Bastille, North face crack, 5.8

This is a popular rock! Try to do it on a weekend during summer and you may be waiting in line for a while. We did it on a weekday and it was still crowded - we just got a lucky break. We began immediately after another group had finished; this here is a climbing team that arrived seconds after we started. They didn't wanna wait for us so they started right away and pretty much shadowed us all the way up. That can be a not good thing, but they were cool.



Tyler working the 1st pitch. This is his first multi-pitch climb, and if y'ask me he doin' dang good!


Fun. Not hard.		 I begin the first pitch crack.
Steve belays me from above.

Looking up from the top of the 1st pitch.

Now what ?!

The second pitch crack is much wider and more broken up. It looks easy. It looked easy. But it has some challenging moves, as I found out.



This way!		 Looking up the start of the second pitch.
P2 goes up and over that roof, the summit begins to show up and off to the right.



This is one of those cool dudes that just couldn't wait for us.		 You see our rope going over the roof; I was the last climber, cleaning the pro ...
Top of the third pitch looking down. Kinda Eastish direction, and you see the bridge again.

Still not scared yet ?



Looking out (East) from the third pitch.
The ever-present Windtower was a constant companion on this climb. It is another Eldorado Classic with many routes of various ratings.

Windtower. Looking North from the 4th pitch.



Looking up midway into the 4th pitch.		 I can't see where that rope goes, and I can't hear anything. It's been a while, so I'll just start climbing. I sure hope there is a good belayer at the other end ... "on belay" ? "climbing" ?? "climb on" ???!
That bridge is getting smaller and smaller ...

Looking down from P4.