Yosemite Valley, April 16-17 2005

I was greatly in need to indulge in a weekend of self destructive behaviour. Unfortunately, there's too much snow in the Sierras right now, so my first choice of soloing the Sawtooth Ridge fell by the wayside - there's a difference between self destructive and suicidal. So I had to settle for the Valley instead, with aspirations for Freeblast. The fates continued to conspire against me, as various partners fell by the wayside. First Jack couldn't make it, as his brother was visiting on Saturday, then Daniel announced that he may have a broken wrist, and his doctor counselled against climbing. Then Brian decided to leave on Sat morning, as Kelley was feeling better and would make it after all. Argh! But then Jack announced that he would drive up on Sat night, and we could do Freeblast on Sunday. So in the end I caught a ride with Dan and Lynsey, cragging with them in the morning and meeting up with Brian in the afternoon.

We didn't get a particularly early start on Saturday morning, but none the less, found Moby Dick (5.10a) free when we arrived at the base of El Cap - an opportunity too good to pass up, so Lynsey racked up and led it. It's funny, when I led it a few years ago, I remember the bottom section being a little hard, and the wide section at the top fairly short, and relatively easy. When I followed Lynsey up it (only having to use my nut tool to remove one of her cams), I found the bottom fairly trivial, and the wide part much longer and more strenuous. Funny the things you remember. Dan followed it as well, then we tried TRing Ahab (5.10b). Lynsey went first, and did a stupendous job, making it look remarkably easy, corkscrewing her way up in her inimitable style. I don't think she abraded any part of her skin. I went next, and had a horrible time. I finally figured out the technique for the bottom section, at the expense of a lot of lost skin and bruises on my knees and shoulders, but the transition when it gets narrower stumped me. Next time (I cringe at the thought), I'll try putting my back to the wall instead of my face. Dan did some neat foot stacks with his back to the wall, and made it up without incident as well, unless you count the large patches of missing skin on his shoulder blades.

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Lynsey on Moby Dick

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Lynsey and Dan on Ahab

I then led Reed's Leads (5.10b), which is situated half way between Moby Dick and the first pitch of the Salathé. Pretty fun, with a thin spicy finish. The scariest bit are the three manky bolts at the top. Quarter inch, spinners, rusting. Not the sort of thing to inspire confidence. But we (and they) survived. Brian and Kelley (and Evan) finally showed up while I was leading the pitch, and Brian wanted to get on something, so I suggested the first pitch of the Salathé. Unfortunately we didn't have any extra ropes, but Kelley wanted some exercise, so she ran down to the car, picked up two ropes, and ran back. Wow! Brian led the pitch, which is lovely and sustained, using a plethora of gear. I followed just as we were losing daylight, and we returned to the car to meet up with the rest of the gang at Curry for pizza.
Jack and Deb rolled in around 10:30 that night. I had been a bit concerned about getting in touch with him, as it took us a while to find a camp site, and when I tried calling him, I ended up getting a voicemail from him which consisted of "sss..fr..go...bl...groveland...crt...ba...sss...". I took this to mean that he was in Groveland and on his way, and sure enough he showed up not too much later.
Jack and I got up around 6 the next morning, and were climbing the first pitch of Freeblast (5.11b) at 7:45. I took the first pitch, then Jack linked 2 and 3. He had a bit of trouble at the roof, and fell just before pulling the corner. I also fell in the same place while following. I would like to go back and work that sequence - it's thin, but doable. Another party started up after us as I left the first belay, but we left them in the dust before long. P4 was mine, which was fairly benign, giving Jack the first of the slab pitches. We were in full sunlight by the time we hit the slabs, but it wasn't too warm yet, which gave us hope of freeing them. Jack fell at the crux, but continued on, despite massive rope drag and finished the pitch in great style. I also slipped, and finished the pitch with much less style. The slab isn't the only tricky bit on that pitch - the 10d seam over the small roof in decidedly non-trivial. I took the next slab pitch, and did fine for a few bolts, before my feel started sliding. I then fell my way up the next few bolts, and only when finishing the slabs did I realize that it would have been much easier if the laces of my Mythos had been tight. That's right, blame it on the shoes. It was so nice to finally have a non-hanging belay when Jack followed (who sent the pitch cleanly), that I had a hard time leaving to follow him up the next pitch. I was then confronted with the Half Dollar pitch, a roof to a 10c move into a 5.8 chimney. All sopping wet. NOT FUN. I cursed my way up it, aiding some sections that were too wet to move through, and soaking my legs and arms in the process. Luckily it was nice and warm, so I dried off quickly at the belay. We simuled to the top as Jack linked the last two pitches (where his pro consisted of a slung block and a pin, which was somewhat excessive for my tastes). Very fun - I could have done with another 20 pitches of soloing like that. At the top, we clocked in at just under 6 hours. Another hour to rap down, getting the ropes rather wet in the process. Then we were back on terra firma, wondering, what do we do now?

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Jack on P5 and Charles on P6 of Freeblast

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Charles on P8, and Jack rapping down from Heart

Eventually, we though about climbing again. I had wanted to do the line to the right of Reed's Leads, but couldn't see where it went from the ground, so I suggested that Jack lead Reed's and we would scope out the route on rap. Unfortunately, Jack liked the looks of the anchor bolts even less than I, so we rapped down and called it quits. I did scope out the line on the way down, and it looks decent, though a little exposed at the top. Have to try it next time.
We circled back to the Lodge to pick up Deb, who had run up to the shoulder of Half Dome, then headed for home. It was nice to not have to drive for once. A good weekend, considering. The pain from thrutching up Ahab wasn't quite what I had in mind, but it'll do for a while. Maybe I'll combine it with Generator Crack next weekend. Oh, Jack now says he wants to do the first pitch of the Muir Wall, listed as a 5.9+ offwidth. Sounds like a good trifecta. It'll be wet next weekend, but I'm now used to wet offwidth/chimneys.