Sunday 15^th.

Rang Leon, got organized, fed and ready to climb. Leon arrived, three of us (him, me and Leila) jumped into the "dudette" and headed north along the I-91. We were aiming for Pinnacle Rock near Farmington on the Metacomet road. Navigation was fine, mostly, we did circle the place a bit though before finding the spot. Very suburban area with a little bushcliff up behind the houses. Parked the car, distributed the gear and hiked for 5 min. With the RMF guidebook in hand we questioned the handful of climbers we met until we were properly oriented with the topo maps.

It took a while to find something that was decently protected enough for a lead. Eventually, after a lot of walking back and forth, and with the help of a couple of locals we decided on "Don't touch" (5.6). A crack on the right face of a right-facing dihedral. It was Leon's lead today and after sorting, flaking and gear swapping he was ready to go. I anchored myself to a tree for the belay and Leila settled down for a bit of a wait.

The start was tricky. A big offwidth crack in a right facing dihedral. Chossy too, a fist-sized chunk hanging and as mobile as a loose tooth seemed to epitomise the initial nature of the climb. Leon climbed up about 12 feet before placing his first piece, the giant FCU … he was glad to have brought it up with him this time. Pretty soon though he was a little annoyed at himself for not also taking the MacGregor hexes. It was a tricky little climb, not difficult in and of itself but hard to protect. Most of it followed a crack on the right face, which offered pretty good protection, but this ran out about 15 below the top. So Leon just ran it out from there. He set up a belay anchor very quickly. Leila went next, trailing our rope up behind her for me to climb on afterward. I went last, cleaning up the protection. It was a pretty strong lead given the low protection opportunities, but Leon had made good use of what little was available, all of the pieces were bomber as far as I could tell.

We decided to set up a top rope over a nearby climb, "Tip Toe" (5.8+), and spend the rest of our day playing with variations of that one. Leila lowered me to a likely series of cracks just below the top and I set to work making a four-point atom-bomb proof top rope anchor. A few minutes into it we heard a loud crash towards the right side of the cliff and some yelling of folks down below. Leon saw some people running into the woods back from the edge of the cliff over in the same direction. He, and then Leila after she tied me off, went to investigate. Coming back Leon said that there were a group of adults and kids, "they look like hicks" he said, who claimed that a boulder had been accidently bumped off the edge. Pretty soon the same group wandered over to see what we were doing. Leon was right, they did look like hicks.

There is no way that what they described could have happened. There are simply no loose boulders that close to the edge of the cliff, not after years of climbers being in the area. The running back into the woods is highly indicative of what actually happened too. They dropped a rock over, on purpose, letting it fall close to climbers below. Human beings are, all too frequently, terrifyingly unpredictable creatures. We didn't speak to them, didn't even acknowledge that they were there. Pretty soon they got bored watching me do apparantly not very much and left us alone.

Leila, making sure I was still securely tied off up top, left to go and look after the gear down below. I was glad to be setting the anchor where it was. Out of reach from anyone who didn't have a rope. When it was nearly set, Leon gave me advice on what slings to use and tried to check it out as best he could from his position. I thought it was absolutely bomber and decided to rap down on it to the base. I set up my rappel, untied from the lowering rope (which Leon retrieved and carried back down with him) and abseiled down. It was great fun, only the second time I had done this without Alain Comeau too.

At the bottom, while we waited for Leon to come down with the other rope, Leila tied in and I belayed her as she climbed up. It was a fun climb, although the wasps were a little worrying as they buzzed lazily around her head, but as long as Leila took careful note of where she was placing her hands and feet (i.e. not on top of them!) they didn't bother her. After I lowered her back down Leon had returned and he tied himself in. I talked him into trying an alternative start. To the left there was a wicked, chossy, scary overhang about 10 feet off the deck. Leon gave it everything. Cursing, falling, straining, cursing again and falling again. After a while he gave up and went to the right, the same way Leila had chosen, cruising up "Tip Toe" like it was nothing. When he came back it was my turn.

Of course I had to try the overhang too. But try as I might, I couldn't even get nearly as far as Leon had managed and gave up feeling very dispirited. I followed Leila's line and then traversed left until I was over that overhang start before climbing up. I actually followed much of the line of another climb, "Great Expectations" (5.8+) and if I had managed the overhang start this would have been the whole thing. Ah well, it was fun to do, a very steep ramp and some face climbing. The sun was shining and the air was still, another truly beautiful day. Looking out over the countryside I could see all the spectacular colours of autumn.

When I came back down we talked Leon into trying that overhang start again. But this time (with Leila egging him on) he had to remove his shirt, for this was truly hardman stuff if ever we had seen it. So, perhaps feeling more than a little self-conscious, he removed his shirt and flexed his way onto the wall. Leila belayed and I grabbed the camera wondering if we could send these pics to playgirl for material gain.

Incredibly Leon worked out the necessary sequence, and cranked it over the lip with some brutal looking moves. Sheer power. I talked him into following most of "Great Expectations" and he wriggled along it like a rat up a drainpipe. Although a wasp stung him in the back on the way.

Back on the ground it was congratulations all round for the mad mexican. Magnificent job. What was even more amazing was that he talked me into cranking it over that overhang start too! He had to keep the beta flow going all the time, but following his moves, which included an improbable looking heel-hook and at least one dead-point, I found it was (just) possible to get up there! Too cool.

It was getting late, so we decided to call it quits there. Besides, we were starving and thirsty for the celebratory beers.