Best Day in Eldo

Number of cams dropped: 1
Number of nuts that pulled out at crux: 1
Number of items that got completely smothered in hummus from my sandwich: 4

Normally, stats like this would lead to one bad day of climbing. But all of this stuff did happen to me and I had one of the best days in Eldo ever. My friend and I decided to go out and climb the Naked Edge. Everyone that has done the climb has raved about it for good reason. Pitch 4 was the technical crux of the route. My lead... I watched the party before us to get a sense of the beta. It looked pretty straightforward. A couple of dicy finger locks to a jug. Then to a sidepull where I could clip a pin and back it up with a Green Alien. Move left to a finger slot plug a tiny piece and you are in the bombay chimney. From there move right to a sidepull and positive crimper to pull around the next roof to the next set of anchors. Pretty simple...

I got up to the first part plugged an overcammed #1 Camalot. While fishing it out I bobbled it in my hands and slipped right down by my and then to the big slab where my belayer was. She did not see it and it went sailing past her carabiner in tow all the way down to the ground below. It was my new #1 also! If it were one of the old ones I would have felt a little bit better. Anyway, plug the .75 then a #2. Tenuous move through the finger lots to the jug, move feet up clip the pin and then back it up. Next I got a nut in a left finger slot and it felt good. I moved up to the chimney... while doing this I accidentally pulled up on the nut with my foot and it popped out. A slight feeling of dread started to creep up my spin. Quickly, I clipped the pin under the roof and backed it up with a .5 camalot. Wow, that could have been bad. Feeling good now, I left the chimney moved to the sidepull and "jug crimp" and then I was at the next belay. Never in my life have I been such a junk show. I built my anchor and brought up my partner who had the pack. She got through the moves down below just fine. Got into the chimney and the pack caused her some serious pain. The entire time her back was squished against the chimney my hummus burrito was oozing out all over my camera, headlamp, energy bars, and God knows what else. But I did not know about this until I was back at the car.

Although all of this seemingly bad stuff happened, The Naked Edge was my best day in Eldorado Canyon ever. Every pitch is fantastic and well earned. One of the proudest lines in the canyon. The wind was blowing, doves were flying all around us, and the blue bird skies were out. This was one day that I will never forget.