12/26/06 - 1/1/07 Joshua Tree with chica, Theron, Orion, Wang, and Mia.
12/2 late start session at crsp with Fueco.
12-1 7am dawn patrol session at CRSP.
T-giving Weekend - Bouldering at Castle on Saturday. Cool temps, tacky, but lots of tourists. 18 completed problems and 2 attempted problems (Duct Tape and The V3 Flakes problem on PL rock)
11-18 and 11-19-06 Another trip into the canyon, or at least we thought it would be. Huge road block; a house sized boulder. Turned around caught Paul on the way in and we debated our options. Adventure won and we went down to Beardsley to check out a formation. Some potential. Mile hike in unfortunately. Got one bolt in with the short days and the long hike. But TR'd a couple 50' variations. Alternate route in next time. The next day we dedicated ourselves to getting some free climbing in rather than exploring. Short cracks it was. TR'd "Tourmaline Earrings" at 5.6 with a variation at the top that goes at 5.8+ by staying on the face without using the chimney. Then TR'd "SLC" a hard start leads to some good crack 10b. Then "Short" we both got clean on TR at 10b (false start for me, then clean). A great line with lots of different moves on it. After that we ended up at some other crag, a newish crag. Quarter inch hangerless bolts on top. We dropped fresh anchors and TR'd a flakey 10 and lead a nice hand crack to low angle slab with crack pro. Tried to do the direct, but it was hard with no feet. Another line on the left of the formation will go as well and another crack on the left side. We polished the day at Corridor of Cracks. Paul hadn't been and dug the problems.
11-10 thru 11-12 06 Bamas trip. Friday late start and drove over arriving to killer views of the Inyos and Whitney as the sun is going down. Managed to get up and rolling at good hour Saturday with continental breakfast at the comfort inn. Twas a bit cool last night so we started off in the sun at the Candy Store knocking out the bolted 5.8 and TRs on the "5.10s". Chica did the 5.8 with no trouble. After that we TR'd 4 lines on the formation behind that (chica did as well but got frustrated on a pendu fall move left on one problem when she could do the direct) and a quick solo up a nice crack feature nearby. Later we checked out the Poodle Wall and had no issue with leading the 9s. Polished the day with solos on the Whitney boulder (6 of them). A quick drive up Horseshoe meadow road reminded me of old backpacking days and some cool rock up there. Chica slept at that point due to altitude. 16 routes for the day capped with caesar salad and filet mignon at Seasons. quite good. Sunday was leisurely with a trip to the film museum, then a drive up the road to Whitney Portal. Frozen waterfall and killer rock buttresses. Back down for a burger and then blast for a ridge line that I wanted to check out that looked promising as a bouldering area. It turned out to have some nice short lead or TR potential. I'll be back. Scoped the whole base area and a neaby mine that had a big grey owl in it. Topped the day with finding some chalk on some excellent boulders that I did a few easy problems on. A mantle. A slabby white arete. A slabby traverse to the groove on same white face. A featured arete that got vid of. Definite worthy area and easy access.
11-4 and 11-5 06- SPH ww trip. Noots and Chris made it up along with Factor4. Fearful of the weather, it actually turned out ok. Slightly overcast with long bouts of sunshine. First day we humped (via an approach gully out and around from the HITWA) way up onto the Buddha Belly and did a 150' blunted arete to a gear anchor. Pro to 3" and a handful of draws. 5.7ish The second pitch is best started by jogging right 10' and then up a lieback fracture to where the slab gets going. Run it out on easy ground above to the tree. Walk off by a ramp feature to the gully to the East. Hit the saddle for max value for a gorgeous view. We rapped white corner in 2 200' raps, tho it can be done in 3 100' as well now. Chriz and Noots dusted off a couple cracks for the redpoint the next day.
The second day was spent easily establishing an approach pitch to HITWA and a low angle slab route that was really clean but really easy, pro to 4 camalot and join anchors on Friendly Fire. 3x 100' Once that was done we wasted the afternoon working out 4 different TR variants. The hardest straight up that avoids the flake on the right is hard 5.10. The others vary but are all worthy to spend time on since you are already there. Noots and Chris TR'd one crack and got the FA on the other crack. both 5.10s.
10-27 no trip. cancelled due to chica coming down with flu. next weekend for sure.
10/21 and 22 2006- SPH ww trip again to make up for last weekend's sick fest on Sunday. We did. Finishing Factor4's first pitch with a stellar white corner on thin gear and run a little bit. Got to the capstone and did a 100' pitch, F4's lead. Rapped down and called it good. Then on Sunday we did a new slab route that ended at a station. Quality finishing jugs. Good thin gear with edges to make it go. But the start and placing the second bolt is F4 really shined this weekend. Good times.
10/14/2006- SPH ww trip after being on call. Screwy Friday the 13th day had me dying to leave work. Jammed out of town after Factor4 came by. Got supplies at the usual Save Mart, where we called Noots, Chriz and Uber. They were in town too. Raced to the campsite in good time, while Noots got lost again missing the turn off. Chilly temps and a beer and we went to sleep. Rick K was already there, we just didn't know it yet. He came over in the morning and after cooking eggs, much to the chagrin of the boyz (since Factor promised to bring eggs, but didn't) we hiked in and set to work on the project while the boyz worked a crack system or two. The project was the left side of the long arete on the left side of the main buttress. Starting in a dirty dihedral I nearly knocked 30 lb flake onto my belayer. I managed to move them and then move the flake so that no one was hit or hurt and gear was saved. Easy traverse and I was belaying under the roof. 5.6 maybe? Erik got the best lead, the second pitch for some nice long moderate face moves. A bolt on that pitch. He had to pop in some anchor bolts as there wasn't any good gear nearby. Loose boulders had us wanting to trundle them so as not to kill someone later by accident. Hopefully this years snow and water will loosen it sufficently so we don't have to. A runout 5.4 pitch above that leads to Manzanita. Alternative is to climb to TOJ anchors and rap from there. We rapped down the left side of the headwall, barely having enough juice to get down. the next day's project firmly decided, for some anyways.
