Fellow MOON teammate Ed Hamer and his brother Sam showed up (with a huge entourage of not so good looking but strong friends...) in Ceuse and naturally we hooked up. It was super fun to get to know Ed and his Entourage who taught me some new bad words as well as showing me how utterly fat, old and week I am. After a few days lurking around my project Ed asked me about the beta for Le poinconneur des lilas 8a+. Having spent 11 days so far on this route I had a pretty good idea about the beta and being a team player I generously shared the beta not reflecting on how bad I will look if he crushed it (mental note for the future, never share the ‘correct’ beta...)

Ed also being a team player decided to test out my beta and flashed Le poinconneur des lilas 8a+!!! Really nice way of improving the team spirit kid!!! Just kidding! I was super psyched for Ed and I'm even more motivated to send the dam thing myself. Again trying to show good sportsmanship and being the older more responsible climber I lent the kids an 80-meter rope, quite an essential thing to have in Ceuse. Then the rain came and again being old and responsible I donated a Gore-Tex jacket to young Ed so he would not get wet and cold and miss out on any further opportunities to humiliate me (Ed’s mother stole it off Ed the next day as it was the only clean item in their van). In a future MOON collection a light rain jacket for the crag might be a good idea or why not keep sponsoring each other? Ed we need some new micro cams from Wild Country for Cima Grande! 

The only consolation is that Ed flashed the route with my beta so I can’t blame the beta if I don't send... 

What did I send? Well not much to write home about but I managed the odd 7b onsight... More in the next cleaning blog. 

Pictures of David working Le poinconneur des lilas 8a+.