The 3 person rope team of Ana Gelabert, John Oster and Reed Bumgarner started from West Falls Church Metro a little after 6 a.m. Friday.  Reaching the Linville Falls campground around 2:00, we laid claim to 2 campsites and quickly headed for Shiprock, about 14 miles away on the BRP.  We started out on Borrowed Time, which John ably led, and later found out was his first 5.9 lead.  The bouldery start required some fancy feet and hands as Ana and Reed can attest.  Once up on the ledge above Borrowed Time, we walked about 20 yds. right to the start of Edge of a Dream (5.7) which Reed led.  We then rapped to the ledge and walked off to climber’s right. That was it for that short climbing day, and back to the campground for an early night.

    The alpine start next day started with raindrops on the tent.  John made us get up anyway and we headed up to Table Rock for some scouting and route identification accompanied by Rose, Mike, Laura, and Scott.  The rain stopped and we went to find the Amphitheater trail turnoff, then spent the rest of the afternoon toproping at the Chimneys.  With 2 ropes set up we managed to get about 6 variations of climbs, one of which was a very challenging tight chimney.  After Ana, John and I returned to the campground and took a quick cold dip in the river to clean up, we went to dinner at Spear’s barbeque.

    Sunday morning again started at 5:00, which was good, because we used every available photon of light by the time we topped out the last climb.  We finished off the Mummy in 2 pitches, with John combining the first 2, and Reed leading the rest.  After rapping down the gully, we started up the Daddy, John leading p.1 & 2, and Reed leading p.3-5.  Since we left packs at the bottom we were committed to rapping down the gully again and finishing the day on the Prow. We started the route on a large treed ledge to avoid the lower pitches and John led the entire way.  Headlamps were lit during the latter part of the final pitch and the walkout was in the dark past an angry rattlesnake whose dinner Laura and Scott had disturbed earlier.   According to their account, the rattler was in the middle of the trail trying to swallow a rodent when they met it.  The snake then coughed up its dinner and prepared to deal with the newcomers, who stepped gingerly around it.  All in all this was a most ambitious day, especially for a rope team of three climbing with 60 m. half ropes.  The Mummy and Daddy, especially, were both fun and steep, with the grades seeming somewhat softer than Seneca grades. Our team worked very well together and we look forward to climbing together again.

    Monday, we slept in a little before heading home.