“Dirty Ernie Wall” …an unassuming wall at NWBranch still harbors for me a couple elusive climbs. One of them I’ve dubbed DErT (or “Dirty Ernie Traverse”).
I have every sequence mastered down to chronology of foot placements/hip adjustments, the hand holds feel bigger than ever I’m breathing well, I feel in control of each movement…until I don’t and then fall …every time thus far.
For a while I considered it might be easier than I'd thought, but now I’m convinced it warrants double digits at V10. I’m now able to do V9 section 3-5 times in a session but exiting this series of burly moves and linking into the long finale (feels somewhere between 6C to 7A+ on any given day) isn’t as doable for me as I’d forecasted.
I’ve reliably been doing a one on one off schedule for the past few weeks with steady progress, one regression (see last post), & impressively good weather/conditions. There have been a few very close goes but no bueno on the send. Although my confidence remains that I’ll do this climb, I need a break…physically, emotionally (as does my Family), and psychologically.
