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I had been away from the Valley for far too long, and though others were frightened off by the measly 30% chance of showers, I persevered, and arranged to meet up with Seth, who had been there for a week already. Truthfully, the weather on Friday night at Hardin flats seemed a bit worrisome, so I decided to try something new - sleeping in my car. Amazingly enough, lying sideways I fit, and more than that, it was remarkably comfy. I don't know why I hadn't tried that before! The next morning I got up early, but not too early, as it was a bit chilly. Seth and I had decided to try for an endurance workout, so we started up the Nose, simuling it in a couple of pitches, putting in the odd piece. The Great Roof was less challenging than expected, but Changing Corners made up for it. We were done by about noon, and the day was still young, so we decided to check out the Salathe as well. Lots of fun, though the offwidth caused Seth a few issues, since we had only brought a single #3 as the largest piece. Oh well, it went regardless, and Seth has never been one to cringe before serious runout offwidths. It was getting toward dusk, so we called it a day after that, and bagged plans for a trifecta on the Zod, and went for dinner at the pizza deck. Ok, so maybe we didn't do 60 pitches. Though we did warm up on the first pitch of the Nose, then moved on to Moby Dick (5.10a), Little John (5.8), La Cosita (left) (5.7), Sacherer Cracker (5.10a), Mark of Art (5.10d), and Short but Thin (5.11b). Both Sacherer and Short but Thin felt considerably easier than last time, and no big whips! The weather was fantastic, no shirt and no pants style, though for the sake of modesty, I left my shirt on. So much for the wusses who had been afraid of a little rain!

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We spent the night at Camp 4, where I hadn't been in years. Seth had scored an awesome spot in a big white tent, and we even smuggled Annie in without any problems. The next morning, after a large breakfast of Seth's famous hash browns, we headed up toward the longest tunnel, where we had decided to check out Separate Reality (5.12a). As we were racking up, we were joined by Megan and Josh, who also had their sights set on it, as well as Tales of Power. We hiked down to the top, set up a rap line, dropped in some hexes for the last few pieces on the crack, and dropped down to the base. It's an intimidating looking line, going up 20 feet, then straight out through a horizontal roof for another 20 feet. Whoo boy! Josh racked up first (rack consists of #3, #1, #4, #3, 2x#2, and the mid to large hexes dropped in from above for the last couple of moves, and a few long slings), and made it almost to the last toe hook. Wow! Then it was my turn. Truthfully, it's not that hard a size - mostly good hands right until the last couple of moves, when it squeezes down a bit. The key is getting that last left hand jam, which requires wriggling it around until you get the right orientation, then dynoing to the edge, flipping around for the fully inverted toe hook, matching hands, and sitting up. Very gymnastic. It's more of a pump fest than a technical crack. Of course I blew it, and the next couple of times as well, but it seems very doable if I were fresh. Part of the problem though, is the distinct lack of a warm up - really gets the flash pump in the biceps!

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Josh, Megan and Charles on Separate Reality

We spent the day playing around there, with Seth jugging up and down the fixed line to act as camera man. Megan also had a go at Tales of Power, which is just below it. I'll have to check that one out next time! Oliver and Eric showed up as well, with Oliver flashing it, and Eric sending it on his second go, before moving on to Tales. I wish I had that kind of strength! We called it a day at that point, and headed back to Berkeley. It was so nice to be back in the Valley, with perfect temps, and clear blue skies. The leaves are just starting to turn colour - they should be all red and yellow in a few more weeks.

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