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There are some routes on Fairview that I've been wanting to try for a while. The problem has always been tyring to find an appropriate sucker, err, I mean partner, to go up there with me. It didn't take much, but I managed to convince Bryan that they would be fun - how can you say no to three star multipitch routes on Fairview? So what if there's a little "R" in them - that just adds to the excitement! On Friday night, Bryan, Seth and I drove up in record time - I confess that I have finally met my match: Bryan drives even faster than I do. It may have something to do with the vehicle - the X5 handles high G corners much better than the Outback. We met the usual crowd in Oakdale, and some less familiar figures too - Jeremy, Tina, Mike, Zindzi, Janet and more. The Meadows campground still wasn't open, so we drove through to Camp 9, and threw down the bags there. The next morning we rendevouzed with the rest of the gang for breakfast at the store. Jack, Kelly, Casey, Shannon, Matt, Susan, Lynsey, Vivian, Rob, Chris - wow, it really was the whole gang! After teams split up, Bryan and I headed to Fairview, with a small rack that was heavy on small pieces - nothing like a description of "12a fingertip lieback" to inspire confidence, and started up Heart of Stone (5.12a R) at the not quite alpine hour of 11. I took the first pitch, and soon it all came back to me from when Jack and I had done it last year. "Umm, which way do I go?" and "Where's the next bolt" were common questions. I managed to miss the 4th bolt, doing some delicate slab work to the right instead of going left, but I justified it with the "there's less rope drag this way" excuse. "Spicy" was soon to become the operative word of the day. Bryan took P2, with a delicate 10d knob/slab corner, then it was my turn on the 10d dihedral on P3. This pitch felt rather harder than 10d, with the crack vanishing on occasion or being vegetated. There used to be a big flake to the right on Scavenger before it fell off in '92, and I wonder if you used to be able to stem up between them. Bryan then got the first of the run out traversing pitches, which involved some delicate footwork on the dyke that's part of Separation Anxiety. It's so fun moving 30 feet sideways of your last pitch, and pulling slab moves on polished granite! It's even more fun when you're carrying a pack and an extra rope! Then, after a bit of 4th class and 5.7, it was time for the "crux" pitch - the 12a lieback. It starts off with thin hands in a left facing dihedral, then quickly pinches down and arches over, 'till you're in occasionally overhanging fingerlock territory. I tried jamming and liebacking the whole thing, which was a mistake - you can stem and palm in many places, offering a great rest. It's mostly green and blue aliens. The real business starts near the top, when it pinches down even further to widely spaced tips and then an undercling roof. I ran out of steam and had to hang - I've lost all my endurance due to this damned finger injury. Bryan would have sent it, if he hadn't had to fiddle with the tiny nuts I used, as he was cleverly doing the stemming and mantling moves. A really superlative pitch!

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Bryan on P4, and the fingertip lieback pitch

Bryan then got the "Pitch of Mantles", which could also be called the "Pitch of Run Out Traverses" (one of the many such!). Really heady, lots of sideways movement on edges and thin ramps, with a bunch of slabby mantles thrown in - way fun! I then linked the next two pitches, getting a bit off course and wandering into unprotected 10-ish slab territory to start with, then finding the bolts, doing the traverse too high (but it was still ok), entirely missing the last bolt and the whole "10b undercling" section. Both of us were baffled by this - neither of us could find anything which remotely resembled a 10b undercling. Or a bolt. Maybe the fell off? (Hunh: just looked at the old topo, and it shows the 3rd last pitch going straight up, no traverse on the 2nd last, goes up again, ends up at the same 11c roof feature. The 10b undercling looks like it belongs to Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. Looks like the topo has been updated. Still don't know where the bolt was.)

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Bryan on the Pitch of Mantles

Then it was the last pitch, the 11c roof. Yikes! Very reminiscent of Shipoopi, with an unprotected crux of thin crimps and heel hooks, risking an ankle breaking fall onto the slabs below. I'm still not entirely sure where the route goes - is it straight over the last bolt (of course an old 1/4" rusted manky one), or a bit to the right? Neither of us liked the risks involved, so after trying out various aid moves off the old bolt to see if anything above looked reasonable, Bryan headed off under the roof to the right, and pulled a corner 30 feet over before traversing back. Future gear beta: doubles from blue alien to #0.75, singles to #2, small nuts, long slings, draws. Green/yellow and yellow/red hybrid aliens were useful too. Some webbing and rap rings for some of the anchors if you need to bail due to weather.

