Few books deserve the credit as having changed my life, in however small way. This book, written by a former professor of philosophy is a chronicled journey of a man who follows the release and then subsequent return of snow in the Teton mountain range of Wyoming. Through his wonderfully crafted narrative, the author makes astute observations of natural processes, provides insight into an exciting climbing environment and reflects on achieving a life bulging with satisfaction bound by connections we create with the cycles and seasons of the land. He speaks deeply of the first snows in Lupine Meadows, which areas melt out first and hence have a head start on the growing season, the wildlife that greet him regularly near his cabin during the short summer season, and a final walk around Jenny Lake to end the season.
The name of the novel comes from the mountain that the author is able to view from his cabin daily. Over 40 years of living and guiding in the Tetons has enabled the author to connect with his surroundings in such an intimate way, he knows his mountains better than anyone. As a naturalist he is keen to recognize the crowding that his work puts on the wilderness, but somehow he is able to justify it by blocking it from his mindset. However, he does a superb job of astutely contemplating the tranquil nature of the mountain landscapes.
For anyone who wishes to boost their foresight of recognizing mother nature's little gifts, this book is for you. One thing that I struggle with, and surely many others do as well, is to find meaning in my life. To observe the raw and rugged landscape of the Tetons or any other alpine arena for a lifetime is priceless. Important lessons were taken from this book. Simple pleasures as well as clarity, in life I believe, is found from developing a strong sense of mountain place and creating meaningful connections to it.
Friday, August 14, 2009
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Cirque of the Towers
In the many places I have lived in over the years I have always hung a spectacular 380 degree panorama poster of the Cirque of the Towers at the Wind River Range of Wyoming. It has been a secret dream of mine to visit this alpine playground and climb my heart out. I was hoping one day to have the chance to go there, and my drive home to VA from CA provided an excellent opportunity, but not without some big hold-ups. I learned few important lessons from this trip though, in a dramatic setting.
I did not realize how important it is in choosing who you go with for extended trips into the backcountry, my usual trips are only a few days long. Your climbing partner and yourself must have a level of understanding that is often beyond friendship, everything needs to jive nicely. Anyway, the Cirque is a spectacular place and having been there now I can relate to the generations of alpine climbers who have a soft spot in their hearts for "The Winds"...
It is an amazing range from the approach standpoint. We drove about 350 miles from Fort Collins, Colorado and the last 50 or so were within view of these tantalizing peaks, they just seem to rise above the plains out of nowhere and it was astonishing:
(photo courtesy of Dan Stone)
It was amazingly dry, warm and windy on the high plains and as we headed higher and into the Winds the landscape changed dramatically. We parked at around 9,000 feet and as soon as we got out of Dan's truck we got attacked by the damn skeets (mosquitos) until we went to sleep that night in the shelter of a tent. I mean those little skeets were dive bombing almost continuously as we hiked in the entire time. Aside from that, the approach to the Cirque went pretty darn smooth. I knew it would be a miserable slog in, and it was, so I packed as light as possible.
We hiked in as far as we could the first night after arriving in the late evening, racing to utilize the sunlight as it faded. We made it to Big Sandy Lake, 6 miles from the trailhead and about a thousand feet higher in elevation. We awoke to a magnificent view:
After getting up a bit later than I'd hoped we hit the trail to go higher. We paused for a moment to filter some water and admire the increasingly alpinscape we were encroaching into:
We rounded a bend and caught our first view of a Cirque peak, Pingora (it is the rounded summit in the distance)
When we got over Jackass Pass and entered into the Cirque it was quite a surreal landscape:
Just endless possibilities to climb, scramble and wander amongst these giant pilars and spires.
I could hardly contain my excitement to be there!
Not only was the rock of world class quality, but the snow was excellent, we even saw some cool effects as it recedes into the lakes and streams that foster life in a typically barren wasteland.
It really was like a dream come true...
The subtle rugged, beauty of the landscape quickly made me forget many insignificant things, like how heavy my pack was, money, material goods, drama with people and other silly mindsets that waay too often clutter our thoughts. It was so darn refreshing to have my mind corrected by such simple splendor.
Dan and I were both pretty knackered by the time we found our campsite. It was quick work to make a delicious pasta dinner and take in our new surroundings.
That night we were treated to a superb moon rising. I love how nearly everything about mother nature seems to be amplified in alpine arenas.
