Tuolumne, Aug 11-12 2007

Melody's in Chico for an Ultimate tournament, and the hills are calling. Where to go? The Meadows of course. For a while I was despairing that I wouldn't be able to find a partner this weekend, but Mike pulled through and saved me from reckless soloing, or worse yet, staying home. Seth was kind enough to give us his site - he was stuck in town entertaining his dad - which we shared with a Brian, Camille, and Dave, some friends of his from Tahoe.

On Saturday I awoke with a very sore left wrist. I had noticed it hurting the night before when I got out of the car. It felt as if something was mis-aligned, so I manipulated it until it made a very loud "POP!", accompanied by sharp pain. Oh oh. I had hoped that it would have returned to normal in the morning, but that was not to be. Oh well, it still worked, mostly, and the granite was calling. What's climbing without a little pain?

First on the agenda was Wailing Wall (5.11d), which both Mike and I needed to get clean. I got the first attempt at P1, and feeling distinctly lethargic, headed up. The corner felt considerably more awkward this time than last. I remembered, however, not to fill the finger pockets with gear, and with much grunting, swearing, and whimpering, pulled through. Whew! Didn't try to get the stems - they just seemed like they would throw you off. I lowered down, and passed the sharp end to Mike. His beta was considerably different from mine, with some interesting barn-doors and cross throughs. But he pulled it off, so I had to climb it AGAIN to clean the gear. This time I decided to try the stems, and discovered that they really don't do much for me - they force your weight parallel to the crack, which make for much less secure holds than a simple undercling.

I was able to link the next 2 pitches with our 70m rope. Knowing that it was 10c instead of 5.9 somehow made it feel harder - I'm less willing to run it out on something that I think is 10c than 5.9! Maybe it's really better not to know the grade! Mike took the 10d pitch, and after one nice whip at the crux, sent it cleanly and ran it out to the top. This time I didn't feel like throwing up after the roof - amazing what a rope over your head, and a bit of beta will do. With the 70m rope, we were able to do the route in 3 pitches instead of 6 - way fun!

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Charles cleans P1, and Mike just before the 10d roof on the Wailing Wall

After lunch, we headed to Harlequin dome, and had a go at By Hook or by Crook (5.11b). My wrist was in pretty bad shape, and since Mike had never done it before, I had him lead it all. A wonderful route. Mike was less thrilled with the approach though - something about steep slab in approach shoes with a big pack on.... You can rap from the top of the second pitch to the ground in one go with a single 70m rope. You can probably do it with a single 60m too. On the way out, we decided to check out Chinese Handcuffs (5.10d). It looked short and sweet, so we gave it a whirl. Way easier than the 10d pitch on Wailing Wall, but still good fun.

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Mike on By Hook or by Crook, and Chinese Handcuffs

Amazingly enough, we found more deadwood in the back of my car when we returned to the campsite. Once again, it seemed that we had loaded up the car with lots of wood back in Berkeley, and forgotten about it. Weird. I wonder if this will continue happening. And by some strange coincidence, Dave, Brian and Camille had done the same! As a result, we had a raging bonfire. After dinner, I wandered out into the meadows, and admired the Perseid meteor shower. The sky was amazingly clear, with no moon, and they were much more abundant and denser than I remember them being in previous years. Lying out in the Meadows, under such a magnificent sky, with no other soul in sight, makes me feel very small and alone, yet not at all humble. That exquisite celestial display was obviously meant for no one but me!
Camille, Brian and Dave were gone by the time we got up the next day - they were going to do the Tenaya - Matthes Crest linkup. We headed east, to Ellery Lake, and hiked up the endless scree to Speed of Life (5.11b). What a slog - 40 minutes and 1000 feet of elevation gain on shifting pebbles. The route though is unbelievable. I took the first pitch, and somewhat delicate 10d, as my wrist was still an issue. The crux is rather thin, requiring some #4 stoppers. Yum! The second pitch, which Mike led, is where the business is. The 11b section isn't the crux - it's a short sequence, pretty mellow, and protects well. I found that the crux was the sustained, slightly overhanging, and right leaning crack above, that goes from hands to cupped hands to fists, then back down to off fingers. Wow! Very sustained, and full on pump goggles! Absolutely stellar, and more than makes up for the approach. The views are pretty spectacular too. You can rap the route with a single 70m line (2 raps), but it's a rope stretcher. On the way back to the car I learned a new lesson. Or possibly an old lesson that I had repressed due to trauma: hiking down scree slopes in sandals is very painful. Duh! There's a new note in my guidebook to that effect now, just in case I repress this memory too.

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Mike on the approach to Speed of Life, and the glory pitch.

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After lunch, moseyed over to Puppy dome, and played on Do or Fly (5.11c) for a bit, running a few laps, with only minor incidents. We had thought to try Grenade Launcher, but we (I) weren't feeling up to leading a 12c roof, so we punted, and took a dip in the lake instead. Brisk! But oooohhh soooo goooood! Didn't see anyone at the Taqueria - where did everybody get to this weekend?

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