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First (and probably last) trip to the Meadows this season. Something is very wrong with the world.... Lynsey and Dan organised a big weekend in the Meadows, booking a group site for the Labour Day holiday, and the hordes showed up. Lots of rug rats and munchkins, and some adults too. Also some tallish people who don't tend to behave in adult-like manners (I happily number amongst them). Erin, Liz and I left late on Friday night to join the fun, and managed to avoid the worst of the traffic. Those who left early in the day were not so fortunate.... On Sat, I crawled out of bed to a glorious morning. It was warm and sunny, with just a hint of a breeze. A hint of things to come.... Steve and I had planned on partnering up, and I had hope to tackle a few longish routes on Fairview. We didn't start too early - it was too much fun hanging out at the site, caching up with all those folks whom I haven't seen in way too long, like Andrew (hey - you never gave me back my cam!) and Ed, Zolt and Linda (and the two mini-Zolts), and Kiera, who's put on some serious poundage. We eventually made it over to the base of Fairview, where we racked up for What Would Jeff Do? (5.11b). This was a new one for Steve, and one of my favourites. The wind was starting to gust a bit at the base, but it wasn't too bad, and the weather was warm, so we didn't worry. By the time we got to the 4th pitch though, the wind had really picked up, and was blowing continuously. We were also getting pelted with sand and pebbles, and I was in constant fear that my glasses would get pulled off my face. P6, which Steve linked with P7, was probably the worst - heavy winds don't mix well with delicate traversing moves on lichen spotted slab. Luckily, from there on it was all big jugs or mellow face, so we made it to the top intact. We hung out in the lee at the summit for a while, drinking in the view - it had been way too long since I had seen those peaks. Getting down was also a bit of an adventure - I was leaning way far forward on the descent slabs, and if the wind had stopped, it would have made for a very ugly fall.

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Daff from Fairview

Once down, we headed back to the campgrounds, where Steve and Mariana went for a hike, while I headed over to Lembert dome for a few casual solo laps on Northwest Books, and some hanging out at the summit. I found a nice boulder to shelter behind, and read for a while, before heading back down, and playing in the river next to the campgrounds. I took a bunch of pictures to experiment with high dynamic range images - this is really cool stuff. In the end I used qtpfsgui to do the merging and tone mapping - it's easy to use, but has many, many options to tweak and twiddle with.

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Experimenting with HDR photography

We had a big party that night, with a nice smoky fire, too much food, a bit too much whiskey (but only a single bottle of wine for 20 people - wtf??), and some animated discussions on the value of eating meat, and the statistical significance of studies with a sample size of 60 people. On Sunday, Steve and I decided that it would probably be a mistake to have a go at Sorcerer's Apprentice, as the winds were even worse than the previous day, so instead we started off at West Cottage dome, warming up on some knob climb, before having a go at Polaris (5.12a). I had tried it a few years back, and remembered it as being rather fun, so was jonesing to have another go at it. The first time up was pretty much bolt to bolt, as I tried to figure out the moves, and also to brush out the accumulated sand, dirt and moss - I don't think it gets done very much. The crux is not the 12a sequence in the middle, but rather the desperate move right at the end with the anchors staring you in the face, as you paw frantically at the lichen encrusted slopey knobs, trying to edge up those last few inches and rock over onto the left foot. A wire brush would make matters better. The second attempt went much better - I pulled through the crux smoothly, only f#cked up once at the last roof (why is my memory of holds so abysmally bad?), and kept the freak under control as I whimpered my way up to the anchor. Whew! Steve also had fun on the route, though his sore bicep kept him from fully enjoying it. After lunch, Steve dropped me off at Olmstead, where I joined Jack, Alex, Matt, Susan and Ed. Matt and Alex wanted to boulder, but the rest of us still wanted to play with some gear. We started off on Ivory tower, with Susan going up the center route, while Jack to the right. I followed Jack's bold lead, and man, is that thing thin! Glad I didn't lead it.... Erin and Liz, having spent the morning at Lembert dome, came and joined us then. Ed and I moved over to Tideline (5.11a), which he led, and I gladly followed. We left a toprope up, and Susan and Jack took some laps on it. Ed also had another go, but my soft, soft hands were too sore for more abuse. The sun hid behind the ridge, and it soon started to get cold, so we called it a day and headed back to the vehicles, where of course, we found Matt and Alex chugging some beers (that was a sucker bet Susan!). Jack, Alex and the crew of the vegan-mobile packed up, and headed back to the bay area, while Ed and I sat around for a while, waiting for Erin and Liz to emerge. Unfortunately, a stuck cam caused delays, but it provided me with a great opportunity to catch up with Ed. And it also provided me with an opportunity to eat some of Ed's chips and salsa.

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Susan on Ivory Tower Center

Dinner that night was a quite affair, as the hordes had been decimated by early withdrawals. Only a hardened core of dedicated climbers was left. Our mettle was tested that night, as temps dropped down to below freezing, but we all emerged unscathed the next morning (except for Liz, who lost all feeling in her feet) to admire the ice that had formed overnight. It stayed considerably colder than the previous mornings, so we decided to go someplace south-facing. Low Profile dome was an obvious candidate, so after decamping, and bidding a sad farewell to Dan and Lynsey (and Kiera) Seth, April, Asheem, Erin, Liz and I headed there. While April ran it out on Golfer's Route, I stroked the knobs on Darth Vader's Revenge (5.10a), and Orange Man (5.10c). 10c my ass - that's some pretty thin stuff. After lunch, Asheem and I had a go at Memo from Lloyd (5.10d), which I think is also a bit of a sandbag at 10d. At least it's short! And then I had the most exciting belay of my life ever... Normally, when one is on the belaying side of a TR, excitement is minimal, except for the occasional rock fall, or possibly rattle snake. Pulling in rope, offering encouragement - or abuse -, chatting with whomever else is around, that's the standard state of affairs. Ok, there are always exceptions like Rob, who hadn't realized that it was the purview of the climber to shout out "Falling!", and not the belayer, but until now, I hadn't really put myself in that same class.... I was belaying Asheem on Orange Man, taking up slack until the rope went tight as he carefully made his way up the slabby start. As he reached the roof, he called out "take up the slack!", so I started to haul it in. I was a bit surprised that he would call out for that, as I had kept him pretty tight, and he was through the hard part and onto the easy knobs. So I pulled it tight, sat back hard on the rope, and suddenly, kept on going. And going. And going, five steps back as I tried to recapture my balance, then right over the edge cliff... After a very long moment, the rope finally pulled tight and I found myself fully horizontal, with my chalk bag touching the ground at the base of a 12' cliff. Eeeek! What had happened, was the since Orange Man is a long climb, and we had set up a double rope TR, the knot had been catching on the knobs as I was belaying, and it wasn't Asheem that I had felt each time I would pull it tight, but rather a knob. So more and more slack had been building into the system, and it finally all let out when I fully weighted the rope as I leaned back on it. Wow. Another foot of slack and I would have been in some serious pain. I wish I had had a camera going though, to record what must have been a hilarious sight, and to catch the expression of disbelief on my face, as well as on Erin's who I had been chatting with....

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Erin and Liz on Darth Vader's Revenge, while April solos Memo from Lloyd

But all's well that ends without broken bones, so I continued belaying from the ground, then ran one more lap on Memo before we packed it up and headed for home, with a brief diversion of a quick dip in Tenaya lake, which was relatively warm. Of course we stopped of at the Taqueria. Leaving the meadows made for a very bittersweet moment. I doubt that I'll be back there this year. Well, there's always next year, and hopefully by then, I won't be as occupied with all the constructifying....