So I called up Tom, who had mentioned going to his favourite spot this weekend, and made alternate arrangements. According to Tom's intel, there was supposed to be quite a gang going - K-man, Turtlehead, the Electrician, the Gecko, and several more. It sounded like a good time was going to be had.

I'm not sure how, but despite my pleas of sleep deprivation, I still somehow ended up driving. We left early Saturday morning, accompanied by the sounds of Tom's snoring and my iPod. We made good time, but when we arrived, we only found K-man waiting for us. None of the rest of the crew had showed. Tom had some routes he wanted to scrub and work on, so Dave and I headed down to the Watchtower, and warmed up for a while, before tackling Tom's two new routes on Fish Wall. We first tried The One that Got Away (5.13b?), which was very mellow easy 12 until the three move crux, when it got friggin hard. "Dyno to the sloper!" Except that then you have to match or bump to the next sloper, and lunge again. Ugh. We did a couple of laps on it, and it looks like Dave might be able to send in next time. Not me. I also tried the shorter 12c to the left, which is much more doable, if painfully sharp. I unlocked the sequence for the top crux, but the bottom one is one of those low percentage hard moves for me.

We went down to the reservoir for a quick dip, which was quicker than intended, as the water was in the shade and rather chilly. Tom came down and joined us around then, and made it out considerably further. After a few more laps on Green Monster and Peaceful Warrior, we headed back up the hill to Tom's latest proj on the Bienvenudos Wall, which Tom tried to lead despite a few missing bolts. We called it a day after that, and headed back to camp for some food, after which I promptly passed out. If Chupy came by in the middle of the night, I was blissfully unaware.

On Sunday, Dave went off for a bike ride up and over the pass, while Tom and I returned to Bienvenudos Wall. We warmed up with a couple of laps on the 5.9, then I gave Jeff's Milky the Sperm Whale (5.11c?) a run. After many issues with commitment (Jeff, even if you're gone, I'm not afraid to say that the placement of that second last bolt sucks!), I figured out the lower crux, but died at the real one, on last move before the anchors. Took me a while to figure out the sequence, and eventually pulled it despite the protestations of my right shoulder. The Gecko and the Electrician (Rachel and Karl, for those not familiar with Tom-speak) made an appearance, and hied off to work on The Gecko's project up the hill. Tom and I did a couple of laps on his new project, which has a tricky mantle and some thin knobs near the top. I would guess 5.11c-ish, unless you're short, in which case a couple of moves will be really hard. Tom finished bolting the route, then tried for the FA, but fell at the very top, blaming horrendous rope drag (it's current incarnation shares the last few bolts and anchors with Milky). Told you to put some anchors in at the last ledge!

I wasn't feeling the love, so didn't give Jeff's 12b a try, instead we went up the hill and did some laps on the first pitch of Chupacabra 5.11b, and the 12a to it's left. My tips were pretty worked by the end of the day - I'm not used to this hard granite crimping stuff - so we called it and headed for home. On the way back, the car was infested with huge black ants, which probably came in with the garbage (or possibly Tom's smelly shoes), and we killed dozens before we hit Oakdale for food and gas. At least they didn't bite!