Saturday 19 November 2011

Tapas party at BK and Lori’s.  One of the contestants came up with this awesome dish, and it didn't even win!  Battered and fried eggplant heart, with sun-dried tomato, cheese and other stuff (what IS that?)

Awesome!

 

 

 

Wednesday 23 November 2011

Climb at the Pit.  Flash “Don’t Feed the Agave” (5.11c).  Techy route with a very high first bolt that gives the climber plenty of time to ponder the location of the sharp agave plant growing below.  Bad day to forget the slick-clip!

Friday 25 November 2011

Climb at the Asylum with Patty, Chris, Patrick and Tyler.  Rock is chossy compared to RRG, but I guess I’m spoiled!  Do a few routes, including a flash of a very tricky 5.11c.  Have to take a rest on the rope at the crux of an 11a that is very traddy and burly for the grade, which is disappointing.

Saturday 26 November 2011

Climb at the Pit.  Clean ascent of “Purple Shark” (5.12a); good to know that I can still get up this route even with the injury.

Sunday 27 November 2011

Get ready to go to Telluride.

Monday 28 November 2011

Drive to Telluride.  New state - Colorado!

Tuesday 29 November 2011

Snowboard at Telluride.  The resort we stayed at was amazing, and amazing we got such a great deal!  $450 each to stay 3 nights and ride 3 days.  We found out that a lift ticket ofr 1 day is $100, and a room in this hotel at peak is $800 a night!

Telluride Lumiere

Not enough snow!

Unfortunately there just wasn't enough snow to make it a really great few days.  Only 1 lift was open, which accessed only 2 runs.  The steep run wasn't much fun with no powder to push around, so we mainly rode the easier long run.  I used the lesser angle to practice riding switch, turning from either side, doing 360s and trying a few jumps and jump-turns.  Needless to say I spent a bit of time on my arse!  But I improved, ready for some more challenging stuff!  But when?

Thursday 1 December 2011

Snowboard.  Drive back to Flagstaff in terrible conditions.  Snow reduces visibility so driving is dangerous and draining.  Why couldn't all this snow have landed the first night we arrived!  Oh well, perhaps Arizona Snowbowl (in Flagstaff) will open in time for me to get a run in.

Friday 2 December 2011

Post ad on Craig list.com to sell the van.  Its snowing right now and more is forecast for the weekend, so it looks like I will have trouble selling the van.

Saturday 3 December 2011

Organise stuff to sell and pack bags for the flights home.  Flying with different airlines means that I have to deal with different excess baggage rules.  Could be an expensive trip home!

Sunday 4 December 2011

Put van in the Fry’s parking lot with FOR SALE signs on it.  High visibility from route 66.  Not sure if I can keep it there overnight.  Hope it doesn’t get towed!

Monday 5 December 2011

Christmas shopping.

Tuesday 6 December 2011

Sort stuff to sell and stuff to donate.  Take photos of the snowboard and gear to sell.  Print flyers to put up around town.

Climb at gym in town.  Weird to get back on plastic; leading indoors feel way scarier than outdoors now.

Wednesday 7 December 2011

Transfer title of van into Patty’s name.  Put up flyers around town for the van, snowboard and crash pad.  Hopefully this stuff will sell soon, but if not maybe my friends in Flagstaff can put it to good use.

Thursday 8 December 2011

Finish Christmas shopping.  So much stuff to take home!  At least I can drop off a few small things in France.  Climb at the gym again.  Looking forward to a rest for the finger, but already I'm keen for real rock.  I'll have to be smart about rehab when i get home, because I'll want to get back on the 'classic quarry routes' after so long away!  Haha

Friday 9 December 2011

Snowboard at Arizona Snowbowl.  Conditions are not good, as expected with such low snowfall and no base, but its better than nothing to me!  I won't be able to ride again for quite a while.  A few more scratches to further de-value the board.

Saturday 10 - Sunday 11 December 2011

2.30am catch shuttle to Phoenix.  8.20am flight to LA.  3.15pm flight to Manchester via Frankfurt.  Stay in a 35 pound B&B in Manchester.  Nice and cosy!

Monday 12 December 2011

Fly to Lyon via Zurich.  Bus from Lyon to Grenoble arrives 1am Tuesday.  See Alexis and Laura with Clay as they come to pick me up.  Good to see family again!

Tuesday 13 December 2011

Lunch with Soe, Alexis, Laura, Clay, Katya and some of Katya’s work colleagues.  Play the Bohnanza card game with Laura and Alexis.

Wednesday 14 December 2011

Spend day with Clay, Katya, Valentina. Soe, Alexis and Laura.

Valentina Maria Boladeras Iracheta

Thursday 15 December 2011

Soe, Alexis and Laura leave.  Boulder indoors (“A Blok” gym) with Julien Pishot.  Dinner and night out with his friends:  Christophe, Julien and Camille.  Wonderful night at bars and Christophe’s apartment.  Watched “The Art of Flight” (snowboard movie; amazing!) and drank the beast Scotch ever - “Lagavulin” 16 year old single malt scotch whiskey.  EUR90 Duty Free.  Hope I can find it at one of the many airports I'll travel through on my way back!

Friday 16 December 2011

Christmas shopping with Clay.  Buy tree for the apartment.  Spend time with Clay and Katya, and of course with Valentina!  She is such a cute little baby!

Saturday 17 December 2011

Climb at “Espace Vertical” gym with Julien Catalan.  Do some long lead routes including some steep ones.  The grades here feel way harder than the conversion chart suggests, but I guess the fact that its gym climbing also adds to the feeling of difficulty.  Met up with Julien’s brother Stephan and his partner Sonia at the gym.  The last time I met them was at Oliver’s place in the mountains, after an afternoon’s climbing.