That night superb party around the old campfire. I apparently had not drank enough water and drank too much alcohol. I wretched the next morning and day much to my dismay. I was thoroughly bummed by my inability to climb and was thoroughly nauseous all day long with a dull sensation that my body hurt. No headache to speak of, but either way I was out of full day. What a waste. The guys got out ok and did some cracks. And Factor and Rick did up the first pitch of the new project placing 3 bolts. I managed to get my crap together eat some saltines and 7up. Waiting for them til 8ish was a drag. I thought Erik would have rode out with Rick. But oh well, my predicament. I plan to make up for it next weekend.
9/30/2006 - Pinnacles - The intent was to meet up with Dave S. and Doug L. for a quik reunion for the day. Dave was in town with his chica. The West side was the goal, but apparently I didn't figure out that weddings are on Saturdays, no Fridays. crap. Well the consolation was a couple new recorded lines. Got there around 9am. Cashier asked for ID on my parks pass, so i have to go out to the truck to get it. She recognizes me and knows I have a pass everytime. I dunno. Maybe I'm cynical in my old age. So I leisurely get my stuff together in the false hope I'll see Doug and Paul arrive. It's a no go. So off I head to the Machete Base Area. I figure I'll solo Twinkle Toes and set a TR and wait for the guys. So I do, but immediately I'm beset by boredom so I start toprope soloing. The first is the upper part of "young in deed" an otherwise run out face climb left of TT. With that out of the way I'm warmed up and I decide to check out the face off left of YID. I drop the fixed line and TR solo on a grigri with back up knots. The rope is not hanging on a good fall line, but I make it work. The route is mossy down low and dirty with loose holds all over. It starts left of the tree and trends right to join the anchors, sort of following the pull of the rope. Chica later that night shows me a book title (that neither of us read) and it's called "Jesus rode a donkey." There are so many ways to interpret it, I think it's great. Not offensive in a mean spirited way, but also nicely irreverent spiritually. So when typing it up I call it that. It may have been done before, but not likely given the number and size of holds I was pulling off. A group of three did Destiny. Mike, Genie, and I think Jeff. Nice folks. Originally from Boulder, moved to Menlo. After that I take a spin up the TR that is immediately right of TT. I done this one before a couple years ago. A nice clean alternative if you are set up on TT for a TR. Next is a creative thought to TR the arete between the crack on TT and YID. Essentially step left onto the mid start for YID, then stay right on the arete pulling some harder moves than either YID or TT and go straight up and join the anchor up high by stepping left at the last moment. Actually a nice alternative. After that I'm worried because I haven't seen Dave or Doug or Paul. So I head out for cell coverage to see where they are. Send a text message while driving out for food. Then call my Chica and she corrects my mistaken dates with what sounds totally reasonable and turns out to be the case. A bummer to be sure. But at least I got a couple TRs out of the day. I make it back early for dinner out and don't get any calls that night for work. I actually get some great progress made on housework since I'm stuck locally and can't meet the guys because I had already arrange the day just to get Saturday off.
9/22/06- 9/24/06 Kings Canyon- Freak Show Attempt Grade V 5.8 A3+ -
Tortured and tangled. That’s how I would describe one’s love affair with Walls. Timid and tangled? That’s how I felt. Once burnt, twice scorn, not really shy. Yeah, that’s something like how it goes. I felt myself wondering how I really came to this place; buying a used Pig and a new porta ledge from Russ and thrutching up jumars following the block of pitches Chris Iz would lead. I don’t know why. Maybe it was the ‘munge’ pitch. Maybe it was the remoteness. Maybe it was set in stone when Craig Peer got online and told us of his rebolting efforts. More than that though, was it the lack of “Valley” line ups? Not wanting to be rushed. To enjoy the route? Yeah, I think that’s it. Enjoy a Wall.
[i]Freak Show - The Wall[/i]
[img]http://static.flickr.com/105/252780093_c3b52f6765_b.jpg[/img]
Leaving on Thursday night left us lagging the next morning. But we told ourselves we have all day to do 3 pitches. But noon became 2 and 2 became 4pm and what with beer being totally left behind we had to stop at the store. C'mon right, us leave with no beer? Besides there was the nice chat we had with Kim at the Wilderness permit cabin at Road’s End.
So with that we started up the first pitch after racking and packing the bags. Oh I forgot to tell you the Pig was too heavy to carry in one go up the approach talus. Roughly 40 minutes or so still loaded down with half the weight. Chris being Heroic jammed back down and up to grab the rest of the gear. That made twice he hiked thru black flies or gnats which are the real crux of the approach. That and the heat… It’s a bit warm, but not bad. The last time I was there two weeks prior the temps in the afternoon were still in the 90s at 4pm. Repack again to put the haul straps away and we’re off.
[img]http://static.flickr.com/96/253064161_7e68a6d801_o.jpg[/img]
Chris makes short work of the slab and cuts right to clip a bolt and back left again to the anchor. The hauling sux but I help by pushing from below. We don’t know whether 1 to 1 or 2 to 1 is better with me at the belay or helping the pig out from under roofs. As is typical this creates more delays.
