Yosemite, May 3-4 2008

I really am getting out of practice - I can't believe that it's been three frigging weeks, and I still haven't finished this TR!

While going to Pinnacles for a day, is technically getting outside, there's no granite there, and no cracks. What I needed was a trip to the Big Ditch. Erin needed a partner for the weekend, so we loaded up her truck and made for the hills like a bat out of hell. Well, a small, 4 cylinder bat, which doesn't really like to go faster than 90, and I would be remiss to label Oakland as "hell". Well, some of Oakland at least....

In any case we bivvied at Hardin, and bright and early the next morning, dropped into the Valley proper. Yum! It was like seeing an old friend - I hadn't been there in a while, so had stopped thinking about it all the time, but when we drove around that last turn, and were confronted by the spectacle of El Cap, I was quickly reminded how amazingly nice it was. We stopped at Reeds, and lo and behold, found nobody on Reed's Direct (5.10a). Didn't take much convincing to start up on that. Erin took the first pitch, cruising up it in no time flat. While I was belaying her, we were joined by Christie and Matt, who went to work on Reed's Regular. I was vaguely apprehensive about the start of Reed's, since the last time I was on it I managed to dislocate my shoulder when I was one foot off the ground. So this time I was extra careful, and just climbed over the boulder at the start instead of finnessing my way around it. Then it was my turn on the P2. As I was going up it, I kept thinking, this seems longer and more strenuous than I remembered.... Then I got to the offwidth at the top. I placed a big cam in as high as I could, looked up, saw the crack go up quite a distance above it, looked down at my ankles, realized that they were about to get quite bloody, and thought bugger this! I'm going around! So I lowered the cam back down so Erin could clean it more easily, and reached left to the little finger crack and bypassed the wide with no regrets or remorse. Heh! I set up a belay at the top, and heard the occasional grunt as I belayed Erin up. She claims that there were a lot, but I didn't hear that many. P3 was the tunnel through. It was nice and cool in there, and after you make a few sideways chimney moves over a gaping void, pretty mellow. You never really get scared of falling there, more of getting stuck really. Erin took the last pitch, but ran out of large gear for the wide section at the top, so did the variation to the side. I followed up, and then Erin took a lap on the off-width. After that, I played photographer and got some shots of Christie on the last pitch of Reed's while Erin caught some OTRs.

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Erin on Reed's

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Christie on Reed's

We rapped down, had a much delayed lunch, then wandered back around to Lunatic Fringe (5.10c). Amazingly enough, it was free, so I racked up, and feeling somewhat less than fully confident, had a go at it. I had forgotten what to do at the mid crux, and it took me a minute to work it out, but once I did, it felt ok. The top was a little desperate, but all in all, it didn't go too badly. I was rather surprised. I belayed from the top and Erin quickly followed, sending it without incident. By then, the bugs were starting to come out, so after some rope shenanigans to set up a line for Eric and Robin, we headed for the truck, and slowly made our way into the valley proper. I say slowly, as there were traffic lights in the construction zones that caused 30 minute delays. Not fun. We eventually made it to the Pizza deck, where we scarfed down our reward for a hard day, encountering Mikey & co. who had been climbing at Jailhouse that day. They planned on a day of bouldering to follow. I don't know how they managed to do that. A thing to note - the Mountain Shop has the new offset nuts in stock. Yay!
We spent another night at Hardin flats, as we didn't want to face the scene at Camp 4. We got a bit of a late start the next morning, as Erin had come down with a nasty cold and needed the rest. Then we went back to Reeds - we didn't want to face the traffic again - and hiked down to Five and Dime. When we reached the crag, we were attacked by hordes of mosquitoes. No worry, I said, and pulled out my bottle of DEET. My empty bottle.... We beat a hasty retreat to the car where Erin had another supply, and applied a heavy coat. Of course, just then it started to rain. With all our gear abandoned at the cliff face. Luckily it was really just a couple of sprinkles, so we hiked back down, and geared up. Erin took the first lead on Keystone Corner (5.8), then we moved the rope over and set up a TR over Copper Penny (5.10a). I tried the direct start, which involved some extremely tenuous traversing moves on a sloping dike - definitely X rated on lead. The o/w was fun, as it's a nice sharp flake, and when the going gets tough, the weak like me lieback.... There was another party who had set up a line on Five and Dime (5.10d), and they let us have some laps on it. It's very fun, though the cupped hands section at the top is a bit rough on the hands if you're not wearing gloves. When Erin was half way up, the party who was leading Copper Penny freaked out half way up the o/w, couldn't continue, couldn't retreat, and so Erin had to perform a rescue, coming down and giving them the line she was on so the leader could lower out. A shame too, as she was cruising the crux. After all parties were safe, though, she had another go at it, but fatigue had unfortunately set in. Oh well, next time she can lead it!

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Erin on Keystone Corner, and doing some nameless bolted route in sneakers

We finished off the day with a new-ish bolted route on the left side of the crag. The party who had bailed on Copper Penny had recommended it, and I though that they said that it was 10a. It was starting to sprinkle again as I started up, and I was a little worried. I kept on wondering where the 10a section was. This wondering went on all the way to the anchors, which are 2 feet from the last bolt.... A fun 5.7 route, and well bolted. Erin did it in her sneakers. In the rain.
We called it a day at that point, as the rain was getting serious. After loading up the truck, we bid farewell to the valley. It was soooo good to be back! I had forgotten how much fun it was to play on real rock instead of that plastic stuff in the gym. The scenery was pretty damn nice too, as was the company! Somehow we both managed to avoid loosing too much skin, and the bruises weren't that bad. I consider it a raging success, and a wonderful re-introduction to the real world. I wonder when I'll be back....