alive

Day Trip Report

Sunday a small group of us decided to make the short drive down to the Wichita Mountain Wildlife Refuge for some backcountry climbing at Lost Dome. LD is a south facing formation in the Charon's Wilderness Garden area that is a great destination for cold winter climbing due to catching sunlight all day long.

At 5:30 am me, Andrew, Shane, Steven and Nicki packed into my rig and we booked it down in the dark, pulling into the parking lot just in time for the refuge light. 40 minutes later we were standing under Lost Dome in the chilly morning air, looking up at the imposing wall and getting psyched for a day of pulling.

Being that I am massively out of shape I opted for warm up laps with Andrew on Come Get Your Love (10a) while Steven and Shane started up Larry's Folly (8+) to get the top rope set up for Steven's proj, the refuge benchmark 12a Rap Bolters From Hell. Four laps later, my aching muscles, gasping lungs and raw finger tips signal that my climbing day is almost over. What?

I'm licking my wounds about the time Steven redpoints Rap Bolters and we are hootin and screaming. Spirits are high when Tony and Lori Mayse show up. Tony sets up some TR's on classic routes for us to work (Thanks Tony!).

Fast forward to 4 pm and we are hiking out of the Gardens. The climbing day is done.

We get back to the city in just enough time to grab a shower and a bite to eat before walking over to the Kings of Leon show at the Coca Cola Event Center. Stellar show!!!