Dinner with the Juliens, and Clay and Katya, at the Mylan apartment.  Chamois made a cheese fondu with garlic, white wine and mushrooms, which is supposed to be a traditional local recipe.  Very decadent!

Sunday 18 December 2011

Hike up to the top of Chamrousse mountain following the piste runs, using showshoes and hiking poles with a snowboard slung through the shoulder straps of my backpack.  Julien C had skis with skins to hike up with.  We went from the resort at about 1650m, all the way to about 2250m, which took us a couple of hours.  The ride down took only minutes!  Not really worth the effort in my opinion, at least for a rider of my limited ability, because by the time I got to the top my legs were so sore and tired I found it hard to control the board.  Plus conditions were bad so visibility was limited, so the run wasn’t very fun.  But there was loads of fresh powder and I haven’t ridden fresh pow since Mammoth lakes back in May.  So can’t complain!  Plus the day was free, whereas lift tickets there are around 35 euro.  One lady even told me to get a split board as she zoomed down past us!  It was hard to appreciate the hike when we could see riders coming down around us, and taking the lifts back up above us; as Chamois said, it is better to hike where there is no-one else around to take away the sense of isolation.

Monday 19 December 2011

Begin the long journey home.  Bus to the Gare to catch another bus to the airport, then a couple of flights (through Zurich) to Manchester.  Stay the night there again, then onto Perth via Frankfurt and Singapore.  Then a train to Kalgoorlie and a 6 hour drive to the station!  All in all 4 days’ travel to make it home in time for Christmas.

The night in Manchester was pretty uneventful - went back to the same restaurant for a nice feed of ribs.

Tuesday 20 December 2011

Spent the morning on the internet and reorganising the bags so I’m not over by too much on the weight limit.  Bit of a scare when it was time to go to the airport - Frank (the B&B proprietor) was nowhere to be found!  There was loud music playing from his private room but he didn’t answer to my insistent knocking.  I thought the old guy had carked it in there!  But his car wasn’t in the driveway so he must be out having his coronary somewhere else.  The neighbour came over to say Frank rang, and had run out of petrol.  He’d be along in time to take me to the airport she said.  2 hours before departure he arrived sheepishly and drove me to the departure terminal.  I had time to collect my extra bag (at a cost of 40 quid) and make it to the check-in counter in time to hear the bad news.

I was told that my flight to Frankfurt was cancelled, I was allocated a different set of flights through Paris with a different airline to meet up with my QANTAS Singapore to Perth leg, had to pay 86 pounds for the extra checked bag, had to check my hand luggage as a third bag (no charge) because there was an airport security staff strike on in the French airports; I barely made my connection in Paris because they only gave me an hour to transfer, and I had a long night ahead of me on the plane to Singapore.

Wednesday 21 December 2011

I endured a 12 hour flight from Paris to Singapore sitting next to a schoolboy rugby team from Australia, didn't have in-flight entertainment because they couldn't fix my screen, and missed my connection in Singapore because they only gave me an hour to make it (but the flight was late), and they told me to pick up my boarding pass in Singapore, so by the time I got it they wouldn't let me on the plane!  So Air France have booked me a flight on Singapore Airlines which gets me into Perth tomorrow morning, but not with enough time to spare to get on the train to Kalgoorlie from East Perth.  So I lose that $86 and have to book a flight from Perth to Kalgoorlie that can get me there in time for Dad to collect me so we can get back to the station in time for Christmas!  Another lazy $200-odd but at least I get back in time.  Whew!

So this is the end of the line.   I have to say updating this blog quickly became an ordeal; reading it you can see it was right about the first few weeks that I was over it!  When I started doing things over there and had a regular set of friends to climb with I couldn’t be bothered writing it all down.  Any time I had spare, writing was the last thing on my mind.  Much of the blog is note entries of pretty boring sounding events, written without any patience or flair.  I threw a few good entries in every now and again, when I had the time and inclination to sit down and write.  Much of the problem was that I left it too long and had to catch up on a month or more of events, which when formatting and pictures was included seemed too much of a task.  I should have copied other people’s blogs in their punchy brevity, instead of writing down a list of events.  But at least I have a record of what happened, and I can draw conclusions from it all in times to come; hell even make shit up to make it sound more interesting!  That’s the benefit of not going into much detail - I can fill in the blanks later.  Haha

Red River Gorge, Kentucky

Wednesday 19 October 2011

Start drive to RRG.  27 hours of monotonous driving to look forward to!  Arizona, New Mexico and Texas today.


Thursday 20 October 2011

Drive.  Arkansas, Tennesee.  The FLAT sweeping farmland ensures you forget the desert vistas of Arizona and New Mexico.  I consider taking photos, but really, there's not much exciting material!

Friday 21 October 2011

Kentucky.  Set up camp in the Miguel’s carpark.  Seeing as we have two vans and we won't need to drive anywhere when Chris is here with his truck, we set up a tarp between the vans to cover the cooking area and the van doors.

Saturday 22 October 2011

Gallery crag.  Onsight “De Vinci’s Left Ear” (5.10b), flash “Happy Trails” (5.10d), flash “A Brief History of Climb” (5.10c), flash “Johnny Be Good” (5.11a).  Good start to the trip.  Nothing like some mindless clip-ups to cure the Yosemite hangover!  The bolting here in general is conducive to stress-free enjoyment of movement over rock, without having to worry about being weighed down with pounds of gear and looking at scary run-outs.

