this is my home, this is my only home,
this is the only sacred ground that I have ever known...

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Tenaya Lake from Stately Pleasure Dome

My original plan for the weekend had been to head up to Donner Summit on Saturday to throw myself at Star Wall with the SF crowd, but when I heard that Tioga Road was opening, well, it was a no brainer. Like everyone else in the area, I've been jonesing to get up there for a while now, but the NPS has kept the road closed while they dealt with the snow (of which, I must admit, I saw remarkably little on or near the road). It was also past time for a soloing trip, so after spending the night at Hardin flat, I opened up the weekend with some early morning ascents at Stately Pleasure Dome. It was still pretty early when I arrived, and I had the dome to myself. The air was still, the road was quiet, and the lake was mirror smooth, reflecting Tenaya Peak with perfect clarity. Utter bliss. Where to start? I decided to start on the east side, and worked west, with South Crack (5.8), then Great White Book (5.6), then Hermaphrodite Flake (5.8), and West Country (5.7). It was hot, hot, hot! T-shirt (or no shirt) and shorts weather. Another party showed up around then, and started up West Country, while I did a couple more laps on South Crack and Great White. I paused for lunch, and ran in to Jeremy and Elizabeth, who was brave enough to go for a dip in the lake. Brrr. By then, the crowds had shown up in force, though by and large, they seemed to be lining up for West Country - they were stacked up 8 deep waiting for that route, while South Crack stayed free. I decided to get one last route in, and ran up Great White again, scoring a booty cam that had just been dropped and a couple of biners that had obviously been there for the winter - don't know how I missed those the first couple of laps! I returned the cam to the owners at the top, extracting a promisary mango margarita from the Mobil station in return.

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I had considered doing Aqua Knobby, but when I stopped to check it out, it was obviously wet. And then there's the problem of the rap off. Phobos on the other hand looked dry from the road, so I ran up there, and found it only slightly damp at the start of the first pitch, the rest being mostly fine. The descent, though, was very, very wet - rivers and waterfalls sort of wet. I wanted to finish off with West Crack, but when I got there there was a conga line going up it, so after chatting with some folks I knew for a while, I bailed. Crescent Arch looked in fine shape, but I didn't feel up to soloing it. I explored some alternate trails over the slabs back to the car, and decided that they will forever remain alternate, especially in tevas.... Then it was off to the Mobil station for some meet, meat, and margaritas! Not surprisingly I ran into Jeremy and Elizabeth there, as well as Anton, but I never did get my promised drink - I couldn't recognise the pair without their helmets and sunglasses. Dylan and Mark - you still owe me! On Sunday, I got up early for Third Pillar of Dana (5.10b). It was a bit chilly in the morning, and I wavered between shorts and pants, before finally sucking it up and going for shorts, trying to convince myself that it had been really warm the day before. The hike up was pretty snowy, but the trekking poles made life much easier. The sun cups were manageable, though did get annoyingly high at the first meadow. The upper plateau was pretty much snow free, and when I got to the rim, the climb looked beautiful. It was a bit windy at the top, but once I dropped over the edge, it was calm, and in full sun. Once again, hot, hot, hot! I had remembered to bring some plastic bags to cover my shoes for the traverse across the couloir, and they came in really handy. The snow there was pretty soft, even early in the morning, and the traverse was easy. I had done this route about 4 years ago, so my memories of it were a bit vague, with the exception of a few spots. However, there are so many variations and alternate lines, that I don't think that I repeated much of it. I remember doing a 5.7 fist crack that first time, as well as chimneying behind that huge flake, but did no fist crack this time, and did the 10a fingers around the flake instead. The 10b "crux" is really trivial - I think that there are many other sections on it that are considerably harder. After that last glorious 5.9 jugs pitch, I sat on the summit for a while, to take in the beauty. Just as I was getting ready to leave, a party from New Hampshire approached, and we chatted for a while before parting ways. The hike back was a lot of fun as well - lots of glissading down slopes in approach shoes. I haven't skied that much in years!

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Hiking up the canyon toward Dana, and the Third Pillar from the side

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After lunch, I had thoughts of trying West Crack again, but the line of cars at the turnout dissuaded me. However, there was nobody at the Lamb/Drug dome parking lot, and The Lamb looked dry, so I hiked up for a closer look. Sure enough, On the Lamb (5.9), was in fine shape, so I did a lap on it. This was probably the most challenging climb of the weekend - while it's bomber hands the whole way, there aren't too many real rests. After coming back for a drink of water, I started another lap, but turned around at the crux.

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Drug Dome and Mariuolumne Dome from Lamb Dome

I finished off the day with a dip in Tenaya Lake (it was indeed rather, ummm, brisk....), and then read by the shore for a couple of hours. What an incredibly beautiful place, and a wonderful weekend. Sierra season is finally upon us!