(left: Roanne selflessly missing Seattle sunshine to come and belay me in the shade at North Bend)
(above: Cam getting ready to redpoint Culture Shock (5.12a), the first bolt was stick clipped)
Like last weekend, we started out on Neverigine (10a). The rock was much warmer than the last weekend, my fingers were slightly chilled by the top, but not too cold. Roanne toproped it after I lead it, and after much complaining about numb fingers and cursing me for bringing her there, she got to the top. I had come with the intention of trying Culture Shock again (a really fun 5.12a), and there were some people toproping it, but they said I could lead it, and even use their draws (I only had to hang a few myself). I thought I had my sequence all worked out, so I got on it, but fell off at the crux, as the sequence I had planned on using proved to be too powerful when I was pumped from the lower section. I took a rest for about 30 minutes (Roanne had decided she didn't want to climb anything), and then got on it again. I tried a different sequence for the crux, and also something different lower down which saved some energy. I got to the crux, and felt pretty tired, but tried anyways. Normally I do the crux moves statically after a rest, but I had to make a throw, and just barely caught the hold, with my foot coming off, then made another throw and skin of the teeth catch, and I was through the crux! I was super pumped then, but luckily the rest of the route is on jugs, so I finished off to the anchors pretty easily. I was super happy because this was my first 5.12 since I hurt my finger this last summer, so I feel like my form is coming back (slowly).
I would have tried some more climbs, but Roanne was pretty cold and I was happy with sending Culture Shock, so we hiked down to the car and drove back to Seattle.