Gil is perfectly correct: Yosemite is a zoo, but has awesome climbing. I can't confirm or deny any illegal camping on my part,
but I did enjoy being referred to as a ninja (sort of). I think the Valley would be an awesome place for a summer trip. There
are some seriously good free and big wall climbs there that make the Northeast feel pretty small by comparison.
I went to Cathedral this weekend with Sarah. Saturday we did Diedre, which is rated at 5.9+, which is probably one of the cruel
little jokes the guidebook authors like to play on you. I had a tough time on it when I tried it before the Valley, but I did
pretty well on it this time. There's some seriously steep moves on it. I'd show you some pictures, but after we hemmed and
hawed a lot bringing a camera, and finally brought one on a later climb, we didn't end up taking any. Bleh, whatever. Then we
got on Pine Tree Eliminate. Sarah took her first whip on it, which I think she was fairly stoked about.
Today we went to check out Recompense. I've been trying to get on it for months, but there have always been people on it. Of
course, today was no exception. So we went to do The Book instead, which is another one of these 5.9+s. I think it's
legitimately a 10. But whatever. Sarah linked up Funhouse very handily and then I led The Book. I had fallen on it before,
but I managed to lead it properly this time, which was nice. I even protected my second properly in the interests of "safety"
(I know, pshaw). We finished off on the last pitch of the Prow. I thought there were good fingerlocks, but they didn't feel as
"dreamy" as Mountain Project promised me. Then we went to the Barber Wall, which we'd never been to. People kept giving us
vague descriptions of where it was, so we just decided to go and try to find the trail. Of course, what happened was we got off
route, and then ended up hiking down and up in a big circle. Eventually I ran into Kayte, who gave me a big hug, and then told
me the proper way to get there.
We wanted to do Nutcracker and Chicken Delight, but both were occupied, so we got on something called Layton's Ascent (5.9). I
told Sarah she should try to lead it, and then if there were tears, then I would finish it. She got up to an awkward little pod,
got some pretty decent gear, and fussed around with the moves for a while. Finally she decided to go for it, and seemed to be
doing pretty well and then pitched off. I think she had kind of a heart attack, but was psyched about it, too. There weren't
any tears (thank god). There was this other guy on Nomad Crack nearby, and he took a tremendous whip. One of his pieces pulled
and he came pretty close to a groundfall. But that's not how we play it in the HMC, right? We're all about good gear and solid
climbing. Ostensibly. So she tried it a few more times, and then gave up after quite a good effort. I was certainly
impressed. I got up to the same spot, and then hand jammed really hard. In fact, my hand hurt so much I hung on a piece so I
could look at it. There was blood on it. But then I put my hand right back where it was and kept climbing, since there didn't
seem to be any better options. Yeah, I'm pretty much a wuss. But we had a good time. Trad climbing seems to be really fun. I
can work really hard on a 5.9 or a 5.10, not tweak myself, and still feel good. I've come around to the opinion that the trad
doesn't feel hard because the grades are sandbagged or the gear is weird to place. I have a perfectly good sense of what grade
means what now, and I'm fine placing good gear, even from weird uncomfortable positions. I think the climbing is just
different, and I'll just have to get used to it. One of the things I'm getting used to is crack climbing without gloves. It
rips up your hands, but it feels so good. (I've already made the obvious analogy, so don't bother.)
What kind of rad shit are the rest of you up to?
Monday, June 28, 2010
Yosemite
[Editorial Note: I wrote this on June 16th, so it's a bit delayed.]
I thought I knew something about climbing. Going up is good, and going up fast is better. Going sideways is OK if it means going up later. Going down fast is bad, but slowly is OK. I thought I pretty much had it covered. Then I spent a week in Yosemite.