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Rain over the meadows, and Bryan on the descent

We had had great weather all day - mostly warm sunshine with occasional scattered clouds - so it was a bit of a surprise when we topped out to find masses of black clouds and rain showers to the east. The system was moving westward, so we quickly hiked down, and retrieved our packs. It started drizzling on us as we were making our way back to the car, and it opened up not long after we reached it. Perfect timing! It was getting late at that point, so we booked it for the Mobil station, where they were in the process of flipping the "open" signs to "closed" as we arrived. Two of the doors were already locked, so I ran for the third door. I heard a doppler shifted "Charles...." as I raced by the tables, but didn't pause for social niceties - an herb crusted pork tenderloin had my name on it. We just barely made it - we were the last ones served that night. After sating ourselves (we were locked in and couldn't get out), we headed outside where we found Mike, Zindzi, Janet, another woman whose name I can't remember, Aaron, and Hane polishing off a pitcher of mango margaritas, before returning to the Meadows, where Matt and Susan had secured a couple of sites. Luckily by then it had stopped raining, so tents proved unnecessary. We had a huge crowd for breakfast the next day - there were almost 20 of us packed into those two sites. Bryan and I decided to head back to Fairview, where we tried out La Bella Luna (5.11b R). I took the first pitch, and after negotiating the snow field, and heading up the easy crack, I once again found myself asking the question "where's the bolt?" Ohh, there it is, 30 up and out. Luckily it was easy 5.8 knob territory. Bryan took P2, more somewhat runout slab and knob climbing, now into the 5.10 regime. About half way up some ugly looking clouds moved in, and it started to sprinkle. We paused for quite a while, trying to figure out if it was going to get better or worse. We had even made preparations to bail, putting a leaver 'biner on a bolt, when it cleared up sufficiently that we decided to make a run for the top. Bryan finished off the pitch in fine style, and then it was my turn to tackle the 11b. Oh my. It started off with easy to mid 5.10 knobs and slab, then quickly got thinner, and the rock got worse. Little bits kept on breaking off under by fingers and toes, until I finally gave up somewhere in 5.11 territory. Luckily there is an 5.7 variation to the left, though it was a little harder than 5.7 getting into it.... I ran up that, clipped a bolt, and tried to TR the so called 11b section. Even on TR I fell a number of times, as flakes crumbled under me, and my digits slipped of miniscule sloping knobs. I would say it was considerably harder than 11b - much harder than say the slab pitches on Freeblast - and Bryan seconded my opinion. The route meaders considerably more than the topo indicates - it's rather misleading.

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We wait for the rain to pass

Luckily there was a beautiful ledge at the top of P3, as my feet were killing me - I had brought the wrong pair of Anasazis, and they where way, way too tight - and the sun had come out again by then. Bryan took the last pitch, which consists of some fun 5.9 knob climbing, a delicate traverse (unprotected of course), and a spectacular 5.3 roof! You wouldn't expect it from the ground, but there's an easy path through that enormous roof over the routes in that area. Weather was once again moving in, and it was past 3 by the time we were back on terra firma - that hiatus in the middle of P2 had cost us a lot of time. We were supposed to meet Seth at the store at 5:30, so we didn't have time to do anything long, and the weather counselled against it too. So we packed up, headed to the store, and tail gated with a couple of beers until the rest of the gang showed up. Seth and Casey had gone to Eichorn, where Seth replaced a bolt at the summit rap anchors, and rescued Matt's rope that had gotten stuck there the day before. Luckily they didn't encounter any weather. We packed up and headed back home, with the obligatory stop at the Taqueria where the usual suspects had gathered once again. Future gear beta: singles from green alien to #1. Long slings and draws.

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Bryan on the last pitch of La Bella Luna

Heart of Stone is an amazing route, and I definitely want to go back up there again, do the 12a in better style, and figure out the 11c roof sequence. A beautiful adventure. I'm not as impressed with La Bella Luna - maybe it was 11b at some point, but it sure felt harder than that now, and the rock quality around the crux leaves a little to be desired.

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