Sunday 23 October 2011

Crossroads crag.  Onsight “Love Potion Number 9” (5.9), then toprope “Hippy Speed Ball” 5.12a with a hang at the crux.  Finger is still not at all good, so I’m being very careful not to stress it.  Staying off hard routes, and only top roping moderate routes to make sure I don’t do something stupid to my finger.  Luckily the rock here lends itself to comfortable climbing, especially at the lower grades.

Iron banding in the sandstone makes for some interesting holds

Monday 24 October 2011

Funk Rock City crag.  Flash “Funkadelic” (5.10b), flash “Manic Impression” (5.10a), flash “Eye of the Needle” (5.11b).  The Red is known for its ladder-like steep jug hauls, but there are plenty of intriguing routes that require more contemplation and use of deft footwork.  "Eye of the Needle" is an arete climb with a foot-long hole through the thinnest part of the route.

Tuesday 25 October 2011


5.12 wall and Military wall.  Onsight “Sunshine” (5.9+), onsight “Moonbeam” (5.9), flash “In the Light” (5.10c), onsight “Stay Left” (5.10a), toprope flash “Fuzzy Undercling” (5.11b).  Some of these routes are fine to lead even though I can't climb properly with this injured finger, because the angle and the steepness often allows for relaxed pulling and careful management of the finger.  Most times I'm able to remove the suspect doigt from the hold and just use the other 4, and other times I can use the left hand to do most of the hard pulling and the right can be saved for balance.

Many options for ascention

The iron provides solid holds among the sandstone

Wednesday 26 October 2011

Chocolate Factory crag.  Onsight “Oopma” (5.10a), flash “Loompa” (5.10b), onsight “Glass Elevator” (5.10d), dog “Wobbler” (5.11d), toprope flash “One Side Makes You Taller” (5.11a).  Routes such as "Wobbler" are the type of route that I should avoid if I want to protect my finger from more injury.  These such routes are crimpy face climbs similar to those found at Red Rocks, and require hard crimping on small holds.

Thursday 27 October 2011

Solarium and Arsenal crags.  Onsight “Sacrilege” (5.10d), flash “Bathtub Mary” (5.11a), onsight “Air Ride Equipped” (5.11a).  The latter route is the type that I can climb without fear of further injury. The climb is very steep, but the holds are all huge and round enough to allow me to keep the injured finger protected.

Chris on a typically crimpy face route

Friday 28 October 2011

Inner Sanctum Crag.  Onsight “Netizen Hacktivist” (5.9+), onsight “Bad Company” (5.10a), onsight “Naughty Neighbour” (5.10d).  We could go to a new crag every single day the whole time we are here, there are so many different places to climb.  It is true that much of the rock is very similar so the routes in each area climb very much the same, but each area has its own style.

Saturday 29 October 2011

Drive-By crag and Bob Marley crag.  Onsight “Make A Wish“ (5.10b), flash “Breakfast Burrito” (5.10d), flash “Fire and Brimstone” (5.10d), flash “Beta-Vul Pipeline” (5.12a).  "Beta-Vul" is the kind of route one thinks of when mentioning the Red; short, very very steep, and with big holds.  The crux involves some small but sharp pockets, but seeing someone else climb it informed me of the moves and allowed me to go through the crux quickly and protect the injured finger.  Even still, 5.12a seems to be the grade here where you have to pull hard enough on small enough holds to risk the finger, so I'd better be careful around this grade.

Sunday 30 October 2011

Chocolate Factory crag.  Onsight “Sugar Rush” (5.10a).  Check out Motherlode crag - awesome!  Curved amphitheater of uniform steepness and impressive blankness.  Nothing under 5.12.

Tuesday 1 November 2011

Left Flank crag.  Onsight “Mr Bungle” (5.8+), onsight “Fast Food Christians” (5.10a), onsight “Face Up to That Crack” (5.8-), onsight “To Defy the Laws of Tradition” (5.10a), flash “Aquaduck Pocket” (5.11a), dog “Wild, Yet Tasty” (5.12a).  This .12a was very flashable, but I was worried about my injured finger on the sharp 2 finger pockets.  Great route though.  The pockets are small but sharp, and widely spaced.  Many harder routes here are similar in style to this route, and are just the style I enjoy.  Too bad!  Maybe next time I can get on some of these routes.

Wednesday 2 November 2011

Phantasia crag.  Onsight “Creature Feature” (5.9), onsight “Overlord” (5.10b), onsight “Lord of the Flies” (5.8), onsight “Pogue Ethics” (5.9+), onsight “Creep Show” (5.10d), onsight “Count Floyd Show” (5.11b).  Nothing to do every day but climb great routes and eat Miguel's pizza!

Thursday 3 November 2011

Bourbon Trail.  Only went to Four Roses and Wild Turkey out of the 6 distilleries on the Trail.  Very similar experience to going on a winery tour.  I have to say, straight bourbon is not my drink of choice!  Luckily there are those on the tour with me who aren't opposed to extra rations.

Massive yeast tub - nasty smells!

Saturday 5 November 2011

Back to Inner Sanctum crag.  Onsight “Karmic Retribution” (5.10d).  Indy Wall crag.  Onsight “Annie the Annihilator” (5.10c), onsight “Makin’ Bacon” (5.10d).

Sunday 6 November 2011

Bob Marley crag.  Onsight “Toker” (5.11a), flash “Crosley” (5.11c), flash “Dogleg” (5.12a) awesome and super-reachy, and hard for the grade if you are short.  Any shorter than me and it would be quite difficult.  I was at maximum reach, and dynoing would be awkward on some moves.  One mandatory move a few clips up requires a dyno from twin underclings.  Very awkward, but rewarding when the rail is snatched on the fly.

