Pro-Sports

The Rockrats spent quite a bit of time at the crag called “Whitewall”. This was another one of those places we climbed where we were more interested in the climbing rather than posing for the camera. I suspect that some of the other Rockrats may have more photos from this location, but this is the only one I have:

It’s a shot of Le Grunt attempting a route called “Fake Meat”, graded 6B. It’s the first section of a traversing 6C+ route called “November 61″.

I also located an old trip report to Whitewall accompanying the photograph above:

White wall presented quite a challenge for some of our veteran climbers on Sunday. Arriving at Damai after a “light” breakfast (yes, it was truly a light breakfast! Not “all you can eat dim sum” breakfast!) we wasted little time in getting to the wall. Holdbreaker decided to “warm up” on “Fake Meat” - the first section of “November 61″ - a 6C climb. According to Thin Man, “Fake Meat” was rated 6A. Unfortunately, Thin Man, the route descriptions disagree with you, as they have rated it a 6B…

“Fake Meat” was a physically challenging climb that brought screams of pain and howls of frustration, especially from Lelek Le Grunt - our most consistently noisy climber. Well done on completing the lead to the anchor. That was one very awkward clip-in at the second bolt – it was scary just to observe, I can only imagine what it felt like to be up there. Soon to follow up was Small Person – our up and rising climbing star (it’s about high time you graduated to leading, my dear, because you’ve out-grown the kindergarten of top-ropes).

Combat Girl attempted a lead on “Opium War” and nearly pissed her pants twice – once at the crux and once on the overhang. After putting my belayer to sleep (thanks Thin Man for your patience), I finally made it to the anchor perplexed as to why I made such a fuss because it was not such a difficult climb after all…

Fearless Leader arrived not long after to lead up “Classic Route” with minimal draw-pulling and bolt-stepping (sorry Fearless – you have a reputation to upkeep). Even though it was Thin Man who nearly attempted a solo on “November 61″, our illustrious Fearless Leader’s reputation preceded him causing Lelek to think it was Lai who forgot to tie-in.

Congratulations to Thin Man, who completed his first 6C on lead – “November 61″. The route was cleaned by Fearless Leader, spurred by the onset of rain into making some amazing dyno moves. These have got to be some of the most fantastically uncoordinated dyno moves I have ever seen…

Combat Girl out-smarted our Fearless Leader with a modified version of using draws on the wall. Why pull on them when you can clip your harness to the wall and have a relaxing hands-free rest?

Holdbreaker decided to compete with Lelek for the title of “most vociferous climber” while on “Classic Route” and almost took the cake. Lelek followed soon after – sending the route in record time with the thought of a hot chic waiting for him at the anchor (well, the sound of thunder helped a little).

Mutant Man brought the rain with him, but luckily, he also arrived in time to help us pack up the gear…

Stay tuned for the next exciting adventure from the RockRats!

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