Moby Dick 5.12b - Wichita Mountains, OK

Описание: On my first day rope climbing in the Refuge, I was fortunate enough to try this climb on toprope. My friend Clark rapped off of the boulder on the top and transitioned his rope to the anchors of Moby Dick. It was my third (attempted) route of the day but I was feeling confident. The start looked like a blocky set of stairs, how inviting! From there I hung through a series of tricky but just doable sequences. Eventually I found myself hanging beneath the final bolt, the crux. This is not your normal crux, this is an absolute stopper move; it is significantly harder than any other move on the route. Moby Dick whittles down to a true powerful, low-percentage boulder problem perched 50+ feet off the ground. And of course I couldn't do it. But did I destroy the sheath of Clark's rope finding that out? Of course.

Three years later on New Years Day I came back with high hopes and low expectations. I warmed up going bolt to bolt and stuck the crux move on my first try! From here, I left the rope up and gave it another burn. And it was clean! But we all know that toprope counts for nothing these days. So I pulled the rope and let my belayer give it a go. He cruised it! Nice job Tobin, I'm still not surprised. The send train had began to leave the station and it was my last chance to get on board as rain was coming in. Six minutes later and choo-freaking-choo I was on top!