"Dogleg".  Wide blank sections between good rails

Tuesday 8 November 2011

Drive By crag.  Onsight “Yada Yada Yada” (5.11b).  Dog up “Head & Shoulders” (5.11d) - climbs like a trad route, with powerful lay-backing defining the upper third of the route.  Found it difficult to get a rest, so I got too pumped to move past the last bolt.  Even after resting and scoping out the moves to the anchors I found it very difficult to complete the moves and clip the chains.  Maybe I should have tried harder to find a knee bar rest before or at the crux.

Onsighted the crag classic “Check Your Grip” (5.12a), as well as “Spirit Fingers” (5.11c).

Wednesday 9 November 2011

The Zoo crag.  Onsight “One Brick Shy” (5.10c), onsight “Geezers Go Sport” (5.11b), flash “Monkey in the Middle” (5.11a), onsight “Hippocrite” (5.12a) - very cool short bouldery route with big moves and pretty good holds (similar to “Dogleg”). 

"Hippocrite"; and to the right is "Scar Tissue"

Tried a great steep 12a next to Hippocrite, but the first hold was wet so I slipped off it and took a swinging ground fall on the pre-clipped first bolt.  Ouch!  I managed to climb it to the crux at the anchors no problem after that, but the last move to the clipping jugs spat me off.  Surprisingly the same move beat me again on the redpoint shot, and I was too tired and dispirited to try it again.  I’ve grown accustomed to onsighting 12a routes, so its humbling to fail on one.  This route - “Scar Tissue” - is a juggy jaunt up to good pockets below the chains, and its surprising to fall off such good holds after not getting very pumped on the route.  I think the move is just a little awkward and throwy, so if you aren’t aggressive enough on the move its hard to make the distance on the throw.

Flashed “Cannonball” (5.11b) to finish up for the day at this cool but strangely deserted crag.

Thursday 10 November 2011

Ice skating, plus movie - “The Big Year”.  We have been resting every few days and just doing shopping and laundry, or sitting around camp, so to go and do an activity like the Bourbon Trail and the ice skating was good for a change.  Although I have to say the movie wasn't a really easy one to get into or enjoy.

Friday 11 November 2011

Playground crag.  Onsight “Jungle Gym” (5.10b), onsight “Monkey Bars” (5.10a), flash “Steal the Bacon” (5.11a), flash “Red Rover” (5.11b), flash “Capture the Flag” (5.11b).

Volunteer Wall.  Flash “Donor” (5.11b), flash “Johnny on Roofies” (5.11a), onsight “Same Way” (5.11b), flash “Tong Shing” (5.10d), flash “Normalised Bramapoithecus” (5.10d).

Saturday 12 November 2011

Bob Marley crag.  Mike sent his 3 day project “Kaleidoscope” (5.13c) after a total of 6 tries - a long time for him to send the grade.  This route was FAed by Monique Forrester some years ago, and takes a striking line up a long overhanging arete.

I onsighted a very cool face/slab route called “Mas Choss” (5.11c), and a steep jug haul called “Horn” (5.11d).  "Mas Choss" had a tricky move at the start, and a couple of dicey sections higher up, but overall it was a fun interesting line with a couple of healthy runouts over the last 2 bolts.

Sunday 13 November 2011

Volunteer Wall.  Flash “First Time” (5.8+), onsight “Helping Hands” (5.10d) - best 5.10 ever! - onsight “Nice to Know You” (5.10b), onsight “Family Tradition” (5.10b), onsight “Darwin Loves You” (5.9+).  "Helping Hands" had very balancey climbing that I haven't been doing a lot of since coming to the Red, mainly because I've been avoiding it to protect the finger.

Bronaugh Wall.  Dog “Little Teapot” (5.12a) - short and stout!, flash “Jingus” (5.11b), onsight “Two Women Alone” (5.11a), onsight “Like a Turtle” (5.11b).  There are only three 5.12a routes and one 5.11d route this whole month in the Red that I haven't onsighted or flashed, mainly because I haven't tried anything that looked or was reported to be fingery and difficult for the grade.  But of those 4 routes, "Little Teapot" was by far the easiest and the one I should not have fallen off.  The route was so short I should have been able to read it better from the ground, but I chose to try the hard moves direct to the chains rather than follow the chalk out right.  Turns out the moves right were very easy, and the crux was actually below me when I fell.  I suppose pride got the better of me and I thought I could pull through the harder moves in the very cool looking direct line, but the finger crack was too hard for me to stay in.  I fell and did the moves via the easy but circular jug route.

Shady Grove.  Onsight “Girls Gone Wild…WHOO!” (5.10d).  Last route of the trip to Kentucky, and I feel it!  This 10d felt like an 11, even though the holds were jugs and the route wasn't that steep.  I guess all the climbing has caught up to me and its time for a rest.  3 days driving back across the country should give me that rest.

Monday 14 November 2011

Drive back to Arizona.  Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri.

Tuesday 15 November 2011

Drive back to Arizona.  Oklahoma, Texas.

Wednesday 16 November 2011

Drive back to Arizona.  New Mexico, Arizona.

Yosemite in the Snow and Rain

Monday 26 September 2011

Kenny and Brian arrived last night, so we decided to introduce them to some easy Yosemite routes today.  Remi and I climb ‘After Six’ (5.8) as Brian and Kenny do ‘Nutcracker’.  'After Six' is a beautiful route and the others enjoy 'Nutcracker' even though they find some parts of the route tough.  We all meet up on top for lunch, and the weather is not too hot thank goodness!

In the afternoon Remi and I set up his portal edge up the top of ‘Church Bowl Tree’ while Brian and Kenny aid it.  The ledge is easy enough to set up on the ground, but its a different story up on the wall!  Two climbers and the whole ledge hanging from 2 bolts means that the whole jumble is drawn to the centre of gravilty below the bolts, so its very difficult to move around enough to set up the ledge.  Better finding out that now than up on El Cap!