So I laid our attack plan to climb Pingora Peak the next day as an introduction for Dan to alpine climbing. We awoke mostly refreshed and I rushed Dan to get ready so we could be on and off the mountain quickly, Pingora from our campsite looked so darn sexy in the morning sun:
When we awoke it was quite cold, but after hiking for awhile the sun got quite hot and we paused to take off layers.
It did not take long to eye-ball our route up, but I made sure we didn't start before I got some alpine swagger.
At one point I had such a stunning little belay station, certainly reminded me of climbing in the Austrian Alps with a little alpine garden beside me.
The view from the top was spectacular, I took a quick video to get it all in, don't mind my silly commentary.
Even the view down towards Lonesome Lake was amazing, I felt like I could watch everything thaw out and a proper spring begin!
It wasn't long before we had to come down, even so I just could not wipe the smile from my face!
As I waited for Dan on one rappel, I could not resist a self-portrait with such a backdrop!
The descent provided an excellent view of Wolfs Head and many of its routes. This peak was next on my list to do in the Cirque, unfortunately Dan wasn't up for it, or climbing anything else for that matter. The proposed route was to follow the awesome knife edge ridge line that doiminates the right side of the photo below. Still, a man can dream, I am sincerely glad these mountains aren't going anywhere either because I will be back for Wolfs Head- fo realzies!
That night was a real bummer of a night. Dan said he would not climb anymore, he was simply not prepared. I was pretty bummed about it.
Anyway, aside from that, I could not think of a better place I'd rather have been (even if Dan differed). The morning before we left I hauled ass up a snow slope to the beginning of a couloir, mainly because I wanted to get out of the bright sun and into the shade. Yet another sweet view from high up.
I had some fun front-pointing in my crampons up a small rocky outcropping to relax for a minute.
I glissaded a long way down from there, it took about 15 minutes of nearly non-stop sliding!
It made really sad to leave the Cirque, I took one last look to try and save it all between my ears.
The next photos were all taken on the hike out, while Dan was being miserable with his heavy pack, I took the time to try and capture as much of the landscape as possible with Kodak moments (-:
I will always remember the "Winds", maybe one day I can live nearby or become a backcountry ranger there- one can only hope...
I did not realize how important it is in choosing who you go with for extended trips into the backcountry, my usual trips are only a few days long. Your climbing partner and yourself must have a level of understanding that is often beyond friendship, everything needs to jive nicely. Anyway, the Cirque is a spectacular place and having been there now I can relate to the generations of alpine climbers who have a soft spot in their hearts for "The Winds"...
It is an amazing range from the approach standpoint. We drove about 350 miles from Fort Collins, Colorado and the last 50 or so were within view of these tantalizing peaks, they just seem to rise above the plains out of nowhere and it was astonishing:
(photo courtesy of Dan Stone)
It was amazingly dry, warm and windy on the high plains and as we headed higher and into the Winds the landscape changed dramatically. We parked at around 9,000 feet and as soon as we got out of Dan's truck we got attacked by the damn skeets (mosquitos) until we went to sleep that night in the shelter of a tent. I mean those little skeets were dive bombing almost continuously as we hiked in the entire time. Aside from that, the approach to the Cirque went pretty darn smooth. I knew it would be a miserable slog in, and it was, so I packed as light as possible.We hiked in as far as we could the first night after arriving in the late evening, racing to utilize the sunlight as it faded. We made it to Big Sandy Lake, 6 miles from the trailhead and about a thousand feet higher in elevation. We awoke to a magnificent view:
After getting up a bit later than I'd hoped we hit the trail to go higher. We paused for a moment to filter some water and admire the increasingly alpinscape we were encroaching into:
We rounded a bend and caught our first view of a Cirque peak, Pingora (it is the rounded summit in the distance)
When we got over Jackass Pass and entered into the Cirque it was quite a surreal landscape:
Just endless possibilities to climb, scramble and wander amongst these giant pilars and spires.
I could hardly contain my excitement to be there!
Not only was the rock of world class quality, but the snow was excellent, we even saw some cool effects as it recedes into the lakes and streams that foster life in a typically barren wasteland.
It really was like a dream come true...
The subtle rugged, beauty of the landscape quickly made me forget many insignificant things, like how heavy my pack was, money, material goods, drama with people and other silly mindsets that waay too often clutter our thoughts. It was so darn refreshing to have my mind corrected by such simple splendor.