[img]http://static.flickr.com/111/253064680_6d0e9d5aef_o.jpg[/img]
The 2nd pitch is short and Chris free climbs the steep headwall in really good style. With the anchor clipped he starts us off hauling, again, with more hang ups. It’s getting dusk. I am helping push and prod and get up to finish up but have to lower down again to free the pig. It’s dark. I’m beat and we’ve only done two pitches. Night is upon us. Suffering has regained its home in my body and I am serving it breakfast in a few more hours.
[img]http://static.flickr.com/96/253076747_d55b28b5c0_o.jpg[/img]
Mostly I think how great it will be to eat and sleep. And it is for the most part. The only trouble is that there is only room enough to hang one portaledge. There is no decent pro on this big 3rd class ledge system. We beef up the two bolt belay by placing a back up bolt that doubles as spot to hang a portaledge. Definitely civilized at this point. This takes us time and being bushed I’m not really reorganizing anything at this point, which we pay the price for the next morning.
[img]http://static.flickr.com/102/252780087_e2117864ff_b.jpg[/img]
The porta ledges are good and home like with only one collapse of Chris’ pro type ledge he scored from some guy in Santa Cruz. But I’ll say this much his ledge is light weight and sets up in a minute. I have to re set straps and realize a fully hanging bivy would suck with not having this dialed. At first it is warm but the evening chills and a breeze is out. The stars shine after the fire haze blows away from a fire on the opposite side of the Kings Canyon.
[img]http://static.flickr.com/102/253076759_2c7036a2a6.jpg[/img]
The best part of a Wall in my very limited experience is waking up the next morning and looking around. The light streaming up canyon, the rock formations, and the long sought after goal of mine; to hang my feet over the porta ledge side and wiggle my toes.
[img]http://static.flickr.com/96/252780083_96ef3d6be9_b.jpg[/img]
[img]http://static.flickr.com/110/252780081_55c0b37baf_b.jpg[/img]
It’s all good we can make it. No doubts at this point. Just hard work. I start moving before Chris. Typical though. Chris is a later mover. So I start organizing after eating a dried out bagel from Trader Joe’s. Definitely need preservative based mooshy bagels next time.
[img]http://static.flickr.com/101/253076797_db6beaebe2_o.jpg[/img]
First pitch above the bivy starts with a bit of Aid that looks like it could go free, but it’s awkward for Chris to get a high step in his aider. A loose old nut gets moved to set a better piece. The traverse is casual for Chris, but there isn’t much pro for the second. The real test gets us at the Roof where Chris learns about being creative and problem solving. We’d heard from Craig that blade stacks were the ticket, but Chris couldn’t get them to stick. I tag up some other gear and he sets an LA that holds the bounce testing. He’s stymied still. Funky direction, loose spot, and hybrids make it feasible for him to go up. But it’s taking awhile. No problem we got all day. Warm but not to hot. We got water to spare. So maybe we really don’t have all day. Remember how we toasted yesterday? This puts us a full pitch, that was to be fixed, behind.
[img]http://static.flickr.com/117/253076844_81dda2634e_o.jpg[/img]
[img]http://static.flickr.com/87/252780096_396f033c04_b.jpg[/img]
It rolls up on 2pm Saturday. It will take us another 40 minutes to haul I’m sure. 3pm ish. Shit, how the fuck am I supposed to get us up my block of three A3 pitches to the bivy on pitch 5 today so we can be off tomorrow. The day is blown. I’ll need everything I got to get us thru that. Can we fix another pitch and haul up and run the last pitches all in a day? It’s not promising. But at least I got to fly the pirate flag we got just for the occasion.
[img]http://static.flickr.com/102/252780090_6d6373e83d_b.jpg[/img]
My experience is summiting the Prow (using the Belly Crawl pitch) and a smattering of 1 pitch Aid lines, a failed attempt at Half Dome as a group of three, which I’ll never do again, and a shot at the South Face of the Column in a day. Don’t get me wrong I’ve got patience and enough gear to figure it out, but even in my best estimation it would take me most of the day to lead 2 pitches and one of the pitches needed some rebolting too. Immediately I’m seized of the idea that we don’t have it sussed up. We are going to be pushing it at some point and then I’ll do something rushed and stoopid. I’m not doing walls to die. I’m doing them to have fun. Yes, it is another backing off. It is another time I will have to tell other’s that I did not make it up a Grade V. But now a day later I’m quite comfortable with it all. It’s not the last weekend to do this. We’ll go lighter next time. We’ll stash water at the base ahead of time. We’ll not bring up so much iron. We’ll utilize Friday. We’ll know the first 3 pitches. Maybe we’ll swap the A3 even so it’s not all me weighed down by tangled thoughts of torturous knife blade stacks and funky copper heads. Spooky is the term I used. Bad mojo. Every wall climber’s excuse. Whatever.
Chris is not entirely objecting and the rap stations are fixed. It is easy to descend. All the fiber in the body tells us to go down. It is natural. I haven’t overcome nature yet. We descend by riding the pig down on rap. Quite the ride. Learned a good way to do this, not that I want to get comfy with the idea of rapping down.
Still have to hump down, but eventually we make it down. Toss the crap down and start planning on a good meal, deserved or not. The lodge is still open so we pack and jam up there and plan on Sequoia for the next morning. We make easy party of 11 or so pitches of free climbing Sunday to alleviate our angst and give me some time on the sharp end. Killer climbing on killer rock all to ourselves really do a lot to calm the soul. Perfect temps at 8k. We swap leads burning 5.10 and 5.11 face problems and multi pitch knob hikes. It could be worse. I could not be enjoying myself. Today, I am.
