On March 27 my dad and I set out on a overnight climbing trip to Devils Lake, Wisconsin. We are both avid climbers at Brooklyn Boulders climbing gym in Chicago, which we visit at least four times a week, and this was our first official outdoor climbing adventure. being gym climber we did not have a crash pad or rope or pretty much anything else needed for outdoor climbing since the gym supplied it all. We set out that morning and picked out a 60m rope an the Black Diamond ATC XP. We had brought along these cushions from a lawn chair as a crash pad cause you know safety third. After a stop at Starbucks across the street we hit the road. After a three hour drive we arrived at our campsite where we pitched camp put our gear into this duffel bag grabbed our “crashpad” and hiked out to find the West Bluff Boulders. We hiked down the trail for about ten minutes me carrying this overstuffed heavy duffel and my dad with this floppy thing slung over his shoulder. We arrived at this site that looked pretty good and us not being able to identify each problem just approached a boulder and climbed it. Now hear is the more important stuff. The following day we headed out to the East Bluff to try top roping but of course we didn’t have the right gear to anchor our rope. So we drove over to the North Bluff after a quick lunch. The boulders were good but the landings was bad due to jagged rock beneath the problems. Thankfully two dudes lent us there extra crash pad and guide book. Now hear is the important stuff if it is your first time rock climbing outdoor you ABSOLUTELY NEED certain gear if you are planning to tope rope or trad climb you MUST have proper anchors, I am talking slings, nuts, cams, quickdraws, carabiners, and webbing cause you DO NOT want to have one sling and one carbines like we did cause its kinda sketchy first of all but second of all a rope running over sharp rocks is bad. For bouldering you also MUST bring a crash pad and a guide book of some sort. Mountain project works pretty well but can be pretty confusing so I recommend a real guidebook.
