Intro class - Castle Rock - 10/30/2004

The trip had to be postponed twice due to rain (the sandstone is fragile),
but the perfect day on October 30 was worth waiting for!

Trip Leader:  Mark Pauly
Instructors:  Arthur Rallu, Natasha Gelfand, Clint Cummins
Students:  Elise Belle, Michael Binger, Alicia Cooperman,
           Apratim Dixit, Johanna Wolff

We met at 8am at the Tressider bollards; Mark, Natasha, and Michal drove.
In 45 minutes we were parked by Castle Rock and hiking down the trail
to Goat Rock.

Mark reviewed the basics of belaying and climbing with the students,
while Arthur, Natasha and Clint set up five anchors/ropes on top of the rock.
Soon the students were paired up and belaying each other on the warmup
routes, with instructors backing up the belays.  Everybody got to do the
Swiss Cheese Face 5.4, Right Arete 5.7 and Groove 5.7.  Elise, Michael
and Natasha did the Triple Overhang 5.9, while Mark, Arthur and Clint
managed to crank the Great Roof 5.10a.  All the students did a rappel
down the 100' Swiss Cheese Face.  They were belayed at the top by Mark
and then at the bottom by Arthur, using a "fireman's belay".  One rope
was moved over to the Right Side Roof, where Arthur, Natasha and Clint
made valiant attempts.  (This route should have been set up from the
beginning - if Clint had only listened to Mark! ; its lower section
has some nice technical climbing with sidepulls).  Elise, Apratim and
Johanna enjoyed taking the wild swing off the Great Roof after some
good tries to gain the cave or the lip.