One simple word comes to mind when I think back on the Houndears Comp... Debauchery!!!! The weekend started off right with a midnight drive through the foot hills of the Appalachians. My boy Lee and I arrived at Table Rock just in time to catch the sunrise. Well not quite, but we did dock around 3am, a bit late to catch enough ZZZs for the planned alpine start. Our plans were to climb as many multipitch routes as possible and then head over to Grandfather and set the Mammut booth. In true southern form we slept til about 10 and by the time we made it up to the parking for Table Rock the lot was for the most part full.
No worries, so we grabbed our gear and hucked into the forest in search of our first route. After getting lost several times and bush wacking some, we finally made it. We chose a sweet little 4/5 pitch route with runout bolts called Jim Dandy. Lee set off with the first lead and after about a half an hour we were climbing over some of the most beautiful stone with the most amazing views I've ever seen.
The 1st through the 3rd pitchs were all pretty straight forward, except the third pitch was about 50 feet unprotected, but at about 5.4 it was a pretty easy lead for Lee. The 4th pitch was another story. It was about 90-110 feet with two bolts! It was also the hardest climbing of the day at a whopping 5.7! OK, so the climb wasn't that difficult, but being close to 45 feet above the last bolt and not bringing any pro, it was extremely eye opening and I was pretty much scared shitless to say the least. After sending and setting up some shitty protection I yelled for Lee to start climbing. We then proceeded to run up a sketchy and very exposed scramble to the summit.After a few summit photos we booked down the trail to retrieve our gear and then down to the truck for ice cold beer.
Is That Chocolate on Your Face Mother Fucker !!!
Aft
er arriving at the camp grounds and saying our hellos, we preceded to set up the booth and begin the party. We partied till everyone was asleep and then turned in ready for the next days comp. Around early as fuck a.m., alarms began going off all over the camp ground. All I wanted was to stay in my warm bag, but was soon annoyed enough to get up. It was freezing!! The coldest it's been since last winter and I was miserable. I jumped in the truck, turned on the heat and waited for everyone to pack in so we could go get coffee and head for the boulderfields. Soon we were warm, and setup and were awaiting instructions from Jim and Chad. The parking lot was full of peeps ready to crush all in the name of free gear. I wasn't psyched as usual so we decided to hang around and ch
ill for a while. After the competitors evacuated into the boulder fields, I slowly made my way in and began warming up. The day was long and the climbing good. I climbed as many problems as I could and damn I was tired and sore! After the comp we jetted back to the camp grounds and cracked open the booze. The awards ceremony was awesome and we killed all the beers, the pint of Makers Mark, the pint of Vodka, and the handle of Jack that Ronnie and Julie brought! Needless to say the crew was a bit unruly and several wrestling matches along with dance offs, tables slides, and bottle kicking ensued. Not long after, ole Lee went missing and was later discovered trying to break into an unknown jeep. We guided to his truck and he decided to cram himself in the back like a sardine. After some photos of the night, we carried Lee to his tent to let him pass out. The party was almost over and after walking around to a few camp fires decided to call it a night. The next morning we were all surprisingly chipper so we headed into downtown Boone for some delicious breakfast. After breakfast we said goodbye to all our friends and pointed the truck south. I'll have to say this may have been the most fun Triple Crown event I've ever attended!! Thanks to all my homeboys and homechicas that participated and congrats to the winners!!! Peace
er arriving at the camp grounds and saying our hellos, we preceded to set up the booth and begin the party. We partied till everyone was asleep and then turned in ready for the next days comp. Around early as fuck a.m., alarms began going off all over the camp ground. All I wanted was to stay in my warm bag, but was soon annoyed enough to get up. It was freezing!! The coldest it's been since last winter and I was miserable. I jumped in the truck, turned on the heat and waited for everyone to pack in so we could go get coffee and head for the boulderfields. Soon we were warm, and setup and were awaiting instructions from Jim and Chad. The parking lot was full of peeps ready to crush all in the name of free gear. I wasn't psyched as usual so we decided to hang around and ch
ill for a while. After the competitors evacuated into the boulder fields, I slowly made my way in and began warming up. The day was long and the climbing good. I climbed as many problems as I could and damn I was tired and sore! After the comp we jetted back to the camp grounds and cracked open the booze. The awards ceremony was awesome and we killed all the beers, the pint of Makers Mark, the pint of Vodka, and the handle of Jack that Ronnie and Julie brought! Needless to say the crew was a bit unruly and several wrestling matches along with dance offs, tables slides, and bottle kicking ensued. Not long after, ole Lee went missing and was later discovered trying to break into an unknown jeep. We guided to his truck and he decided to cram himself in the back like a sardine. After some photos of the night, we carried Lee to his tent to let him pass out. The party was almost over and after walking around to a few camp fires decided to call it a night. The next morning we were all surprisingly chipper so we headed into downtown Boone for some delicious breakfast. After breakfast we said goodbye to all our friends and pointed the truck south. I'll have to say this may have been the most fun Triple Crown event I've ever attended!! Thanks to all my homeboys and homechicas that participated and congrats to the winners!!! Peace
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