Tuesday 27 September 2011

Dave and Steve arrive in the morning, so after a late start we all go out to Glacier Point Apron to do some free climbing.  I lead the 2 pitches of ‘The Cow Left’ 5.9 that Remi and I tried to do last time out here.  The first pitch is nothing to write home about, but the second pitch is outstanding!  The climbing is slabby with interesting undercling flake moves following a curving weakness up and left to a chossy platform.  The moves are very tenuous and delicate, and the gear is infrequent enough to keep it spicy!  The boys enjoy the routes Remi and I did earlier in the trip.  We team up in 2 groups of three to do these routes together in the late evening.  Both teams finish in the dark, which is good practice for the future big walls!

Wednesday 28 September 2011

Practice setting up Remi’s portaledge at the Le Conte boulder, and practice hauling because we want to be prepared for El Cap.  The other lads practice on the Kor Roof bolt ladder (Kenny proves to be a natural on the reachy bolts!), and on a pin scarred 45 degree crack.  Dave is new enough to trad not to be scared of C2 climbing, but watching and spotting his bulk hanging on bad gear makes me a little nervous.  Luckily he never gets very far off the ground on the little boulder to potentially fall from a dangerous height.

We spent all afternoon up here!

Me hanging from a bat hook; 1/4 inch diameter hole drilled 1/4 inches deep to accommodate a tiny hook

Thursday 29 September 2011

North America Wall 1st pitch C2 aid.  Long pitch with very small gear.  Remi lead first and I jumarred, then we swapped over.  Remi had to lower down to clean gear when he was about half way, because he ran out of small gear.  Remi took an hour and 45 minutes and I took almost as long, which really put us in a downer about being able to climb Half Dome or El Cap in good time.  Plus we are realizing that this aid climbing thing is no fun at all!

Saturday 1 October 2011

EPIC!!  East Buttress of Middle Cathedral with all of us practicing in our Half Dome teams and processes.  The plan is to climb in 3s, with one person leading, one following on jumar and cleaning, and the third jummaring.  This way the 3rd can jumar while the leader sets off again, saving time and enabling the leader to lead in blocks of pitches.  Swapping the roles around means that the leader can do all his leading in one block then ‘rest’ for the remainder of the time.

Doctor Steve needs a prescription of lead climbing to cure his jumar blues

We got up super-early, but got a little lost on the approach.  This meant that we lost our place in line and had to wait for another team to get far enough ahead before we could start.  The second team of our 6 started 2 hours after arriving at the base, so we knew we were going to be in for a long day!

The system worked well, with some minor glitches that will be easily sorted out before we attempt Half Dome, but we were still too slow for the daylight we had available.  We all topped out in the fading evening light, but then realized that the day was far from over.  There was hundreds of feet of steep scrambling to the ledge system that was to lead us off the wall, then finding the descent gully in the dark was another difficult problem.  We got down around 12.30, so weren’t back to the camp before 1am.  Remi wouldn’t go to bed without a proper meal, so luckily we had a good dinner before we hit the sack.  Thanks Remi!

Sunday 2 October 2011

Rest day (obviously!).  Last night really tired us all out, so we’re putting off attempting Half Dome for a few days.  The plan was to hike in today, but I think now we’ll go on Wednesday.

Monday 3 October 2011

‘Pulling Teeth’ 5.8 at 5 Open Books crag with Steve.  Wide crack in a right facing corner, with some chimney on the second pitch and lots of gearless lay-backing higher up.  Finish with a chossy loose exit through a roof that I was too afraid to place gear in, and pulling on flakes that were thin and barely attached.  Scary stuff!

Steve following to awkward chimney section

Tuesday 4 October 2011

‘Super Slide’ 5.9 with Dave and Brian.  Cool easy route with some great crack climbing that Brian managed to face climb around at about 4 grades harder.  We got a rope stuck on abseil, so I had to re-climb the best pitch in order to free it.

Wednesday 5 October 2011

Today we had planned to hike with all the gear up to Half Dome, but we awoke to cold temperatures, rain and a forcast of bad weather.  The view of Half Dome showed us that it snowed the night before, and the top was a blanket of white.  Doh!  No Half Dome for at least a few days.  Too bad for Steve and Dave, because they leave pretty soon.

Thursday 6 October 2011

Walk in the rain and snow up to Glacier Point with Steve and Dave.  Beautiful scenery, even though it puts an end to our Half Dome aspirations.

Steve telling Dave how seracs are formed, and why Dave shouldn't stand on them

Half Dome is somewhere in there!

Friday 7 October 2011

Attempt South Face of Washington Column with Steve - his consolation prize after not being able to do Half Dome.  We did the first 3 pitches up to Dinner Ledge in the afternoon, then settled in on the plush bivvy ledge for a good night’s sleep before trying the rest of the route tomorrow.  Unfortunately there was another party already there who had fixed their rope a pitch above, so we’ll lose time wating for them to get ahead.  They are planning on trying a variation, so we shouldn’t have to wait too long.

Steve setting up camp on Dinner Ledge, with Half Doe teasing us from the distance

Saturday 8 October 2011

The other team had a really late lazy start, so we didn’t get climbing until about 9am.  One of the guys had enough so he bailed and asked us if we wouldn’t mind taking his friend with us on our route.  I lead a couple of time-consuming tricky aid pitches, and by the time we got to the top of pitch 7 we decided that; a) Steve and I didn’t really enjoy this aid climbing business, and b) we were running out of time to get down before dark.  So we bailed off 3 pitches from the top, and made it back to camp after dark but in time for Steve to get ready to leave in the morning.  Dave had already left to enjoy other facets of Californian life before he had to return to Perth.