This place is ridiculously busy. Campsite, let alone lodgings, are booked months in advance. A gaggle of tour buses, tourists with oversized cameras around their necks, and climbing monkeys mill about the valley floor gawking up at enormous waterfalls and cliffs like El Cap. It's virtually impossible to walk around without running into a famous climber. I said hello to some random European guy in the cafeteria and it turned out to be Uli Steck. Later, I sat awkwardly at a table with Jimmy Chin and Alex Honnold, feeling more than a little inadequate. I mean, what do you say to people who have skiied Everest or solo 5.12d? Alex told me he soloed some new overhanging 5.12 tips crack several thousand feet above the deck.
The climbing grades are severely sandbagged, at least to a sport climbing gumby like me. Or perhaps I should say the grades everywhere else are soft, given that this is where they were invented. We've been doing a mixture of free climbing and aid climbing. The first day we went the first four pitches of The Nose. I led a bit and jugged a lot. I got *whupped*. I got the rope stuck while jugging. I got confused by strange pin scars. I whined while hauling the bag. I got the rope stuck again. It was like I had never climbed before.
To rap down, we used someone else's fixed lines, which means three 60 m ropes tied together, and passing knots on a single-strand rappel over huge exposure, which was technically demanding and a bit scary. After that, I limed back to the car and decided wall climbing was the dumbest thing ever. So we went to do some free climbing. We did a pretty cool three pitch 5.8 route at the base of El Cap called Little John. There was a 5.8 wide fist crack as a little companion top-rope to the climb, which I totally fell on. It needs crazy techniques like stacked hand jams that I had never done before. Then we went and did a stellar but oddly named five pitch 5.9 called "Central Pillar of Frenzy" which features every kind of Valley crack, including a wild hand crack which goes out a horizontal roof. 5.9. Yeah. Finally, we did a nine pitch 5.10d linkup of Serenity/Sons of Tomorrow, which was once again every kind of crack, with the finger crux being a lot like Airation Buttress. It was awesome. I've never climbed that high before.
Between climbs we've been bivying in the talus slopes (it costs >$200 a night to stay in the lodge, and it's booked solid for months and months). Bears roam through camp randomly, sniffing at bear boxes and campers. At night, I keep my headlamp off so we can stay as invisible as possible. I've been wearing the same set of dirty pants the whole time. We're totally dirtbags. This was confirmed recently because a rich looking wealthy couple came over to us in the cafeteria and gave us the dregs of their wine before sauntering off to their no doubt feathery light bed. Bastards.
After a few days I forgot that big walls were stupid and decided to go back up. I skipped steps 1-29 on Chris Mac's 30 steps to the Nose or whatever, so we chose to do the South Face of Washington Column, which is an easier C1 grade V wall with a bit of mandatory 5.8 free climbing. We fixed the first pitch and ferried up our load on the first day, and then yesterday we climbed up to the third pitch, where Dinner Ledge is, and fixed pitches four and five. My brand new Patagonia approach shoes got trashed. The sole's ripping off. WTF?
The winds were ferocious. They're not even real winds; they're themral updrafts from the valley. Nonetheless, I felt like I was in a wind tunnel. As I pulled the Kor Roof, I swung comically, spreadeagled from my aiders like a crazed man. Today we punched it to the top. I took a whip on lead. I placed a blue Metolius in a pin scar (and I'm not super used to the Master Cams), thought it was a bit weird, and gave it a few good bounces. It held, so I eased on to it. Then I popped off and flew off onto a gray camalot before I new what had happened. Fuck. I blew a C1 crack. Fuck. That was a 10 foot whip. Why am I up here again? Fuck. Oh yeah. Climbing is rad.
So after a lot of rappelling and a lot more cursing, we're down. I just ate some ice cream from the caf, which is probably the square version of smoking weed. Gil & Rikka & Assorted are coming tomorrow so I'll try to meet up with them. It's been a good trip, but I think I'll be relieved to be back on solid ground for a while.
I thought I knew something about climbing. Going up is good, and going up fast is better. Going sideways is OK if it means going up later. Going down fast is bad, but slowly is OK. I thought I pretty much had it covered. Then I spent a week in Yosemite.
