On a nice weekend in June, I got invited to go climb up in the Linville Gorge once again. John Lee let me tag along with him, David Barbor, and new friend Joe. We all piled into David’s car and took off for the Carolina Highlands.
We pulled into the trailhead for Hawksbill around 9:30am. While unpacking, we started to realized the immediate cluckerfuck that made up the morning. I had not brought my trad rack, which I left sitting in my car. John ended up telling me not to bring the rack as he thought it would be a sport climbing area. Joe forgot his harness back at his house. So we went into improv mode.
We made an extra harness out of a some cordelette that was in David’s car. (note to all: learning how to make a swiss seat is a invaluable tool to have.) During the hike in, we got lost as per usual in the Linville gorge. Eventually we found a faint trail and made it below upper hawksbill. We split up into two groups One group would take the good harnesses and go do the classic trad route, while the other two would man up and take on the hard short sports routes. John and I took to the sports first and we quickly made up a rule of no falling for us. Not for danger, but because supporting the weight on the Swiss seat with the thin cord hurt like crazy.
After ticking Lichen Worms, and a short 11, we switched with David and Joe. We went up Lost in Space, which has some great photo opportunities. It is a two pitch 5.10 that winds up through the steep headwall of the cliff. John led the 1st pitch through some tricky slab and diheridals moves. I led out the 2nd, which starts with a heady and exposed roof pull located out in the middle of space. From there it’s steep 5.8 and 5.9 climbing , up to the top. The route is AAA+ and we had great weather, which made it even better. We finished off the day with a scramble through the top blocks to meet David and Joe for the hike out.