Remi and Brian had spent their weekend fixing the first 7 pitches of the Nose, mostly at night because they had to line up to get on the route.  Every climber and his haul bag had been waiting for the weather to clear in order to have a go at the route, so with the forecast looking sweet there were many teams getting on the Nose.

Sunday 9 October 2011

Kenny and I packed up his haul bag and portal edge and made for the Nose in the afternoon.  We hiked in with our and the other’s haul bags and ledges, and ascended the first pitch ready to haul.  Remi and Brian had set 5 lines for us to jug up and haul on, and they would meet us out there after they recovered from their long night fixing.  I had no trouble leg hauling their bag, sans food, ledge and gear, but the bag Kenny and I packed was way too heavy for me to haul just by standing my weight onto the system.  I had to ‘space haul’ the load, which entails putting my whole weight on the haul line and walking down the wall in order to lift the bag.  I had to push hard with my legs above my head on the wall to budge it, then jumar back up to do it all over again.  Slow hard work!  Kenny joined me to help out, so I put his weight on the line and together we got the bag up.

We left Remi and Brian’s bag and ledge at the first belay point, ready for them to come up behind us, and Kenny and I set off up the next pitch.  We went in this fashion for 4 pitches until it started to get dark and we had to stop and set up camp.  We hung our bag and ledge off the 3 bolts of the anchor, one pitch below the other team’s high point, while Brian and Remi set up a pitch below.  It was a pleasant night on the wall, about 200 metres off the deck, although the ledge was set at an uncomfortable angle for most of the night before I had enough, got up and reefed in a couple of support lines to straighten the camber.  Peeing into a coke bottle so as not to rain down on the other team in the night was the highlight.

Monday 10 October 2011

First poo in the vertical world!  Kenny went first in the early morning, with other climbers all around rising to get started for the day.  The smell was pretty bad and there was no-where for me to escape to, but I got my own back when it was my turn.  Apparently mine smelled worse, but I think under the circumstances it’s a moot point.

Kenny and I had to wait for Brian to join us at the top of the fixed ropes, because we didn’t have a rope to climb with above that point.  I lead up a 5.8 hand crack, mostly free until I got too tired and scared to continue, then resorting to lowing down to get more gear and aiding to the top of the pitch.  Then another team came up before Kenny, meaning that we had 2 teams trying to share the same pitch.  Very confusing, and the guy was even slower than me leading the pitch.  Meanwhile a 3rd team came into the pitch from the side, and we ended up having 3 team leaders sharing one bolt and a cluster of natural gear.  Not far above and to the side was a 3 bolt rap anchor, so I decided to go for that and let both other teams pass us up the climbing line.

By the time I was set up there, had hauled our bag and ledge (with piss bottle dangling below), and got Kenny up to me, the storm clouds were rolling in and the temperature was dropping as fast as the rain.  When Remi made it up to us we decided to bail, so Brian remained a pitch below at the next set of rappel anchors.

It took ages to rap down with 4 teams all bailing, meaning Brian had to spend 5 hours in one spot getting soaked and making mini-films about the worsening weather.  By the time we hit base it was dark and cold and wet, and we still had the 20-odd litres of water to empty out, haul bags to pack, ropes to coil, and loads to ferry to the cars.  It was a long and arduous trip, but we did it all in one set of loads.  Remi had 6 wet ropes and Kenny had both ledges, while Brian and I took the heavy haul bags.  My head torch was dying so I tried to follow the leading lights of Remi and Brian, while Kenny followed and tried to provide a little more light.   I stumbled once under the top-heavy load, comically tripping over rocks as I fell to the left through the dark talus and trees.  I miraculously ended up skidding to a halt on my side amongst the rocks without injury, and Kenny’s laughter eased the journey back to the cars.

Kenny happy before the storm

Kenny not so happy any more!

The view above obscured by the inclement weather

Rapping into invisibility

We checked into a Curry Village tent cabin for the night, had hot showers and pizza, and slept late.  Tomorrow we have to dry everything out!

Tuesday 11 October 2011

Spent the whole day in El cap Meadow drying out all our gear.  There were still teams on the Nose for us to watch, so obviously not everyone was scared off by the weather!  We, however, are happy to be off the wall and leaving the Valley for other less demanding pastimes.

Wednesday 12 October 2011

Boulder with Brian and Remi at Camp 4 Boulders.  Why I thought it would be a good idea to boulder with the type of injury I have is beyond me, but boulder I did.  Perhaps it was the fact that I had not done any climbing that I really enjoyed this whole trip in the Valley; I mean climbing that involved purity of movement and disassociation from mental presence and reliance on gear.  I manged to make the injury worse of course, but we also repeated some classic easy problems and had a great time before we all had to go our seperate ways.

Yosemite Ho!

Friday 9 September 2011

Visit the Lassen Volcanic Park for most of the day.  Fantastic place!  The most interesting was the ‘Bumpass Hell’ hike, which took me right up close to the active hydrothermal basin, and I had great views of bubbling mud and sulphuric water, as well as steam vents constantly spraying out super-heated gas.  The smell leaves much to be desired, but hey at least here I can be myself!  (Had to put that in there Kenny, before you said it!)

The volcano blew in 1915 and ever since then there has been loads of action for tourists to see and scientists to monitor.

The Sulphur Works gave me the super-closeup view of bubbling turmoil that the Bumpass Hell hike couldn’t.  It was fenced off right near the tarmac road so I could literally stand a couple of yards from it, whereas the Bumpass Hell tour stayed on boardwalks and set trails which prevented tourists from falling in.  Apparently people stray off-path every year and get badly burned.  Bumpass himself - a mountain guide who showed tourists through there back in the day - broke through the thin crust on day and ended up losing his leg to the severe burns from the water below.

