As many of you know, I've been working on a trad roof project at Oil Crack for over a year now called Imagés (it's French and pronounced "i-MAHJ" - rhymes with "garage"). With a lot of support and encouragement from my buddy Ryan and good Karma from Chad, I finally got the FFA this weekend.
It was somewhat surreal. My last two attempts got me to the last piece before the anchors and I would be so exhausted I couldn't set the last jams. This time the whole thing flowed so well it really felt easy (I know Arno wouldn't be surprised). I was seeing holds I hadn't seen before and was so relaxed I had all kinds of juice left for the finish. Of course, once I realized I had sent the route, I let out a bunch of war whoops in celebration. Congrats to Ryan too, for leading it w/ gear in place for the first time and doing the crux section and finish w/ no falls. He doesn't quite believe it, but he's getting close to sending the route.
Imagés has some great moves. I'm very excited to see other climbers get on it to see what they think. I don't really care what it ultimately gets rated, it's a great route no matter. In general, it's probably in the 11c-d range. For those who don't know, it's the big overhang about 100 feet left of Scooby Doo. There are anchors just above the lip of the roof.
Now, onto other unfinished projects....
Johnny