Dan and I were both pretty knackered by the time we found our campsite. It was quick work to make a delicious pasta dinner and take in our new surroundings.
That night we were treated to a superb moon rising. I love how nearly everything about mother nature seems to be amplified in alpine arenas.
So I laid our attack plan to climb Pingora Peak the next day as an introduction for Dan to alpine climbing. We awoke mostly refreshed and I rushed Dan to get ready so we could be on and off the mountain quickly, Pingora from our campsite looked so darn sexy in the morning sun:
When we awoke it was quite cold, but after hiking for awhile the sun got quite hot and we paused to take off layers.
It did not take long to eye-ball our route up, but I made sure we didn't start before I got some alpine swagger.
At one point I had such a stunning little belay station, certainly reminded me of climbing in the Austrian Alps with a little alpine garden beside me.
The view from the top was spectacular, I took a quick video to get it all in, don't mind my silly commentary.
Even the view down towards Lonesome Lake was amazing, I felt like I could watch everything thaw out and a proper spring begin!
It wasn't long before we had to come down, even so I just could not wipe the smile from my face!
As I waited for Dan on one rappel, I could not resist a self-portrait with such a backdrop!
The descent provided an excellent view of Wolfs Head and many of its routes. This peak was next on my list to do in the Cirque, unfortunately Dan wasn't up for it, or climbing anything else for that matter. The proposed route was to follow the awesome knife edge ridge line that doiminates the right side of the photo below. Still, a man can dream, I am sincerely glad these mountains aren't going anywhere either because I will be back for Wolfs Head- fo realzies!
That night was a real bummer of a night. Dan said he would not climb anymore, he was simply not prepared. I was pretty bummed about it.Anyway, aside from that, I could not think of a better place I'd rather have been (even if Dan differed). The morning before we left I hauled ass up a snow slope to the beginning of a couloir, mainly because I wanted to get out of the bright sun and into the shade. Yet another sweet view from high up.
I had some fun front-pointing in my crampons up a small rocky outcropping to relax for a minute.
I glissaded a long way down from there, it took about 15 minutes of nearly non-stop sliding!It made really sad to leave the Cirque, I took one last look to try and save it all between my ears.
The next photos were all taken on the hike out, while Dan was being miserable with his heavy pack, I took the time to try and capture as much of the landscape as possible with Kodak moments (-:
I will always remember the "Winds", maybe one day I can live nearby or become a backcountry ranger there- one can only hope...
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Matterhorn Peak
For those who know "The Dharma Bums" by John Kerouac (an all-American classic) then you might recognize Matterhorn Peak from the book. A good friend in Vienna, Austria gave me that book and I thought it to be an excellent read. Since I was leaving California, I knew my last chance to climb Matterhorn would need to be soon. So as my last hoorah in the state I climbed it! Below is my first view of it amongst other splendid peaks of the eastern Sierra:
This climb entaled an elevation gain of over 5,000 feet, so I developed a plan to conquer it. I decided to start the climb in the evening and go as high as possible and then make camp. Doing just that I hoped to increase my chances of success. My first view of the peak by itself came in the late evening as I rushed to gain altitude and make the next day easy:
It was such an awesome approach to the mountain, I had a lovely snow-melt saturated stream to listen to and accompany me nearly the entire time. It was even cooler to hike to the snowy source, and then above it!
Looking back down the valley:
A quick pano shot as I climbed upwards:
It was spectacular to start my climb in a dry forest, move up through different ecosystems and into a sub-alpine arena just budding into a new spring. I climbed an amazing couloir, but before that some nice, average snow travel:
The adjacent peak, Whorl, was also on my to do list as well, but at the time I did not think that I would have enough time to climb it too. Besides the ascent looked quite technical and I had neither a belay partner nor proper gear.
In the book "Dharma Bums" those dudes climb (or attempt) Matterhorn Peak and they describe this small alpine lake and super loose rock. The loose rock was actually covered in snow and climbing it turned out to be a ton of fun with crampons and an ice axe.
So after leaving my high camp near the stream around 6am I summitted at around 10:30am and was greeted with perfect weather the entire way. I was certainly glad that I climbed as high as I did the night before to make summit day easier. This peak was certainly no easy task, it involved serious elevation gain in a short distance- only 4-5 miles, thats over 1,000 feet per mile.
