Early Leader Falls

South Quarries, Quincy, MA

I spent quite a few pleasant late afternoons in the spring of '95 learning how to rock climb at the South Quarries. Unfortunately, later that summer, they dynamited the whole place to make room for a Walmart.

The weatherman said this was going to be one of the ten best days of the year, and we couldn't wait to get to the crag. Unfortunately, my hoped for 4:00 departure did not happen, and even 4:30 was looking impossible, due to a big stack of work that got dumped on me at the last minute. I was able to get out by 4:45, though, and raced over to MIT on my motorcycle, jumped in the car with Rob and Benoit and promptly got stuck in rush hour traffic.

We finally arrived at the quarries a little after six, but we were in high spirits because the weather was fine and the rock was warm. I led off on the same route Benoit had led the last time we were here. It was a variation of the 5.9 route I had led before, but with a very thin 5.10 crack. Rob shot pictures in the beautiful warm evening light while I clipped the first two bolts and reached the crack.

I placed a tiny #2 Stopper and decided to back it up with a bigger nut a few feet higher. This nut would hold at least 10-15 falls by the time all three of us had finished. The moves were very hard - the crack was thin and the face was thinner. I tried several strategies, and the one that got me the highest was a wide stem that placed me in an interesting spread-eagle formation. I took a couple of short falls, which the nut held solidly, and worked my way back up to almost through the crux. My feet by this time were a couple of feet above the nut, but I was confident that I would pull through. Suddenly, I began to realize that I wasn't going anywhere, and I was losing strength as well. I lobbed, was caught, and dangled from the line, adrenaline coursing through my system. It was a short leader fall, and completely benign as far as leader falls go. I hadn't hit anything, my pro had held, but still it was enough to scare me and thrill me at the same time. It was my longest leader fall so far.

Rob took a try next and ran into the same difficulties that I had encountered. Benoit managed it for the second time, and set up a belay at the top so I could second the pitch. Although I didn't think that I was scared when I had attempted to lead the route earlier, I must have been psyched out somewhat, because I went straight up that crack this time, with scarcely a hesitation. It was still hard, but I had a better attitude about it this time, was fresher, and had already been there before. Rob had no trouble joining us at the top either.

We enjoyed the sunset from the top of the climb, and rappelled down into the gathering dusk. Even though we had spent more time driving that night than climbing, it was well worth it.