A friend of mine is similar. When we climb in the Valley or Tuolumne he will bring his outdated Reid guide and dig up obscure climbs that don't see much traffic (sometimes for good reason
) He likes the challenge of figuring out where the hell the route is and where it goes. I know to expect any or all of the following -
- loose rock
- gardening
- brush on the approach and / or belay (sometimes on the climb itself)
- wandering around for an hour trying to figure out which mossy choss is the one we want
In addition, some bail gear may be needed because the descent notes are either nonexistent or wrong.
It sometimes takes him a bit to get out of this mode, too. Last time we went to TM we spent a day at Dozier Dome, which has a bunch of new climbs listed in the latest supertopo guide. One of the climbs had bolted belays. He'd glanced briefly at the supertopo, then folded it in his pocket and launched up. Somewhere on the first pitch we yelled the following at each other -
Him: "uh, I'm gonna build a belay here"
Me: "Look for the belay bolts !"
Him: "Are you sure ?"
Me: "Look at the supertopo !"
Him: "That would be cheating !"
He did finally locate the bolts. It was a good day of climbing. What a nut