[img]http://static.flickr.com/114/253076871_fd880b9675_o.jpg[/img]
[img]http://static.flickr.com/115/253076980_deb08ad696_o.jpg[/img]
[img]http://static.flickr.com/84/253076917_ba7d319b8b_o.jpg[/img]
[img]http://static.flickr.com/80/253076939_8ec8403bd9_o.jpg[/img]
9-16 9-17 2006- Jim Mc's bday party on Sat. Had to bypass an SPH Saturday; for good reason, he's a fellow Pinns climber. Rare those that love what Pinnacles has to offer. Adventure at every grade. Left Sat evening, crashed out, and got woken by hunters with a huge diesel rig pulling up right next to me. Assmonkeys. Scuffy B stopped by and I told him about Miwok's VW blowing up. Then related the Ubergoober details and the slim possibility of Rick coming over the hill too.
We ended up going straight to the new area (DMT's), and had a good day. 3 pitches total, but still got worked. Lots of Sun. Near perfect temps. Good hike in. F1F Steve on Brutus's corner. A fist crack crux. Then TR with 1 pump fall the face off left. An established TR. Then FNF a fist crack corner to double hand traverses in one pitch. Explored a bit. Steve explored more. Called it a day at some point with a bottle gift from the 'giving tree'. Cool temps in the evening with a breeze, but not real bad. Going to start cooling down more and more.
9/9 and 9/10 2006- Went back to the newest area with Noots and Chris and Uber. Backed off a nice arete because I didn't want to place a bolt. But since I couldn't do it, I offered it to Uber with the unspoken proviso that it doesn't get a bolt. He seemed to reason it that way too. And fired it! This was all after Noots got up a hand crack to a headwall. We had to wait for him to clear the area before climbing. So we ended up doing some easy peasy things over on the So aspect of the pyramidal face. The next day we TR'd a couple really thin lines on the No side of the Deadman curves area. Jeff barely worked out the moves on his line. Very technical. I tried to work out the moves on my water streak, but a double sided crystal broke and tore a hole in my finger tip. End of the day, or so I thought. We approached Deadman's Buttress and did the gully between the 3 and 4th DM buttresses. 4th class, couple thousand feet of gain.
9/3 and 9/4 2006- knee worked well. some continued popping, but serviceable. got up late friday night. 2am. so late start Sat. pointed uber and heather to the new stuff above Flash. Then cruised across the contour to the new stuff Noots and Chris started on. Glad they got the psyche for the area. Followed Noots on Doolie (sp?) 5.8/5.9 double crack system. The prominent set from the road. Noots was pumped. Chris followed and I came up last. FNF Dirty, but it got cleaned later. A real nice line. We put in a two bolt anchor/rap above a possible project. Should work for both lines. We botched 2 bolts placing one anchor. Chris mushroomed a sleeve, then I promptly did the same thing. lame. Rapped and camped with Steve with the rest of em. Sunday went up to practice aid with Chris for the following weekend's Freak Show. Chris aided up the 10c corner at First Buttress at A1+. Then rapped over the left side from a separate bolted anchor. Hot in the sun. We then hiked up to the new stuff to join uber, noots and heather. They cleaned and did some existing lines. Then Chris did his 5.8 corner after I started immediately to talk about the face route. I stanced the first one from a block, then uber went up and did the 2nd one from a hook. Well done! Not a long distance apart, but the fall is bad so close together is just right for this line. We we're too pooped to give the third a real effort. As noots and chris finished the 5.8 LFC Jeff lead and I followed NF a 5.6 hand crack with knobs to an easy flare, then a couple ramps. Dirty as well. Monday got up and made bfast and blasted for Kings to stash water for Freak Show, but by the time we got there at 4pm, the temps were still in the high 80s. If the next weekend is like this, then we will fry. I don't do well in Fry conditions. Maybe better if we focus on 10 days After. Boulder a very little on the prow at Road's end. Then drove back. A fatality crash involving a pick up hitting the back of a semi had traffic completely stopped for 2 hours. got in and showered around 1am.
8/26/2006- knee is getting better. hiked at Pinnacles West Side with the gents. They got on first pitch of Peregrine, Flumes and Machete Direct. Got some good pics. Everything so dry in the summer. no climbing by me.
8/18-8/20- Since the knee has been shot as of Monday. Possible torn miniscis or collateral ligament tendon strain. We shortened chica's bday trip to one location instead of two parts of the state. Lassen Volcanic NP. Stayed in Redding Friday night. Lassen Sat. and Chico Sat night and Sunday. Got to see steam vents, mud pots, volcano, cliffs, meadows, etc. and visit the mothership Sierra Nevada brewing company. Automatic transmissions are clutch if you don't have a functional left knee.
8/12 and 8/13- heavy stuff at work cancelled SPH plans for the weekend. Didn't even boulder. Need to start riding again to get the weight down. Freak Show is planned and will get done 2nd weekend in Sept. Ten Days After is planned and will get done around the 22nd of Sept.
7/29-8/5- Maui, HI Snorkeling, Sea Turtles, Dolphins, Urchins, Sea cucumbers/slugs, puffer fish, and a Moray eel. Managed to get some bouldering in using my tevas. Some at Kapalua 2x VB problems, one V0 traverse on what feels like sandstone, but is probably not. And also quality rock on Haleakala on the volcano V0 traverse and 1 V0 upward problem. Tried to surf, but shore break and small waves don't mix for a noob like me. Body surfed plenty though. Chica got in some great ocean-view yoga classes and massage at the Ritz. The only bummer was sleeping without air conditioning, but the snorkeling made up for it as well as a tremendous sunset at Lahaina. Post card perfect.
