Cold November Rain

Cold November Rain is another fine and somewhat moderate addition to this area. I had seen it before, but really noticed its potential on the same day I saw Gone ’til November. I came back within a few days to work it out and finish it off, but not before a very cold November rain had come through and swept almost all of the leaves from the trees. Pat told me it had been top-roped many years ago but never led. We all had a great stint of visits to Fern over the course of a few absolutely beautiful weeks in November, and I was thrilled to find these relatively-easily-approachable additions to climb with great friends.

The climbing is mostly moderate up to the roof, where you will encounter a stack of flakes that, although not exactly a house of cards, should be approached with caution and one should certainly not place pro behind them. It’s easy enough to tiptoe up them though, and once stood there you can reach up to place a couple of very good pieces in the crack that’s up in the roof. At this point you’re safe to venture into the difficulties.

You’ll execute the crux moves out and around the roof, made possible by a single fortuitous foothold, then you’ll have the excellent and more moderate headwall awaiting you with the best of stone and great gear. The final move was at my absolute reach but with a good hold, but my partners had to full-on jump for the lip, so it’s hard to rate the ending. I’ll stick with just straight 5.11.

This is the first major system/dihedral about 20 feet to the right of Baptism by Fire. Mean, Mean Girl, listed in the book, is actually the next system over to the right.

I used a couple of off-set Aliens again, along with a smattering of other cams from purple c3/BD .2 up to the red Alien/BD .5 size. For the gear in the roof I placed a red c3 and a yellow Alien.