these boys' mom? Here she is two thirds of the way up Mexican Crack. Jennilyn has her kids trained pretty well to play happily for an hour or two on belay ledges. It does mean that we have to pack them, their snacks, and their toys up to the crag and back again. It was the back again that was actually the hard part because they were both tired and screaming at that point. While they were climbing and I was babysitting I spent a little time practicing my trad gear placement. Mark told me after that these were all good.

This was the view from the bottom of the route where I played with the boys.

This was the view from the top of Mexican Crack. Well these are the anchors. I forgot to leave the camera at the bottom. This is the view from the top. Very nice. It's amazing the difference there is between the two sides of the same canyon. One was warm and sunny and full of happy climbers and one was cold and snowy and covered in ice.Here's a picture just for you squeemish folks. I've always liked the look of blood on chalky hands, even though my hands aren't so chalky in this picture. This was only one of the 5 places I was bleeding from when I came down. My mom told me a few days later I have disgusting looking hands from all my climbing. I think some of my climbing scars are permanant so it's too late to stop now. Then Mark went up this 5.12 route that I will probably never even attempt. I learn a lot just from watching him climb so I'm not complaining.

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