7/22/06 weekend- heat wave strikes the bay area. Factor4boy is married off. The next week I hustle my ass at work to get things ready so chica and I can hit Maui, thx to pops' invite.
7-16-06 Bachelor weekend for Factor4boy. After a hustle to get the weekend covered I ended up hardly climbing anything. A long work week with wake up every night, but one, I decided to sleep in Sat am. It took 4 hours to cross the Central Valley to the Yos Entrance station with the late start. But got up eventually found the note and cars and humped up to the base of Drug Dome and Hobbit Book. Mosquitos are out. Both areas looked awesome. Yelled up to Brad and Jeff on Hobbit Book but they couldn't hear me. Not being able to coordinate a descent route, I went back to the car after looking at Oz close up.
Back at the car, I had a beer chips and salsa and read while waiting for the guys. A ranger for no apparent reason does a u turn eyeballs me and keeps going in the direction originally headed. wtf? apparently we are all suspect. So eventually got tired of waiting and hit the knobs bouldering. Still some water at the area. Chris rolled up and we headed back to camp. Most of the food having been eaten I made do with a bit of tri tip, a sausage, chips and salsa and beer. Late night jawing around the campfire. Ubergoober passed out around the fire pit, almost got lost finding his bed.
Crack of Noon start. Leisurely wake up. Uber hung over. Chris made some stellar grub of eggs and sausage and cheese. Got rolling and climbed at East Cottage Dome. Chris onsighted Mystery Route and Knobknoxious. I fell 2 or 3 times on the TR of Mystery Route. Lack of sleep. But TRNF on Knobknoxious.
Lost Chris to a Brad tick effort and Uber and Feral Rat went home early. Factor and his amigos and bro headed for the lake after missing the descent back to the cars from East Cottage Dome. We all had a beer and chips and salsa and went for a swim. I thought about soloing something on the left side of stately, but decided to head back early to see chica.
The drive back was slow and arduous. The heat in the Central Valley was unbearable. I don't know how I survived 2 years there without AC.
7/1 and 7/2/06- 5:45 start. Evan rolls up, as any good trip report starts, hung over. The days' objective is clear. Establish some new short quality knob routes ground up. We did. Evan's first efforts at drilling bolts, on lead no less, hanging off of slung knobs. Over the last two weekends, here's what went recorded...
Saturday was at Fun Area and Predecessor Cracks, camping near the pass. Sunday was finishing the lines at Fun Area. Early afternoon after the sun soaked us, we dropped down to the Dardanelle Resort and got water and an ice cream to prep us for Burst Rock. At Burst we did a Polk Salad Annie, and Mean Business Woman. TRNF on both, PSA 2 times for me. Then TR'd a short clean face Evan is calling "Savage" at 11d. I couldn't pull it. I did the left and right sides. Left at 5.4, the right at 5.6. TRNF. After that we headed out for a casual slow drive out, stopping to check out Dodge Ridge boulders. Some cool problems.
6/24 and 6/25 2006- odark early start, I woke up 15 min late. Loaded Chris into the truck and headed up. The agenda was to help Joe F. who is a SJ SAR guy helping out Tracy Mayo look for her mom who disappeared a year ago. They needed climbers to check the ledges immediately below the Vista. I'd wanted to help out last go around but figured they already had rope riggers, but guess not. We dropped 2 fixed lines and searched several wide swaths of granite below the Vista proper and a photo opportunity spot just West of the Vista. Chris and Erik did most of the jugging. Pat and I scrambled and scouted various gullies and promontories nearby. It was a worthwhile endeavor to rule out that limited area that a fixed line could inspect. Now just the base needs walking from what I understand. Positive thoughts to the Mayo family. Joe was pleasantly surprised that we got such a big area inspected. The heat drove us back up along with running out of area to check. So we called the day's efforts off. A burger and fries at the Donnell Resort was tasty. But left us lethargic for afternoon climbing options.
Up to the Pass where it is cooler. We found a couple nice cracks to work on near Deadman's curves near my recent project. First was "Short Beautiful Crack" [edit- now referred to as the Predecessor Cracks] 5.5 * 25'. FRFA- Rob Behrens, Chris Iz 6/24/06. Locker jams with knobs for feet. Short, but very pleasant. Gear to #2 camalot and a couple big pieces for an intermediate belay/top rope until you can rap the nearby tree. Chris then lead it's nearby cousin crack that starts in the same spot. Also 5.5ish with a slight tunnel effect added to keep the lines somewhat separate down low. Gear to #3 camalot. After that we joined Erik and Pat on a line Erik tried to lead up. He got some good upward progress. But a toprope was the way to go. From the rap station you can toprope this line called "Bloody Knees" [edit or Bratton down the hatches] FTR Rob Behrens 6/24/2006. We moved over to a detached pinnacle that was peppered with knobs. Pat slung two slings around the top for a TR anchor. Not bomb proof but it passed until we could determine if it's worth it to keep going. It was worth it. Pat did the TR using the left edge of the south face of the Pinnacle at a moderate 5.7/8. I did a direct TR with maybe a 5.9 move at the bottom staying on the face. Both were short but very good quality. 25'? Easy down climb the back side to set and remove the TR. That late in the afternoon Erik and Pat had to take off. We wished them well and dropped to the car for a cold one. Chris got a bug to do another one. I wasn't really up for it, but I felt better than right after lunch so I followed Chris to the base. I wasn't sure which one he was checking out, but we go up the corner up at the top that looked good. It was dirty, but doable. Chris lead it up in fine style. Maybe 5.7? Dirty pro to #2 camalot, i think. I'm recommending Chris call it "Wonder if Steve and Allen have been here?" As they've done a bunch of climbs in this area. Some more reported than others. We caught up with Scuffy B at the end of the day. We managed to find a spot near the Cal Trans dirt lot and actually saw a Jeff's Subaru and yelled to him just in time to catch him before driving too far.