Luckily there are National and State parks and forests all the way down between me and Yosemite.  I’ve had little trouble finding some old forest road to drive down at dusk and set up camp for the night.  I’m far enough away from the main road that it is relatively peaceful, and the scenery is unparalleled.  There are shotgun shells and 9mm casings everywhere though, so hopefully I can avoid all the gun crazy F250 drivers around!

Saturday 10 September 2011

Camp in a really cool spot in the National Forest.  Lots of rain overnight, so I'm glad to be in the van!  Its great that I can camp for free all through these National forests, although I can't camp within the parks.  Despite the camping-friendly weather, I haven't seen that many folks out and about.  Still no bears in sight, but I have seen plenty of woodpeckers, eagles and other birds.

Sunday 11 September 2011

Drive to Merced and treat myself to a night in Motel 6 - shower and real bed!  Dodgy part of town.  Two police cars were in the parking lot when I arrived, evicting a family who hadn't paid their bill.  On the drive today I saw more American flags than usual hung up in the towns and homes, as well as many signs ("Never Forget") and even some folks camped out at street corners with signs and army fatigues.

Monday 12 September 2011

Pick up Remi in the afternoon from the bus station in Merced, and begin the drive to Yosemite.  Its great to see an Aussie friend after so long on the road.  I've met many great people on the trip, but nothing compares to meeting up with a longtime friend from home.  We drive as far as we can in the daylight, then camp overnight in the forest before we get to the park.  We aren't so far from the Valley, but trying to get a place to stay late at night in there is just too much hassle and probably impossible this time of year.  Better to camp at leisure outside the park within the National Forest, then arrive in the Valley refreshed and ready to scope out the situation.

Tuesday 13 September 2011

Drive in to the park itself and get out first look at the ‘Big Stone’. 

Such an impressive monolith!  Intimidating, seemingly insurmountable.  Big respect to the early pioneers who dreamed the impossible, and to those who upped the ante by improving on style.

It rained in the evening that we arrived, so luckily we had the van to stay in.  We had to line up in the afternoon to get a spot in the Pines campground, and we were told that tomorrow morning we have to line up early at camp 4 to try and get a spot there.  Every morning we stayed, for 2 weeks, there was a huge line of people trying to get a spot in the Camp.

The early morning line to get into Camp 4

Wednesday 14 September 2011

Line up early at the camp 4 booth to try to get a spot.  We get a spot right near the YOSAR (Yosemite Search and Rescue) camp, which is well set up with canvas tents and countless tarps.
|
Remi leads a free route called ‘La Cosita’, and I follow on jumar.  I lead (aid) ‘La Escuela’, a C1 pitch that is quite awkward to aid.  The route goes free at 5.11, which is crazy hard here in the Valley.  We run out of time so we can’t aid the second pitch.

Thursday 15 September 2011

I aid ‘Church Bowl Tree’ C1 and find the gear and position pretty straight-forward, but I’m still very slow.  Remi is a little quicker on his run, but we both must get faster at the easy aid if we hope to get up something big.  The route goes free at 5.10b, but is very polished.  The pin scars from decades of aiding are the only thing that make the route possible as a free climb, so really it’s like climbing a chipped route.  There are many routes here in the Valley like that, but they are considered ‘classics’.  Maybe its because I can’t finger lock because of my injury, but I’m not psyched on climbing such routes.

Remi leads ‘Bishops Terrace’ 5.8 in one pitch (sometimes done in 2).  We are finding 5.8 / 5.9 a bit stiff here.  Hard to reconcile the grading here with Aussie grades, so we give up on converting.  5.9 is hard, and we go from there!

Friday 16 September 2011

Remi and I do ‘Nutcracker’ 5.8, which is a pretty classic route.  I lead the first 2 pitches and Remi leads the next 3, so we can practice ‘block leading’ and manage the ropes and changeovers.  It takes us 5 hours climbing time, so not including approach and descent, so we are still too slow even free climbing.

In the afternoon we went to the Le Conte boulder across the road from the Curry Village Housekeeping camp to practice steep bolt ladder aiding.  The angle is about 45 degrees and there is a line of bolts for about 6 metres for people to practice this.  The bolts are far enough apart to make it tricky to reach them, but we refine our technique quite well to get up.  Passing gear on jumar also goes well, although we are still slow.

Remi finding the steep bolt ladder less than enjoyable

 Sunday 18 September 2011

‘Rixon’s Pinnacle Direct South Face’ C2.  I think this is about as hard an aid I want to do!  Tricky gear placements, some rusty hangerless bolts, and shitty belays made up of many old bolts and pitons and webs of old tat.  Remi has to aid off 3 bad bolts in a row before the first anchor, and I have to loop a rock horn and stand high on it to reach the anchors of the second pitch.  We run some new cord through the best 2 of the 5 anchor bolts to back the whole thing up, and rap off hoping the whole thing doesn’t disintegrate.  No-one seems to do this route, as its very dirty and there is no recent signs of passage.

Shitty anchor on Rixon's Pinnacle

Quality runner!

I lead ‘Doggie Deviations’ 5.9 in the afternoon.  Nice finger crack, but typical Yosemite pin scars to make it possible.  I wonder how much of ‘The Nose’ and ‘Regular Northwest Face of Half Dome’ are only possible to free climb now that decades of aiding has created holds?  We top-rope ‘Doggie Diversons’ and struggle with the 5.7 squeeze chimney at the start.  The 5.9 second pitch is good climbing but would be a scary lead.

