TEXAS HOLD ‘EM, PITCH 7

This 9-pitch climb is on the far right side of the Black Velvet Wall. Here Chip is just beginning the 5.11c crux section. The route continues up and right through the giant overhangs above. On this day the wind was howling and it got worse the higher we got. You descend the route by rappelling, and the first one is a big free-rappel into space. With the high wind you can’t let the ropes hang free because they would get blown horizontally and snagged on something. This made the rappels tedious because the first guy had to carry all the rope with him and feed it out as he went down.