Trip Reports - 2/7/02 - Sandrock, Alabama

Sandrock, Alabama

February 7 - 10, 2002

Submitted by: Adam Amorose

View larger photo on the Pinnacle

Day 1

So our trip to Sandrock started with 7 climbers on Monday and by Thursday – the day of departure – we only had two left.  Chuck called a buddy of his and at 5:00 PM we had our third, Troy.  We left at 11:00 PM and got into Atlanta about 4:30 AM where we crashed or the night.

See larger photo of Chuck

Day 2

We headed out about 10:00 AM and got to Sandrock at about 12:15.  We were ready to climb, so we quickly pitched camp and headed to the Jaw’s Block and West Side Rock.   Of course the first climb we attempted was Jaws -- the thre star 5.9+ classic.  It rocked!  The rest of the day we did some unnamed routes on West Side Rock.

 We hung out the rest of the night by the fire as the temperature dropped… into the thirties.

Enlarge view of Adam

Day 3

We got up early and rushed to Holiday Block.  The first and only lead we did was My Dog Has Fleas, 5.9 on the north side.  It was a sweet route but it was still so cold the rock numbed your fingers before we even topped out, but both Chuck and I finished it.  It was then to the warmer, but windier south side of the block.  There we met up with Pump Handles, a 5.9.  Not too bad, as you can see Troy is sitting on a nice “pump handle”.

See larger image of Troy

Troy headed off for lunch and met up with Chuck and I a little later at The Pinnacle for Pin Chimney, 5.8 and Comfortably Numb, 5.9+.  Both sweet climbs, unfortunately with the sun going down only Chuck got to do Comfortably Numb.

View larger photo of Troy

After cooking up dinner, Chuck and I headed out for some night bouldering.  It was really cold so it didn’t last long.  I tell you what, though, when it warms up we plan on doing some serious night climbing – a couple lanterns and those corridors are as bright as day.

See larger image of Adam

Day 4

After a good night sleep, Chuck and I headed for the Sun Wall to climb First Black In Space, 5.9+.  We only had a short amount of time before we had to start our trek back to Florida, but we were determined.  It was a challenge to find the anchors up top, but after hunting around we found the back entrance to the window, got set up and rapped down.  Unfortunately, it took us so long to set up only I had time to climb the route.

Enlarge view of Adam

That was it… 8 hours later we were back in the flat lands of Jacksonville, Florida.  You can see more photos and other trips at http://www.greenknee.com/.

Sandrock Photo Gallery

Sandrock Climbing area page

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