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... but I don't worry, 'cause, I'm sitting on top of the world ... Wow, three weekends in a row in the meadows! What were the chances that we would get rained on for the third week straight? Rod, Jack and I headed up on Friday evening, and pushed through to the meadows as Jeremy had a site. He was there for a long weekend - Thursday through Monday. We didn't get up particularly early on Saturday, and hung around with Jeremy's friends for a while before motivating ourselves towards Olmstead, with Jeremy joining us for a foursome. For some reason, both Jack and I felt inclined to have another go at Double Feature (5.11d). This was probably due to the adverse effects of diminished oxygen to the brain at high altitude, and possible blows to the head. In any case, we warmed up on Lock of Ages (5.10c), which is pretty thin and technical at the crux. Jack wussed out and didn't do the direct, totally unprotected 12d face/slab/moss finish, but traversed around to the right. I followed, and much to my regret, choosing ethics over style, followed the path of the first ascentionist. Meanwhile, Rod and Jeremy were having their way with Grease Monkey (5.8). Age of Darkness (5.11a) was the next to fall to Jack's relentless onslaught, and my remorseless pocket knife. Though my hands of steel triumphed over the shrubbery, the flaring, abrasive and painful jams at the roof won out over my doughy constitution. Rod and Jeremy also had a go at these routes, finding them very relaxing and enjoyable. After that abusive warm up, we were in perfect shape for Double Feature. With pre-placed draws, Jack went up first, but chickened out going for the third bolt. For some reason, he feared an upside down fall onto the slabs below. Wuss. He did figure out the non-mantle slab move at the 5th bolt though. Then it was my turn. I did not chicken out at the third bolt like Jack, but rather calmly decided that discretion was the better part of avoiding nasty bruises and slab rash (like road rash, only caused by more vertical rock). I also took extreme issue with Jeff's bolt placement. #3 should have been 11" to the left. Rap bolters are weak. My attempts at mantling the non-mantle slab move proved highly unsuccessful. I also blame Jeff for this one, as he should have put the bolt 3" lower so that I could step on it. And 5.10 for their sloppy shoe construction.

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Jack on Age of Darnkess, and Charles bitching about bolt placement

After Rod and Jeremy played on Double Feature, we moved on to Tideline (5.11a). After my previous disastrous attempts on it, I was itching to finally send it. However, the massive lethargy that I was feeling was swaying me towards lying down and taking a long nap. But with gang looking on, my pride won out over laziness (I hate my pride), and I strapped on the brain bucket, loaded the harness for bear, and oozed my way up it. In true Addison fashion, I rested at every jam, and eventually emerged fall and hang free at the top. My pride was saying "see, see - don't you feel good now!", but after the endorphins wore off, that nap sounded even more appetizing.

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Jeremy watching the proceedings on Tideline

After the rest of the gang ran up Tideline, Jack set up a TR on Ivory Tower Body Double (5.12a), and climbed it making it look rather benign. I thought, "Right, that's easy" and tried as well. Oddly enough, the fact that Jack makes it look easy doesn't necessarily mean that it is easy. You'd think I would have learned that bit of wisdom by now, but alas, such is not the case. I couldn't use his beta at the crux, and had to completely reverse my hands, making for a really awkward cross through to a desperate lunge to a flared jam. I'm ready to lead it now! All I need are two #1 HB brassies, and a .75 for the top. And a bottle of Cutty Sark. Jack finished off the day on The Thrill is Gone (5.10d), a fun, easy, benign offwidth. I don't see what all the fuss is about. So what if your #5 doesn't fit 'cause it's too small - all that much less gear to carry. And that undercling/sidepull to get around the roof? The fact that so much rock and sand was showering down on me shows just how frictiony the rock really was. Unfortunately, Rod and Jeremy were getting antsy to get back to the campsite, where a large bottle of scotch was waiting, so I didn't have a chance to lead it myself. Such a shame.

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Jack on The Thrill is Gone

Earlier in the week, we had hatched a grand scheme to link up the North and West ridges of Conness. The weather seemed favourable, so we got up dark and woozy at 5:30 on Sunday morning (or was it still Saturday evening?) packed up the campsite, and drove up to Saddlebag Lake. Being the lazy gits that we are, we chose wait half an hour to take the ferry across the lake instead of doing the 20 minute walk. Jack recorded some short, pre-ascent interviews of Rod and I, for the sake of posterity in case we were lost en-route. We then proceeded to get lost. Well, it was more along the lines of choosing the wrong trail. We sorted that one out fairly quickly, only to fail to stay on the trail and cut cross country 'cause we thought it would be faster. We were wrong, but not terribly so. We skirted the lakes, failed to fall in to the rivers (mostly), and achieved the ridge via a nice 5th class gully, where Jack amused himself with a little friendly trundling. The ridge itself was very mellow - mostly hiking with a few easy 5th class moves here and there. The crux was a 5.6 downclimb, or a 5.10c downclimb if you're Jack and see a nice looking crack. A good pair of approach shoes is all that's needed, though you probably want more than running shoes.

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The North Ridge of Conness

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Jack and Rod on the Ridge

We summitted around 11, and perused the summit registers. We were very tempted to add something to Dan and Lynsey's entry, when Dan was supposed to propose to Lynsey. We also laughed at Rod's entry from last year's epic adventure. At this point we were supposed to have a quick bite, then head down to the West ridge. And while we were certainly feeling fine, somehow the motivation was lacking. We all found good excuses not to do it, and having satisfied ourselves that we would do it "next time," we treked down to the plateau where we did have a gander at the West Ridge and Harding route, to at least be able to claim that we saw them. We descended via the notch above Alpine lake, but instead of going directly down to the valley, we chose to contour around the hills, trying for a direct line to the car. We were mostly successful.

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A view of the Meadows and Valley from Conness, and the descent.

As we were sitting in the car at the lake, the word "popsicle" magically appeared in my mind. When I communicated this glorious vision to the others, a new plan was hatched to summit the Tuolumne Meadows store, and seek the popsicles that were purported to reside within. This plan was highly successful, and we greatly enjoyed the fruits of our labour. While doing so, we noticed large and ominous clouds building over Conness. Rain and other nastiness was obviously going on there. So once again, we were saved from hardship and pain by youthful laziness and lack of motivation. Let's hear it for apathy! We finished off the day at Puppy dome, where we paused for a while by the river, chatting with Jeremy and Chris who had gone up Cathedral earlier, until Do or Fly freed up. Despite the lack of a #3 (see, I told you you didn't need it!), Jack finally sent it. Took him long enough. I followed, just as a few drops of rain began, and then we repacked the car for the 4th time and brought the weekend to a close. Oh yeah, we partook of some really good Java drops too.