Saturday 28^th.

Driving north on the I-91 we were headed for another of Connecticut's classic climbs. Thor's Hammer on the Merimer face of East Peak. Little did we know that, climbing-wise, today would be a near total loss.

After driving towards East Peak near Meriden we discovered that the old access road was now closed off. The road to Castle Crag was also closed until the spring. Not really wanting to hike in we decided to cut our losses and beat it. We wanted to go and check out West Rock back in New Haven anyway, and now it seemed like the perfect opportunity. Access wouldn't be much of an issue there.

So we drove back to New Haven, into Westville and circled around West Rock looking for a park. The damn gate to the road leading to the top was locked. Until spring. Egads this country can be irksome at times. So we find a park near the base at the city end of West Rock ridge. It looks pretty impressive. Easily taller than the chin at Sleeping Giant. We figured that this topped out at something over 200 feet.

We tramp around a bit looking and nodding and feeling hopeful. But time has passed and food became an issue, so we agreed to grab lunch somewhere before starting up on a climb. Over a bit of malaysian rice we talked a bit about the shambles the day had been up to this point. I reminded Leon about the big quarry-cut we had spotted driving by this area the day before, it was at the opposite end of the ridge and I convinced him to give it a quick look.

Back in the car we headed to the old quarry to check out the face which overlooked Konold's Pond. Parking at the end of Lunar Drive we hauled on the packs with all of our gear and trudged up the snow covered scree to try and find a path we could follow to the quarry. It was a beautiful day, very sunny and only a little breeze. The sun was shining directly onto the main face and promised that we wouldn't suffer from cold hands and numb fingers today. From a distance the cliff we wanted to climb looked awesome. Beautiful and sheer, perhaps as much as 300 feet high. We wondered why this wasn't attracting more customers.

"Maybe it's a bit chossy."

Yes. Well.

Anyway, we eventually managed to pick our way across and up to the quite large and flat space underneath the cliff. It really looked inviting. We quickly agreed on a possible line and started to sort out the gear. I would lead the first pitch and then we would see how things went after that.

Right at the base the rock was clean, it had sufficient features and even the protection offered seemed reasonable. This was going to be great! I got up to about 35 feet before I encountered any real trouble. Here I found some choss and a thinly protected committing move. I wide dihedral with not too much in the way of foot placements. At least the crack offered some hope for a little gear. So I placed what turned out to be a terrible nut and rode a shot of adrenaline up and over to the next ledge. I was a bit gripped by the move and was beginning to wonder about what to expect higher up. Pretty soon I would find out.

I managed to find an excellent placement for one of the MacGregor hexes and hammered it home into a deep and narrow crack. I stepped up a bit and immediately found that I had wandered into a nightmare of broken rock. Everytime I grabbed something it came away in my hands. But I still managed to claw my way up another few feet. I called to Leon and warned him that there was going to be a significant amount of rock coming down and he should watch out. He replied that he was already aware of this and had been dancing around down there for a few minutes already. Searching for an upward approach I grabbed what I thought was a big solid piece, preparatory to hauling myself up a bit further, but the whole bloody slab (weighing perhaps about 40 pounds) tore off in my hands.

With Leon below me I didn't want it to hit him, so I tried to grab it. The bugger of a thing broke into three parts and I could only arrest two of them. The third tumbled down and, striking a ledge, exploded like a grenade. I heard a cry of shock and pain below me. Leon had been hit by a fragment pretty solidly on the knee and was cursing a blue streak. I didn't know where to stand or what to hold. It seemed like the whole section could easily peel away and kill us both at any moment. With my heart in my throat I downclimbed back to the MacGregor hex and checked its placement. It was still good.

Up above I could see no respite from the choss. I was pretty sketched by now and didn't think that continuing up was an option. To keep going seemed to invite certain death. It didn't take long for us both to agree that bailing was our only option. I backed up the hex with another, put them on a locking carabiner and threaded the rope through it before asking Leon to lower me off. The whole time down it was in the back of my mind that the crack the hexes were in might open up, dropping me and tons of rock straight on top of Leon.

By the time we got back to the car it was too late to go somewhere else to climb. Damn. What a wasted day.