Today (1/10/06) Joe Szot, Matt Horner and I opened "Katherine" (M8, 110m) at long last.  This route was the last remaining obvious plum at Poke-O-Moonshine.  We had all stared at the tempting and spectacular icicles that hang over the Paralysis Amphitheater year after year; yet the hangers had remained inviolate.  The 55m first pitch had been done before and ascends the big black corner below the roof which is the summer rock climb "Moonshine" and involves only rock protection and hollow, technical but not strenuous ice.  The crux of this pitch occurs toward the end of a 30' run-out.  The second pitch works up a short ice bulge and then straight out right onto rock as it follows the wide horizontal gap (from which we trundled a ton of horrid crumbly rock) and up onto the exquisite gently overhanging golden anorthosite past four bolts on thin holds to the free-hanging blue icicles that hang from the lip of the enormous roof.  The crux is short and is basically one really big move from a thin hook to a bucket and then the ice.  This route is a real gem!

There's more than enough to go around at Poke-O-Moonshine right now! 

Enjoy,