Tuolumne (Aug 13-14 2005)

My options this weekend consisted of doing a bunch of soloing on Matthes and Conness, or some hard knob climbing on Medlicott with Jack. After much hemming and hawing, Jack finally made up his mind, and we took off late friday night. We only made it as far as Hardin flats, which was a bit of a pity as it was the height of the Perseids, and the trees blocked much of the view, none the less, I still managed to see a few.

The next morning, we made our way up to Medlicott, where we warmed up on the first pitch of Pretty in Pink Point (5.10a / 5.12c), before attacking Shipoopi (5.12a). After I did a bit of gardening, Jack took the first pitch, pulling the roof without problem - I still think it's easier than Hoodwink despite the whole number grade difference. Then the knob climbing truly began. I took the second pitch, and got off route right after the second bolt, before realizing the error of my ways and heading back to the left. The whole pitch is fairly sustained thin knobs that's just murder on your feet, especially in a pair of really soft Anasazis. I wasn't just grunting as I pulled some of the crux moves, but whimpering. In fact, I had to take and rest near the end of the pitch as my feet just couldn't take the abuse any more. Jack joined me, and after a short rest to let his feet recover, took off on P3, which has a short crux right off the bolts, then big knobs. He tried to link it with the roof pitch, but after several attempts was unable to pull it. I joined him, then had a bunch of goes at the roof myself. I made it up over the roof, got the second rail, but was unwilling to commit to the high step/heel hook before the lunge to the next set of holds, as blowing it would result in a really nasty fall onto the slab below. It's so frustrating to be just a few feet shy of the anchors, and unable/unwilling to make the move. So we bailed. Oh well, another project to add to the list.

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Jack and Charles on Shipoopi

Meanwhile, Rod and Vanda had hiked up to the dome as well, only to realize when they got to the base that they had neglected to bring a rope. Luckily, we had left an 8mm down at the base, and they were able to make use of it for some cragging on the sun deck. We joined them after coming down from Shipoopi, and did a few more before the clouds really rolled in and the afternoon thunderstorm began. Jack was to meet Kerry and Bret at the store at 4, so the timing of the rain was fortuitous, as it forced us to head back to the car. The rain didn't really let up, so after hanging out at the store for a while, and trying to track down Jeremy and Casey, we all drove down to the Mobil station where we freely enjoyed the mango margaritas for several hours before eating dinner there too. We were eventually joined by Jeremy, Zinzey, Lisa and Michelle, and a fine time was had by all, except possibly Jeremy who didn't partake of the mango margaritas as he was sick. Most of us returned to the meadows afterwards, where we managed to fit 10 people and 5 cars into one campsite. Now that's efficient packing.

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Rod on Hill Crest Drive, and Kerry on Pretty in Pink Point

The next day we returned to Medlicott, where we did a bunch of the routes on the sun deck, including 15 Seconds of Fame (5.11a), Big Time (5.11b), and Raging Waters (5.11c). Jack led the right variation of the latter, which has a hard move over the roof, off of pretty manky bolts. We then TRed the left variation. Once again, we got rained off by the afternoon thunderstorms, but this time we retreated to slabs near Aqua Knobby, where we sat around eating and drinking wine for quite a while. The rock was fairly dry, so when Jack said "who wants to do Aqua Knobby?" it was a no-brainer. We roped up with a doubled 8mm, and simuled it in one long pitch - I think I used 6 pieces plus a couple of bolts. We were back at the car in 47 min, 18 s. Not the best of times - we would have been faster but I was still feeling rather tipsy on the first section so was moving slowly, and I also had to stop to pee.

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Wine and munchies near Aqua Knobby

I'm not sure how many cars Jack passed on the drive to the Taqueria, but it was a lot.