Day Two, was to get up fuel up with food and coffee and send the new project. I had determined that I had to be "Fresh" to be able to send it and the temps needed to be cooler. I had both. Though it was warming fast. I was in good spirits and ready to send, even if I had to do a second try. Luckily it wasn't needed. Good vibes from the guys and I tied in. Set the first nut without issue and did a bit of a goofy move on the first bolt but clipped it fine. Took a big breath; then pushed into the roof and thin stuff above. Clipped the 2nd bolt from the undercling. The first crux is getting over the powerful undercling to a right hand gaston, bump the right foot and stand to reach the upper part of this section of the seam. Delicate steps left and a right foot knob gets the third clip. Then the business starts. Two high steps to knobs on the seam allow upward progress. The last high step needs a rock over and stand up on it, then clip the 4th and start moving up, then immediately left after 1 move. Then a quick breather as you stand on a knob. Then some delicate 10a balance gets you to a locker finger pocket that you likely will want to put a nut into to protect the exit move. Consensus is around 5.11.
I was soooo psyched to send that thing. It was amazing. "Fresh" * 4 bolts and some medium size wired nuts. FA Rob Behrens. (top down placement of bolts due to loose rock and lack of stances and not wanting to pin out the crack just to place good clips). I had been leading so poorly lately, and to pull this out of my arse was something. I guess I just really wanted to send this one. Everyone gave it a burn. Jeff popped as did Scuffy B and Chris gave a TR burn with hangs. Brad got the redoint as well but with several different moves. It's interesting to watch others climb and discuss the moves that you just did. The recollections of movements are totally different. I gave Brad a TR burn on a 10b that we did last weekend with Busko and a lead on the 5.7 flake next to it. Jeff and Scuffy headed up to what is now being called "Upper East Bound" cliff. A short 10a that Scuffy B got the FA on- gear to #1 camalot. Jeff did a FRA of 5.5 crack to the right around the corner. Gear to 1.5". One star for the 5.5. I didn't like the 10a. The Juniper behind you gets in the way. Both are short at about 20-25'. Jeff got the FTR of the arete between the two after I couldn't do the moves in the full sun. I instead solo'd a low angle crack system 5.4 FRA? around to the left from the descent of this group of climbs. Scuffy and Chris did up a "new" crack off to the right on the taller wall of the area. Roof and left leaning crack. Pro to 4 camalot size as far as I could see. Likely an FA or FFA, but Scuffy was circumspect about others having done it. Possible, but Chris said the crack was pretty scruffy to have been done. At the least, a "new" FRA. Back to the cars when the lightning came out. We got a few drops had a beer and waited for a bit. With grey skies the temps were good. We went for one more. Chris did a FRA of a nice right facing corner up the hill from "Fresh." Chris didn't have any trouble and Jeff lead it also. Scuffy did some bouldery short fractures above the corner and we all ended up option soloing as John Gill calls it. I gained the ledge they were on by a 5.4 blocky set of cracks off left of the main corner. My contribution to the "option solos" were two flakes about 13' each. Jeff and Chris and Scuff each did one on one short clifflet in particular. Then they worked on a couple short fractures up higher. All in all a great 2 days despite the heat. A solid redpoint on one of my hardest FA projects to date.
6/18 2006- odark early start with Ubergoober driving. Made stellar time to Jamestown. Got to First Buttress area (Scuffy B, Brad Young, Chris, myself and Uber, Busko met up with us later) Uber lead "Girls Best Friend" with us all following. Then Uber did an attempt on Township Rebellion, but broke a hold 6" from the top. He'll have it next time. After that we went to the Dihedral on First Buttress proper. I got sun soaked and dropped a rock on my instep. Not having fun, went down but forgot my shoes. ugh! After that we went up and TR'd my project past the buttresses, as well as a 10a next to it, just left of the 5.7. FTR Rob Behrens 6/17/2006 only because I happened to do it clean first. Chris sussed the moves out and cleaned the loose.
The next day we opted for East Bound Slab. I LNF the 5.6 crack, and we TR'd the 10c, and I TR'd the 11a with no problem, but then tried to lead it but couldn't finish it. We then walked across to Midas. Jeff, Scuff b and Chris all had their goes at it on lead. Steve was the successful one with Jeff working the moves bolt to bolt and Chris burned a TR lap clean. After that back to the project and a strong lead to the 3rd bolt, but I'm buttering off the holds. Too hot and I don't have the endurance for anthor clean attempt. So I work it bolt to bolt and make the final moves out. After that we're cooked and we head home. Traffic in Livermoe due to construction at only 9pm.
6/10/06-6/11/06- Saturday, after I camo’d some hangers on that thing I worked on last season (the one where the hanging tooth broke off), I went to Forefather’s Wall- Dingus and his girls, Angus, Jeremy had already started up. I caught up with Scuffy B. Dingus, et. al. were on Tag Team, scuffy gave it a burn while I looked at the snow bank below Stu-pendous... Cool looking line.
Scuffy then cruised Midas, but I wasn’t feeling like pushing on 10s that early that were that steep. In retrospect I should have to set the tone for the weekend for myself.
Scuff then cruised Penstemon Pillar that I followed on TR with 1 fall. I thought it was tough. Probably just me. Dingus’ gang had to head home so Scuffy and I checked out First Buttress. The 10c looks good, plus we looked at a bunch of other stuff.
