Trout Creek - Climbing Without Holds

I headed down to Trout Creek for a few days last week in order to escape the rainstorms that had covered the region. After badly injuring my finger a couple weeks ago, I haven't been climbing much, but I was eager to get on the stone at a place where you don't need your fingers in order to climb. Trout Creek hosts plentiful hand cracks and stem boxes, the perfect routes for resting my finger tendon.




I was joined by new neighbor Garrett Grove, as well as Scott
Bennett, Graham Zimmerman, and Matt Van Biene. Garrett snagged a bunch of great photos, and we were entertained in the evenings by games of Bocce ball with fly-fisher crowd.

I was happy to send a beautiful tight stemming corner called Purple Pinky Eater (it eats up pink TCUs, not fingers) and enjoyed belaying Matt's onsight sends of Winter Sustenance and Geologic Time.

First sun at the base of the wall

Myself on Purple Pinky Eater - Garrett Grove photo

We also found an amazing network of spelunking tunnels and caves under the fallen-down columns at the crag's base. I think we located Jimmy Hoffa, the Lindberg baby, and D.B. Cooper somewhere down there in the subterranean world.

Matt, after seeing bigfoot or a chupacabra or a UFO, somewhere in the tunnels