Serendipitous Climbing in Austin, Texas
It was one of those serendipitous experiences.
Before our work day started in Austin, Texas, my coworker Rachel and I started the day by checking out Try Hard Coffee for breakfast. One wall featured a collection of outdoor adventure photography by @kaartikgphoto. A few minutes later, the barista announced half-jokingly, "Kaartik is coming in, everybody clap for them!"
"Oh, you're the photographer!" I awkwardly exclaim, pointing vaguely to the wall of photographs behind me. Sure enough, this was the photographer. Kaartik started chatting with us about photography, how they got into climbing, and how awesome the outdoor climbing in Austin was.
Kaartik casually said that they'd be happy to show us some climbs outside before we left Austin at the end of the week, but I politely brushed it off because outside of trade show work, Rachel and I didn't have many daylight hours to get outside.
But of course... Kaartik and climbing had gotten inside my head. An hour after leaving Try Hard Cafe, I messaged Kaartik saying we'd love to get outside if they thought we could make a two hour window work. We made arrangements to meet at the trailhead for the Barton Creek Greenbelt, which was only a 15-minute drive from our hotel downtown.
Kaartik brought gear for both Rachel and I, and led us down a trail that had us at stunning limestone walls in less than five minutes. On the Rubber wall, Kaartik set up a 5.8 called Jimmy Hat, which Rachel and I both climbed on top rope. It was Rachel’s first time climbing outside (and only her second time climbing, ever!) and she absolutely crushed it. She pushed through any fear and pulled out some impressive high feet and foot switches with natural talent.
I led a 5.9 called Trojan, which had a high crux that felt even more cruxy because of limestone’s slippery nature and the amount of traffic this crag gets. Once I clipped the rope into the permadraws at the top of the climb, I took a minute to admire the view behind me, marvelling at the random way this night of climbing came together.
As the sun started to set, we packed up our gear and Kaartik talked us through some of the other nearby climbs, pointing classic lines and interesting features. A quick two hours of climbing left me wanting so much more time in the area, but I’ll happily take this quick climbing session in Austin over nothing at all.
