Indian Creek UT: Back to the Crack

Back in November, I posted about my first positive experience in Indian Creek. Since then I hadn't been back, but finally last week we returned. Leaving Salt Lake, I was determined to lead *something* while I was there. I had plenty of time to ponder over which route I should try, but was hoping to return to the pistol whipped wall as I was pretty confident that I could do "Short and Stupid". Now, this is a rather ignoble name for a first sandstone crack lead, but I felt it reflected my current crack leading ability, so I decided to shrug off the insult. Sure "Binou's Crack" had that sexy European flair, and "Chocolate Corner" well, just sounds yummy, but I decided that ultimately it didn't matter, and campaigned for a return to the Pistol Whipped Wall.

We started Saturday up at the Way Rambo wall, where my friend Chad Lake ventured up a far more imposingly named crack- The Serrator. It was positively amazing to watch him double hand stack dyno his way through the opening moves of "Serrator", and then proceed to shimmy his way up the horrendous offwidth. Watching Chad endure what I personally observed to be pure and absolute misery, I honestly could not understand why people choose to subject themselves to offwidths.
I suppose this is somewhat hypocritical of me- as I am flabbergasted that "normal" people cannot fathom why people climb at all. The answer is completely obvious to me, and perhaps to those people brave and strong enough (or insane enough) to venture up and offwidth the reason is clear. In the end, I can only surmise that it must bestow upon those individuals a sense of accomplishment that can only result from pitting oneself against an immense, unmoving, and wholly indifferent opponent, and ultimately succeeding. Still, the whole endeavor appears to be pretty bloody heinous groveling to me, and I for one, plan to avoid offwidths like the plague for an indeterminate period of time.

Still, I can definitely see that "Serator" is a very aesthetically pleasing climb, that I may well someday be masochistic enough to attempt (on toprope). But for now, I will stick to my short and stupid (but far less painful) leads.

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