assorted escapades and adventures: Yosemite through Tucson

Due to the infrequency of my blog posts, much has occurred which has not yet been posted to the internet. Luckily, Mike updated his blog so I can glean all the information from that without actually thinking about what we did.

Last I updated, we were stuck in Yosemite still, planning on going to the Needles to hang out with Jed and Gary. So we drove to Mt Whitney, hung out at the campsite at the trailhead, and they never showed up. Saddened, we took the long way back to Yosemite and used Mike's remaining three days at Camp 4.

Since we can only register to camp for one week at a time, I was sitting in line at 5 am Friday morning to reserve another spot so we could leave our tent and food set up while we sent the Nose. I was about 5th in line, so I thought we would be okay (before I realized that the one guy in front of me was actually him and his girlfriend, plus 4 other parties of 2-4 people, which made me about 23rd?)

A little background on the Valley - there are a number of campsites in and out of the Valley, and every one in the Valley proper can be reserved, with the exception of Camp 4. Somehow, a group of Native Americans managed to reserve 24 campsites (with six people to a site) so they had 2 spots available that morning. Chaos ensued. I stayed and packed camp while Mike made a brave and daring attempt to secure us another site. Regrettably, the last spot was lost to an RV driver in a "no-RV's" campsite. We were lost.

So what to do? Naturally, we went to the lodge to drink free coffee and use the internet. Jed and Gary had already gone North, so chances of catching up with them were slim. We managed to sneak into a campsite for the night, woke up, and decided to drive to Vegas via Death Valley.

The Nose, my first pitch of C2+ in Yosemite, Sunset in Death Valley

Now, Vegas is of course known for Red Rocks, which would have been AMAZING. However, the temperature was hovering at about 102 F, so we ate pancakes while we decided what to do. The guy in the gear store ended up recommending Mt Charleston, and the guide was only $10, so we figured some bolt clipping might do us good. He then compared the Nevada limestone to Yosemite, saying that they both had drilled pockets..... we didn't follow.

Free camping though, which was cool if not a bit sketchy. But, being at 8000 feet meant nice cool temps, no higher than about 85, and all the crags were shaded. That's where the positive aspects end. The place is trying, I'll give it that, but everything is bolted to shit! There are bolts everywhere! It was not uncommon to have a bolt at your feet, one at your waist, and one within arms reach at all times. Occasionally it was worse, with four bolts reachable from one stance. Not all the bolts are on the "same" climb, which is how this place is trying to boost it's shear number of climbs. Literally, some routes shared all but one bolt. Others were a 10d if you climbed 8 bolts, a 12a if you did 10 bolts, and 13b if you climbed 12 bolts. Very strange indeed.

Classy Mt Charleston - the permadraws in sillioute, and Mike on only one of the many bolts we could reach from the ground (if you jumped you could reach the second)

It was really hard to get motivated for a number of reasons.
1) There was usually one 5.6, which was not cleaned and was pretty much a gully; one 10a; one 11b; one 12b and the rest were 13+
2) The climbs were contrived as shit and it was too hard to know where to go (I climb this for 2 bolts, then the bolt on the left, then back right for 2 bolts..... etc)
3) It was WAY to easy to make fun of

So I think we spent a day or two there, then gave up and drove back to Yosemite again.

With much fucking around, we got our space in Camp 4, bought some food and gatorade, rigged clip in loops and said our prayers to the god of El Capitan. That night we went up and fixed the first two pitches of the Nose to give ourselves a head start the next day and get our food off the ground.

Getting ready to go! All of our gear for our Nose attempt

4am - up and ready to go! My stomach was in my throat on the approach, especially since it came down to me to start us off. There we were, climbing the Nose!! 5am and super tired.

By 11am had gone no higher and were trying to retreat. Ropes were tangled horribly, clusterfucks occurred, and numerous others were prevented. However, free climbing experience, although useful, does not mean that you can forsee problems on a big wall. Numerous reasons lead up to our first failure on a big wall. These include but are not limited to...
....inexperience, on both of our parts
....Mike got stung by a bee and his knee was the size of a small melon
....we spent time working on aid climbing and hauling, yet had never done a pendulum or lowered out haul bags
....it is SO hot in Yosemite in August- was over 95 when we started
....this meant hauling 33 kilos of water (72 lbs of water alone) they recommend 4+ L per day per person
....despite Mike's best efforts to fatten me up, I am still a relatively small person to be hauling 180+ lbs, even on a 3:1 system
....we brought up a extra gallon of water that first day (4 L), and had finished before we descended, which seemed like a bad sign for the heat of the rest of the trip
....started on the 13th...a bad omen?
....were just in way over our heads

Luckily, we have no shame. We tried it, and it kicked our butt. The Nose will always be there to try again, perhaps when we are more worthy (or it is cooler out)

Rapping down we met Erik, an Alaskan dude who worked in the Valley doing something. I was sitting on the anchor at the top of the first proper pitch when he jugged up his fixed line. He seemed a little peeved that he had to stop and wait for us to move so he could keep going up. I thought it was a bit strange that it was 1130 and he told me he had to be in the valley at 1 to work, thinking "what could someone need to do for only 1.5 hours that's worth jugging up four pitches?" but I kept my mouth shut. He let up rap down his fixed line, and we gave him a gallon of gatorade since he dropped his water.

Since I rapped first, it wasn't until Mike joined me at the base that I realized what this dude was up to. Apparently, his friend was solo aiding the Nose, fell about 10m above the anchors of the first pitch, fell below the belay ledge and knocked herself unconscious. Her friend Erik then decides that he is going to go up and chip out the cam placement that pulled on her. Anyone who has climbed in the Valley knows how finicky gear can be in pin scars, cams especially. However, this climb has been done for over 50 years, and it's been going all clean for a very long time. It's been free climbed for christsake. So Erik takes a cold chisel to a C1 pitch because his friend is an idiot. AND he dropped rocks on Mike's head.

Mike beefed up for our El Cap attempt; me rapping to the ground with gear; idiots in Camp 4 that got their door/window eaten by bears

Fed up with the valley, we leave after some uninspiring days of bouldering. We head south to Joshua tree, which is beautiful, but it was 107, so we decided climbing anything was probably out. Drove from there to San Diego, where we caught up with Mike's friend Jimmy, and saw the SanDiego zoo. After that, we drove to Tucson, where we have been showering, sleeping in a bed, living in air conditioning and driving up the mountain to climb in cool temperatures. Life is good.