moisture ... friend or enemy?

A little bit of both.

August 19, 2007: TJ Burchfield on The B Seam, Mount Evans Wilderness Area, CO. TJ was all set to flash this gem of a line UNTIL he hit a seeping often-wet spot that stopped him dead in his tracks. We frustratingly tried to dry the hold to no avail (although TJ returned a week later to find it dry and sent). Obviously, we want dry conditions and low humidity when we're out at the boulders and it's frustrating when it's not PERFECT, but next time it starts raining or snowing (or a problem is seeping), remember that without the water ... our precious little boulders would not exist. In our obsession to send, it seems we sometimes forget that water is responsible for the carving of mountains, gorges and canyons, the erosion of hillsides, the fracturing of cliffs and the release of portions of those cliffs into free-standing boulders and talus fields. And don't forget about the creation of cracks and pockets of every shape and size, the shaping, reshaping and eventual breaking of every hold and feature we use when climbing as well as the one's we don't use. Of course, now that I've given this lecture, I will be the first one to look skywards the next time it rains and scream "WHY NOW DAMNIT???!!!11!!!?"