Nice campfire at Chipmunk Flat campground all to ourselves. Steve slept at lower elevation and met up with us the next morning. We went up to Fortress in the Sky, Tim Toumey’s new area. Up there by 9:30ish, I think. Long slog up, but the trail is pretty good. Today “Paul” from Twain Harte joined us with his pup Eva. Later on another lone figure joined as well, “Lance.” Both welcome additions to the party belay ledge we had.
Scuffy lead up the approach pitch to Alvin and everyone followed that (TRNF for me, thought it was more like 5.8). Scuffy then lead Alvin managing to kick loose a small block that did not appear to be loose last year according to Tim. I followed with no falls. Lance also got on it and gave it hell, persevering to the top. In the meantime Tim had worked up Chipmunk Rodeo, Scuffy lead it as well and I TR’d it Chipmunk Rodeo with no falls, just one false move up and down slowed me a bit. Paul took off to keep Eva a happy pup. After that the sun had soaked us. Scuffy was fired to lead “Shoemaker Levy 9,” and I’m still not sure I understand the origins of the name. But in any event Scuffy lead it up in fine style using some good rests. He lowered and cleaned from some new links put on the anchor. After that we checked out a boulder near Burst that was really cool.
6/4- Cousins wedding on Sat. Cute couple. Needed to go to work afterwards, but was too distracted to think. Loaded the truck and left 5am next morning to climb. I'll have to pay for it this week at work, but Sunday was worth it. Restorative. Made good time getting to Pump Rock by 7:55am. I believe I left the house at 5am. Fill up at gas station. One stop for fast food bfast and one quick top off at Cold Springs so I didn't have to stop on the way home.
Evan was quitting smoking so I listened to his trials while we packed up and had a cup of joe. Decided on Hexcentric and Column of the Giants. I'd seen hex, but hadn't actually climbed it before. Followed Evan and Chris. The top on that thing is shitty. Big loose blocks. Bush anchor way back. After that we hit what I've just casually referring to as Michelle's cracks. Since she's the only other person I know of that has been up there. Nice low angle fun splitters. Dirty, but fun nonetheless.
5/30- Memorial Weekend- cleaned house, family visit. spackle and paint touch ups been meaning to do, got done. Would have been nice to climb. But no tourons either.
5/20 and 5/21/06- weather moved in to Cali, so we opted for driest location as opposed to Cal Domes that we intended on. Good thing. Rained all over, except where we were basically. Went to Alabama Hills. Short version 28 routes in 2 days. All bolted clip ups. Ratings were soft there. Mix of leads and TRs. No real lead head on Sat, but Sunday decided to get in the groove see how things were working. Glad I did. Hardest TR was 10c (AH ratings had these at 11a and 10d respectively). Hardest lead was 10a. Solo'd one 5.6 (AH rated 5.7). Laughed a lot this trip with Chris Iz, and Ubergoober aka pimp4crimps. We left the bay area at 10pm Friday, got there pre dawn on Saturday 5:30ish. Left on Sunday around 7pm ish. Long drive home.
5/5 and 5/6/06- Packed and racked again this last week with not real sure sense of which route to do: SFWC in a push or as a full big wall. Oddly enough as a Wall it would have been fine this weekend. After deciding to do it in a push with Jeff L and to not haul we blasted after work early on Friday around 6 sat in traffic and mellowed out rather quickly. Ate a lot of carbos and got to the Valley around 10pm. Up near the base around 11ish, i guess. At this point I have to shit already. Ok, good deal, on the ground is alright. But it's bad news. Not exactly what you call solid material.
Missed the cat walk approach and had to find it again. lost some time there. Couple parties on the base of the Prow we walked by. Saw them later. Jeff lead the first pitch french free and then I did the 2nd pitch full aid in a nice corner. Jeff did the third pitch with some minor hesitation coming across the 5.8 free. He didn't set up gear to pendu me so that turned out great for my jugging. Got to dinner to find a party of 4 sleeping under their fixed lines for the Kor Roof. After catching like 2minutes of sleep having just climbed thru the night it was worth a minute or two to see the dawn creep up over half dome. Damn pretty up there. We think about alternatives otherwise as soon as we jug we wake the party up and it becomes a 'who goes first' thing. We figure, eh, we can just bypass on Southern Man. NOT! So we walk around the guys and get to honeymoon ledge to see 2 people sleeping there. We wake them unfortunately. And I blast the bolt ladder in 15 minutes. But by then team Italia is jugging their fixed lines. There's no way we can stay in front of them. Their fixed line goes higher than the first belay on our "bypass."
Jeff gets up on the next pitch to see what it brings. Guess what? We didn't bring a cliff hanger style hook. We yell down to the couple we woke up (Paul and Shirley, it was her first time climbing ever) to borrow some hooks. Even with that we don't have the wing span to reach to the dicey thin stuff to get a reliable piece set. We leave our pleasant but large party of Italians above us, that plan to still yet haul their gear up and off the top, and opt to bail.
And the failures begin, as Sal says. It's weird; if no one was there we could have just done Kor (a pretty looking pitch to be sure) and done the full line in a day I am almost certain. We both had energy left. It's weird with me and crowds tho. I sometimes start to not want to be around em when climbing. So when we hit that many people on the ledge my first instinct should have been, just keep climbing. No one will care that much. And Sal said "you know if you use fixed lines it's unethical"to say you did the route. Well yeah, but at least we'd be on top. If we just climbed thru on our gear it would be ok, but the Italians could have still beat us to the belay with a quick jug and said sorry, we want to keep going. At least I know what it takes now for that much.