This place is ridiculously busy. Campsite, let alone lodgings, are booked months in advance. A gaggle of tour buses, tourists with oversized cameras around their necks, and climbing monkeys mill about the valley floor gawking up at enormous waterfalls and cliffs like El Cap. It's virtually impossible to walk around without running into a famous climber. I said hello to some random European guy in the cafeteria and it turned out to be Uli Steck. Later, I sat awkwardly at a table with Jimmy Chin and Alex Honnold, feeling more than a little inadequate. I mean, what do you say to people who have skiied Everest or solo 5.12d? Alex told me he soloed some new overhanging 5.12 tips crack several thousand feet above the deck.
The climbing grades are severely sandbagged, at least to a sport climbing gumby like me. Or perhaps I should say the grades everywhere else are soft, given that this is where they were invented. We've been doing a mixture of free climbing and aid climbing. The first day we went the first four pitches of The Nose. I led a bit and jugged a lot. I got *whupped*. I got the rope stuck while jugging. I got confused by strange pin scars. I whined while hauling the bag. I got the rope stuck again. It was like I had never climbed before.
To rap down, we used someone else's fixed lines, which means three 60 m ropes tied together, and passing knots on a single-strand rappel over huge exposure, which was technically demanding and a bit scary. After that, I limed back to the car and decided wall climbing was the dumbest thing ever. So we went to do some free climbing. We did a pretty cool three pitch 5.8 route at the base of El Cap called Little John. There was a 5.8 wide fist crack as a little companion top-rope to the climb, which I totally fell on. It needs crazy techniques like stacked hand jams that I had never done before. Then we went and did a stellar but oddly named five pitch 5.9 called "Central Pillar of Frenzy" which features every kind of Valley crack, including a wild hand crack which goes out a horizontal roof. 5.9. Yeah. Finally, we did a nine pitch 5.10d linkup of Serenity/Sons of Tomorrow, which was once again every kind of crack, with the finger crux being a lot like Airation Buttress. It was awesome. I've never climbed that high before.
Between climbs we've been bivying in the talus slopes (it costs >$200 a night to stay in the lodge, and it's booked solid for months and months). Bears roam through camp randomly, sniffing at bear boxes and campers. At night, I keep my headlamp off so we can stay as invisible as possible. I've been wearing the same set of dirty pants the whole time. We're totally dirtbags. This was confirmed recently because a rich looking wealthy couple came over to us in the cafeteria and gave us the dregs of their wine before sauntering off to their no doubt feathery light bed. Bastards.
After a few days I forgot that big walls were stupid and decided to go back up. I skipped steps 1-29 on Chris Mac's 30 steps to the Nose or whatever, so we chose to do the South Face of Washington Column, which is an easier C1 grade V wall with a bit of mandatory 5.8 free climbing. We fixed the first pitch and ferried up our load on the first day, and then yesterday we climbed up to the third pitch, where Dinner Ledge is, and fixed pitches four and five. My brand new Patagonia approach shoes got trashed. The sole's ripping off. WTF?
The winds were ferocious. They're not even real winds; they're themral updrafts from the valley. Nonetheless, I felt like I was in a wind tunnel. As I pulled the Kor Roof, I swung comically, spreadeagled from my aiders like a crazed man. Today we punched it to the top. I took a whip on lead. I placed a blue Metolius in a pin scar (and I'm not super used to the Master Cams), thought it was a bit weird, and gave it a few good bounces. It held, so I eased on to it. Then I popped off and flew off onto a gray camalot before I new what had happened. Fuck. I blew a C1 crack. Fuck. That was a 10 foot whip. Why am I up here again? Fuck. Oh yeah. Climbing is rad.
So after a lot of rappelling and a lot more cursing, we're down. I just ate some ice cream from the caf, which is probably the square version of smoking weed. Gil & Rikka & Assorted are coming tomorrow so I'll try to meet up with them. It's been a good trip, but I think I'll be relieved to be back on solid ground for a while.
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