Ann rallies after to work to join our climbing friend Jason at the New New Place outside White Rock for climbing. It would be easy to snuff at this place. It’s full of graffiti, tire art at the bottom of the hill, and fairly short routes. So I’m surprised when I like it. Nearly every move of each route we do feels good. And it’s nice to do a little trad climbing again. We feel this is bit too much driving for after-work sessions, but this one was worth it.

Our Routes:

Have a Nice Day Yucca 5.8+

Named after the plant at the base, I protect the thin, bouldery bottom moves with our new 000 C3 cam. Which Jason tells us later is rated for aid only. It must be okay for a short fall then, right? But, no falls today. This route has a fallproof handjam on it, and a perfect overhang at the end.

Batshit Crack 5.10b

We toprope this after Jason makes a lot of noise leading it. It’s very balancey on sloping sidepulls at the bottom, where the protections looks a bit sparse and weird too, then works into a lovely, gently overhanging fist crack. Some tentative stemming to a mantle gets me to the anchors.

Sharon’s Sandbag 5.9

A short route, but nearly every move feels like real 5.9. Lots of small edges, lead up to a crowning mantle. Combine this with some very small pro, and it can be intimidating! I’m feeling steady today, though, and pull it off.