(2624x1680 at 1593.5 kb)

The original plan had been to join Casey at the Needles for an extended weekend, but, well, plans change, especially when the weather gods fail to cooperate. Climbing on south facing granite in 100°+ weather just isn't fun, especially when your skin tends to crisp like mine does. Thanks for the northern european heritage dad! So instead, Casey hied off to the Great White North (Squamish), while Seth and I made for the Meadows. Somewhere on the far side of Groveland, we caught up to a pickup truck that was driving rather erratically. It would slow down, speed up, swerve from side to side. At first we thought that the driver was just a jerk, or possibly drunk. It was one of those places where you couldn't pass, so we were forced to endure the antics for a while. Then we saw a slender arm stick out the driver's window, extending upward, and I though, oh great, now they're giving us the finger - am I tailgating too close? It suddenly struck me that there was something oddly wrong about the arm, and just about then Seth exclaimed "hey - that arm's bending the wrong way!" We both burst out laughing, and didn't stop for a while. We had left a little late on Friday night, so spent the night at Hardin Flat. We got up at 6 the next morning, breathed heavily at Susan, Erika and Matt as we drove out (sorry for waking you guys up - remember, next mango margarita's on us!) and made for Fairview. We racked up at the car, and set off for Inverted Staircase (5.10b). I'm not sure how Bryan and Viv couldn't find the route - it's a pretty clear line, left of the Regular Route, and just right of a huge arch. The "staircase" itself is easily visible from the ground too. We simuled the first 4 pitches to the ledge before the traverse, then as I was tightening my shoes for the slab pitch, I noticed a big hole in the rubber on my right shoe. Oh oh, just what you need when delicate footwork is called for! The traverse felt much easier this time that last, fairly casual in fact. I wonder if I went a different way? The 10b crux felt about the same - thin! Seth took the eponymous pitch, which was unfortunately a little wet, but he cruised it regardless. Once again, there was a huge nest right at the base of the staircase, which fortunately was empty. At the top of the 10a mantle pitch, I came across a large pack. When Seth joined me, we investigated and found it full of shoes, water, cameras and food. The date of the food led us to believe that it had been left there the day before, or possibly Thursday. We couldn't figure out why it would have been left: if you had to bail and rap, why not take the pack? If you had to make a summit dash, you're only a pitch from the top, it's not going to slow you down, and you'll want the approach shoes to hike off. If you forgot it there, you're only a pitch from the top, and can easily rap down and get it. The only scenario we could come up with involved a nasty accident.

(2592x1944 at 2682.5 kb)	(2592x1944 at 3399 kb)
Inverted Staircase

(2592x1944 at 2874.5 kb)

After a brief pause at the summit for lunch, we hiked off and around, and found no one on Lucky Streaks (5.10d), so headed up that. I took P1, and part of P2 (sorry Seth). Linking pitches was going to be the style for the weekend. After Seth's foreshortened P2, I stretched out P3 as far as I could, and Seth did the same for P4. This way, we were able to top out in 5 pitches instead of 6. Lots of fun, and the hanging belay you have to endure at the end of P3 isn't any worse than the one at the standard P4 location.

(1944x2592 at 3047 kb)	(1944x2592 at 3091 kb)
Lucky Streaks

On the descent, I failed to pay attention to my feet (Seth claims that he provided a distraction, but I fully shoulder, or footer, the blame - I am well acquainted with the remarkable extent of my clutziness. Some people just can't walk, and ummm, walk at the same time), and managed to twist my ankle rather badly. Bugger. At least I didn't hear anything go pop like the last time I did it. Back at the base of Lucky Streaks, I iced it in the snowfield and the runoff, which helped a lot, but it was still a painful hike out. Suddenly, the plans for Conness on Sunday seemed less likely. Back at the car, we chilled out with beer and chips, and chatted with Nicole and Jacob, a couple of climbers from Sacramento who had recently moved to the area from Michigan.

