Blinded By Gunsmoke

Guest blog by Rob Griz.

How to build your desert rack real cheap

Nothing like some killer splitters to start off a rock season after a stellar (and still hanging) ice season. Something kinda nice about chasin’ the sun instead of the shade for sweet lines, wearing a lot less, hiking a lot less and suffering a lot less (kinda). Maverick Buttress, a mini-Creek with a much shorter drive and hike, is a gem of Wingate splitters that rival some of the routes at the Creek. To protect the (?) innocent (Including my own namesake), I have changed the name of my partner.

So there we were, warming up on the likes of the Texas Two Step, Saddle Sores and Round up. Lead, lower, clean and swap out to lead, lower and clean. The climbing was superb and setting idyllic. Deep in the recesses of ‘Timmy’s’ head though, he had an agenda, Gunsmoke, a 5-star classic consisting of a pure 150’ of continuous crack climbing. So we saunter over to this classic line to find a duo taking a final lap. ‘Timmy’ starts diggin’ for the beta, how many of these and how many of those. Was it cupped hands or ring-locks, the questions spilled like the spring rains off slickrock.

I tear out the rack (damn we still have alotta gear!) and lay it out for ‘Timmy’s’ assault. Done with his interrogation and brain overloaded with beta, he turns to the business of racking up. With my arsenal of gear laid out before him, I never took notice of the other party’s rack neatly draped on a rock just off ‘Timmy’s’ left shoulder. The boy was psyched and he was in the ‘zone’. I flake the pair of ropes and Timmy ties in with a rainbow of cams dangling from his harness.

The other party is pulling their line and Timmy is almost wailed by the tail…I’m tellin’ ya, this boy was in the ZONE! Just as his hands touch the tawny sandstone, one of two guys from the other party speaks out and says “Hey buddie, that one cam on your harness, is that blue/yellow tape, looks kinda like one of ours?”. With his focus partially broken, Timmy looks down at the rack as I glance over. “Ain’t my cam, bro” I say. Timmy, unphased and whacked on ZONE-Chi, casually strips the piece and apologizes to the other fellas as he turns back to the line. “Wait a minuet” the guy says again, “I think I see another one of our pieces on your right side…dude, I gotta check you out now!”.

The scene is looking more like a drug-bust pat down as Timmy is carefully tag-teamed by the other two guys, damn if he didn’t have another cam of theirs! Timmy is now losing a bit of the focus and feeling kinda funny. I’m amazed how he took all the beta and just did the math; 4-#3, 5 #2, 3#1, 3 #.75 and 3 #.5, and took exactly what he needed (apparently from all available racks!). The only bummer is that at the time I only had 2 each of the .75 and .5 cams. Can’t fault the guy for wanting to be safe!

Timmy sent the line is style, even though he was a few cams short. In the end he didn’t even the need the extra support. And as we parted from our excellent weekend of desert towers and cracks, I made him dump his bag and double check, because after all…Gunsmoke can blind a man!