Monday 19 September 2011

Internet and planning for when the guys arrive.  Change reservation from Curry Village to the Housekeeping Camp, because there are many factors that make it a better option.  In Curry Village if you want to cook you have to go out to the carpark!  Plus if we go to Housekeeping we can park the cars right in front of the tent cabin. 

Tuesday 20 September 2011

Climb ‘Central Pillar of Frenzy’ on the Middle Cathedral Rock with Remi and this young stoner Mike.  5.9 and easier climbing for 5 pitches, then a long set of raps off. 

Mike's dad John cooked us dinner to say thanks for letting Mike come along

Wednesday 21 September 2011

Penelope’s Problem’ 5.7 at Swan Slab.  Remi leads a 5.9 pin scarred finger crack called ‘Grant’s Problem’, and we top-rope a 5.10a face climb in the dark.  I'm already over pin-scar climbing (welcome to Yosemite!), so the face route was fun.

Thursday 22 September 2011

Glacier Point Apron - ‘Harry Daley’ 5.8 (more pin scars on the first pitch, but after that is becomes fun to climb.  ‘The Grack’ 5.6 is a fun jaunt up 3 pitches of slab with a crack cutting all the way up it.  We attempt ‘The Cow Centre’ 5.7 but can’t see the anchors so traverse at about 5.6R in to The Grack and finish that in the dark.

Saturday 24 September 2011

Sunnyside Bench - ‘Jamcrack’ 5.9.  Remi leads both pitches and I follow, then I lead both in one long pitch.  Very hot in the sun - almost 90 degrees every day.  Makes it hard to enjoy climbing on the north side of the Valley in the middle of the day.  I think this is not normal temperatures for this time of year.  Hopefully it will cool down so we can climb some longer routes on the El Capitan side of the Valley.  I would hate to be on the Nose in these conditions.  The route gets full sun almost all day.

Lead ‘Lemmon’ 5.9, which is the easiest 5.9 we’ve done so far.

Wandering down towards Yosemite through the National Forests

Sunday 4 September 2011

Do the 2.5 mile walk around Smith Rock and look at the Monkey Face feature.  What an amazing tower!  “No feature at Smith Rock is as stunning or as iconic as the 350-foot Monkey face” the guidebook reads.  How true!  The first view when approaching it from the east is the imposing and famous East Face (duh), which holds the aptly named “East Face of Monkey Face”, the 5.13d trad route which Sonnie Trotter only just recently freed.  Also plainly and imposingly visible is the historic 5.14b sport route “Just Do It” - purportedly one of America’s finest 5.14s even though it has a sordid history of chipping and gluing.

East Face of Monkey Face

The West Face looks like nothing other than a monkey’s face in profile.

 The wall at the base is littered with bolts, and there is a striking long bolt ladder containing more bolts than I’ve ever seen in such a closely spaced row, mere feet from a stellar 13a arete with somewhat less visible bolting.  The bolt ladder route has been given maximum stars in the guide, obviously a nod towards the adventurous spirit of the (probably very) early ascentionist, but for mine I think it is an eyesore.  Most tourists wouldn’t spot the bolts on “Just Do It” so easily, but few could miss the dead-straight line of iron mongery high on the West Face.

Bolt ladder on 'West Face of Monkey Face' 5.12a A0

Monday 5 September 2011

Start the drive down towards Yosemite.  Lava Butte and Lava River Cave in the Newberry National Volcanic Monument were both worthwhile stopovers.  The cave especially was an experience.  It is the longest lava tube in Oregon, and is nothing like anything I’ve ever experienced.  Its like a train tunnel, so perfectly sculpted along most of its length.  In some places it narrows right down so you have to stoop to walk through, but most of its mile length is like a subway tunnel.  You can see that the initial lava flow cut a clean pipe through the earth, but la later, lesser flow cut a smaller groove at the base of the tube.  A cross section of the tube now would look more like a key hole.  The daytime temperatures here this time of year stay high in the 90s, but down in the cave it drops to a chilly 40 degrees Fahrenheit.  My ears were aching by the end, and luckily I took down my warmer jacket.  I just couldn’t imagine the cold down there before I went in - 50 degrees (or almost 40 degrees Celsius) in drop!

Lava Butte

Mouth of the Lava Cave

Cold!

Cave gets smaller towards the end

I slept off a forest service road within the national park, which turned out to be a fantastic spot.  I cooked a nice spaghetti bolognaise and read my latest copy of Gripped before setting down in the van to an early night.

Tuesday 6 September 2011

Crater Lake.  What pristine attraction!  Just the size of the hole for starters, then its filled with gemstone-quality water!  Its 33 miles around and the water is almost 2000 feet deep.  There is an old volcano in the lake called Wizard Island, and the cone crater at the top is still plainly identifiable.

Stitched Panorama of the lake

Wizard Is.  Still snow around the waterline!

I drove down into California in the late afternoon, and camped off a National forest service road.  Unfortunately the spot I picked is, while private and far enough away from the highway, infested with mosquitoes!  Must be too close to the river.  I can hear it through the forest.

Wednesday 7 September 2011

Dinner at a small pub near Bridgeville or maple Grove - lamb shanks and beer.  Such a huge serving; had a forgotten I was in America?  Such tender meat, and simple mashed spuds, bread, salad and roast broccoli on the side.  Perfect!

Thursday 8 September 2011

Take a shower in the sun, in a secluded spot in the Trinity National Forest.  Nudist!  Good to get the ‘road dust’ off after all this driving.  A bit of internet in Redding to plan the next few days - Lassen National Forest, Plumas National Forest, Reno Nevada, Lake Tahoe, Eldorado National Forest, Stanislaus National Forest and then on to Merced to pick up Remi.