(2592x1944 at 3063 kb)

We eventually decided to check out the camping situation at the Meadows, where we knew that Patrick and Jeremy had at least one site, and found Julie there with the kids. It turned out that a second site had been scored, so we decided to stay. It wasn't long before the rest of the gang showed up, and after a very prolonged discussion, it was decided to cook there instead of making the trip to the Mobil station. Booo! Chef Erika directed traffic, with sous-chef Seth pitching in with some grunt work. I assisted by sampling the wine, to make sure that the bottom of the bottles were as good as the tops. It was a grueling task. On the way out of the campgrounds on Sunday morning, we dropped off the pack we had found at the ranger station, and I overheard the ranger give out a weather report, which consisted of "very slight chance of afternoon thunderstorms". A quick look at the clouds that were already building made me question the accuracy of this forecast, but hey, rangers are infallible, right? So we made for Drug Dome and Oz (5.10c). As we were hiking in, I heard a loud noise, and when I turned to Seth and said "did you hear that?" he responded with "you mean the plane?" "No," I said, "the thunder." At the base of the route, we found another party nervously eyeing the clouds. If I had been smarter, I would have made some remarks about the scary nature of the route when it's wet, and how it was going to storm for sure. The several thunder claps we heard would only have served to confirm this story, and might have scared them off, leaving the route for us alone. But instead I was supportive, and encouraged them to go. Sometimes I'm really too nice for my own good. While waiting for the other party to get off the ground, I checked out the line for Sunshine. The first few pitches look interesting, if a bit grotty. I don't think it gets done much. One of these days I'll have to give it a go. We finally roped up, and Seth took the first pitch, and I amused myself by shying rocks at an aggressive marmot to scare it away from our packs. I had just reached the anchors, when the skies opened up, and the hail descended on us. I'm glad I was wearing a helmet! The hail was shortly followed by rain, and we spent a good while debating what to do. We were ready to bail, when it let up, and a close inspection of the sky (the bit we could see at least), led us to believe that it would probably stay dry for a bit. So we decided to push on. I took the next pitch, but foolishly didn't wait long enough for it to dry. The crux was, well, extremely cruxy when wet and slimy (chalk and water really make for an unpleasant mixture). I linked P2 and P3, setting up Seth for the money pitch. At first he hesitated, saying he was tired and his tips were raw, but a few glances at the gorgeous dihedral convinced him otherwise.

(2592x1944 at 2434 kb)
Rangers lie! Very Slight chance of afternoon thunderstorms my ass!

(1944x2592 at 2390 kb)	(1944x2592 at 2098 kb)
Oz

After some lunch and lounging in the sun at the top, we moved up to Mariuolumne dome, where I had some unfinished business with a certain climb called Middle Earth (5.10a). When Daniel and I had attempted it a few years ago, we had gotten lost somewhere on P2. We were in full sun, and when I asked Seth for the sunscreen, he admitted to leaving it in his pack at the base. At that point, I recalled that when I had gone through his pack to make sure there was nothing edible to draw the roving marmot, I had found the sunscreen, and carefully placed it on a rock next to the pack so that the rodent wouldn't chew through the fabric on a treasure seeking expedition. It's good to know that we're both morons. The first pitch went OK, but unfortunately I didn't consult the topo too closely, and started to link P2. Suddenly, the rope drag became horrendous, and I found myself in very serious DFU territory, pulling unreversible, hard 10 face/slab moves, not knowing what was coming next. The consequences of falling were unthinkable, so I gritted my teeth, tried to stop the quivering of my knees, ignored the hole in my shoe, tightened my sphincter a notch, and kept going. I finally made it through the tricky bit, and found the vertical dyke/crack at the top what's P2 in the topo. There were supposed to be bolts at the top, but for the life of me I couldn't find them, so I threw in some small aliens and brought Seth up. I finally spotted said bolts when he was half way there - they're very well camouflaged by rust. Seth's tips were in unbelievably bad shape, so after an abortive attempt at the 5.9 variation passed the sharp end back to me. There's a second set of bolts 10 feet up and left of the anchor, which I clipped, but the route didn't seem to go anywhere there. I went back sideways to the dyke, and proceeded straight up - I think that's a much more obvious line. I don't know why the topo shows the route going to the left. The step across to the "tit flake" is pretty mellow, and protected by a bolt (if you trust 20 year old 1/4" spinners), and I ran out the remainder of the pitch 'till the rope pulled me up short. By then the sun had disappeared behind some very dark clouds, which were dumping rain not far to the north, and I was getting quite worried, so I took up the lead again and made a dash for the summit. Just as I got to the top it started to sprinkle, causing my anxiety level to ratchet up a few more notches, but oddly enough, by the time Seth joined me, the sun had come out again, and it became remarkably pleasant. The weather gods were indeed having their way with us. I'm not sure if I'll do this route again - while it was mostly fun, with decent rock, the unprotected nastiness on "P2" really detracts from its quality. Maybe there's another way of doing it?

(1944x2592 at 3067 kb)	(1944x2592 at 2850.5 kb)
Middle Earth

(2592x1944 at 2670.5 kb)