Once on the raps down to the base I get the full feeling again of having to go the trots. I hold it to the walk in campground. There I spend many minutes 'letting loose' while Jeff chats up some tourons. I stank the bathroom and leave (literally) 2.5 lbs lighter.
We opt for beer and pizza on the deck. Good call. Shitty pizza never tasted so good. We are tired and sack out at El Cap Meadow for a bit. I sleep for a little. Then Jeff graciously sees my lethargic state and agrees to head home early. I get home and unpack and come to the conclusion I have some stomach bug as I still have the trots. The next morning still loose as a goose and even to the evening Sunday I am not 100%, but do find time to buy new wall gloves made from deerskin. I'm quite glad we didn't stick around the Valley to catch some free climbs.
5/1/06- No invites to climb this weekend. Not enough motivation to get the solo rig together. Did home stuff hang with Chica. Not bad to rest really, but would have preferred the call to hit stone. Monday hit with a chance to bail early after work and go to CRSP. Easy problems but got a sweat going. Standards went down, but nothing at my limit. I told myself to not push it and save the tendons.
4/22-4/23- Went for a try on Bulging Puke via a variant after getting some good info from Bob Jensen. Everthing was packed and racked for success. Except the weather was totally unstable. But to hell with it. You never know til you try. With that attitude we ran head first into it. Only problem was a little thing called free climbing in a waterstreak at 5.8 rating and another little thing called slow aid. Jeff got first pitch and was amped to go. A few bolts to get you warmed up, easy tension traverse right and join the crack. The crack had a lot of water after the last nights storm. Not fun to stand in but Jeff did alright taking a couple falls enroute. One was a bad placement. The other the rock just blew out a chunk. After that we busted out out old skool tactics. A taint we'll endeavor to remove next time.
After this long lead (4hrs?) the storm kept coming up canyon despite some lovely bouts of sunshine. With the speed and storm coming we decide the ground was a good place to be. So I spent the night in my Porta-Dredge (6" off the ground) and Jeff slept in a make shift shelter made from a rain fly. Neither were real effective at staying dry. The ledge fly had mass amounts of condensation. But because I had it cranked up, the fly wasn't deployed properly. A bivi sack is always necessary. But at least I was warm.
The next day I jugged and cleaned the fixed line as we were not sure about the weather and our speed and out ability to get off the wall by Tuesday. We both had Monday off. So we bailed in the long and short of it. Lots learned. Adjustable daisies are getting easier to use. Ledge set up in conditions on the ground. The rest of Sunday was a rain fest and snow at Crane Flat even. Given dry weather it will go without issue.
3/25/06 and 3.26- Yosemite- total down pour on saturday. we (Feral Rat, and Uber) knew it was bad but went for it anyways. Sat evening it cleared enough for some aid at Church Bowl. Sunday cleared beautifully. We were unmotivated in the am, so we hiked the base of El Cap out to Tangerine Trip. Then went to Reed's. Strom took off as he was worried about work. Jeff went for a shot at Stone Groove free but had to hang a couple times, he settled for TR laps after I aided up. I tried for TR lap too, but immediately felt the shoulder twinge after pulling on Aiders.
3/11/06- Ski weekend with Chica. Elevation affected her, but by Sunday she was ok, only we didn't ski at altitude. In any event it was a great stay at a local B&B on Hwy 4. Powder was surreal. Pricey, but a good stay. Great breakfast. Stopped at SNAC in Arnold on the way back and said hi to Clint S.
2/25/2006
Another day working with Brad on the guidebook. Resolved the TR on the lone bolt I found on the 12th. Belayed Brad on a Craig Seelig TR problem on the uphill side of Flumes Formation. With the shoulder wonky, I opted not to drill bolt anchors for Blunt the 10a TR on Flumes I put up with Jacob Miller back in the mid 90s. Instead belayed Brad on Romper Room, a nice Jon Cochrane route, and on Drizzly Drain so Brad could check bolt counts on our topos. Brad found a sixth bolt on one line that was previously unreported.
2/19/2006
Shoulder is still buggy. Did a short hike to get some cardio. Sunol Regional Park - Indian Joe Caves. Saw some interesting sand stone formations. The TR'ing at IJC looks good. One could burn a winter day there easy.
2/12/2006
Went to Pinns to check out stuff for the guidebook. Found a lone bolt on top of a small formation that we had overlooked before. Watched Brad and Feral work on what is likely the FFA of an aid route on NW face of Elephant Rock. I didn't climb, but got a quick hike and enjoyed being in the sun for the day. Shoulder tendon is still tweaky. Don't even want to risk belaying.
1-29-06
No real climbing to speak of until last weekend. I was down sick and had to travel for work recently. I took off some days around the weekend to celebrate my birthday but chica was sick and the house a mess. So I picked up around here on Friday. Crappy weather on Saturday, but scored new gear!!! Tested it doing a half pitch of A1 bolt and hooking on a low angle route at West Side Pinns on Sunday. Not sure Silent Partner device is the way to go for soloing walls. The low angle aspect had me rethinking taking a leader fall because the device won't engage til you gather enough speed. Good just to test the new adj daisies.
After a bit some climbers showed up, which was great. The weather was raining on the drive down. I was somewhat surprised. Mojo and Joe let me TR Destiny on their line, and a group from Berkeley showed up and needed an extra rope. I swung leads with 'Grug' on Twinkle Toes, with Lynette along for the ride, and followed the 10a "Gary and Phyllis Headwall" aka Upper Bandit's Bench. My shoulder is killing me today 1/30. Bailed on even going to bouldering gym tonight because driving is a problem.