Unfortunately, the El Nino pattern leaves the mountains dry and desert wet. I know the last two words are as much of an oxymoron as anything and I wish it weren't true; alas and alack, much of the St. George area is under the seemingly constant barrage of spring precipitation. As a direct result, the porous nature of the sandstone and even the limestone holds the moisture in for days after the storms have passed. The VRG is no exception to this rule. I like to think that we would have single handedly destroyed that crag, sending every route that got in our path... luckily I can "think" this because we were both spat off our routes in places we shouldn't have been due to wet holds. I fell within a couple of feet of the anchors on my route and Lindsay slipped (almost violently) out of the jug rest on her route. Shit.
Luckily, the Hurricave isn't far away and it stays dry when all else is wet. Crazy steep and chock full of hard routes, the couple of days spent there left us feeling worked and a little beat down... both good things. I was able to squeak out a last ditch, hail mary ascent of a really fun .13a called Cliff Dweller. Lindsay came heart breakingly close also, the fatigue of previous days and an abundance of bees thwarted her final attempt. Damn. Though the rock in the Hurricave is total choss garbage, the style of climbing it offers can't really be found many other places in the states. Very steep, big feature climbing seems to be the name of the game there, with some tufa's and small edges thrown in for good measure. While not a destination crag, it certainly serves it purpose and we were damn glad to have it as an option.
So we left draws on projects and with a sunnier forecast we head back down on Thursday to conquer the freeway, the bees, the rain and our routes. Until the next update enjoy the pics!