A stunning view from the summit of Matterhorn Peak looking south into Yosemite National Park and the magnificent eastern Sierras.
After spending some half hour or so on the summit admiring the views, I made quick time going back down. I accidentally went down the wrong gully and ended up on the wrong side of a ridge. So a bit of time and effort was wasted in gaining this extra ridge, but I was quickly rewarded... For on the other side of the ridge was the beginning of an awesome long snowslope, not too steep, and I was able to glissade for several hundred feet on the snow. This saved a ton of time and effort, but made my butt go numb from the cold snow!
I caught one last view of Matterhorn on my way out, such a majestic peak it was, I would recommend it to anyone keen on climbing a mountain that provides the complete package of cascading waterfalls, astonishing changes in ecoregions and an authentic alpine experience like no other.
This climb entaled an elevation gain of over 5,000 feet, so I developed a plan to conquer it. I decided to start the climb in the evening and go as high as possible and then make camp. Doing just that I hoped to increase my chances of success. My first view of the peak by itself came in the late evening as I rushed to gain altitude and make the next day easy:
It was such an awesome approach to the mountain, I had a lovely snow-melt saturated stream to listen to and accompany me nearly the entire time. It was even cooler to hike to the snowy source, and then above it!
Looking back down the valley:
A quick pano shot as I climbed upwards:
It was spectacular to start my climb in a dry forest, move up through different ecosystems and into a sub-alpine arena just budding into a new spring. I climbed an amazing couloir, but before that some nice, average snow travel:
The adjacent peak, Whorl, was also on my to do list as well, but at the time I did not think that I would have enough time to climb it too. Besides the ascent looked quite technical and I had neither a belay partner nor proper gear.
In the book "Dharma Bums" those dudes climb (or attempt) Matterhorn Peak and they describe this small alpine lake and super loose rock. The loose rock was actually covered in snow and climbing it turned out to be a ton of fun with crampons and an ice axe.
So after leaving my high camp near the stream around 6am I summitted at around 10:30am and was greeted with perfect weather the entire way. I was certainly glad that I climbed as high as I did the night before to make summit day easier. This peak was certainly no easy task, it involved serious elevation gain in a short distance- only 4-5 miles, thats over 1,000 feet per mile.
A stunning view from the summit of Matterhorn Peak looking south into Yosemite National Park and the magnificent eastern Sierras.
After spending some half hour or so on the summit admiring the views, I made quick time going back down. I accidentally went down the wrong gully and ended up on the wrong side of a ridge. So a bit of time and effort was wasted in gaining this extra ridge, but I was quickly rewarded... For on the other side of the ridge was the beginning of an awesome long snowslope, not too steep, and I was able to glissade for several hundred feet on the snow. This saved a ton of time and effort, but made my butt go numb from the cold snow!
I caught one last view of Matterhorn on my way out, such a majestic peak it was, I would recommend it to anyone keen on climbing a mountain that provides the complete package of cascading waterfalls, astonishing changes in ecoregions and an authentic alpine experience like no other.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Go Big or Bail- Yosemite: WV style
The theme of an excursion with a group of friends never reveals itself at first. It is something that becomes apparent with time. Two fine gentleman from West Virginia flew into SFO on June 6th and I greeted them at the terminal to begin the most epic climbing adventure I have ever embarked on. David and Ryan both have extensive climbing experience and I would be the driver as well as tag along for their projects.
I took them to the city first, to check out REI and stop by my climbing gym. I think they were a bit overwhelmed by my gym, perhaps because it is one of the best gyms in the nation! The bouldering area is absolutely top notch:
The view from upstairs out into the San Francisco Bay, Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz is way nice too:
Next we headed back towards my old place in El Granada of Half Moon Bay. I was super spoiled living so close to the ocean with spectacular sunsets, we went out to Pilar Point Harbor, watched the sunset there across the jetty and looking south.
After a good nights rest on the California coast, we made quick time to Yosemite that morning (after getting the gear and food sorted out!):
in order to try and climb Fairview Dome in the Tuolumne part of the park. It certainly did not take long for me to fall in love with this part of the park, it was remarkably alpine-like and high in elevation. I always love climbing at altitude, the aura of the clean air and rapidly changing weather, raw landscape and wilderness will always have a place in my heart.
Anyway, most mountaineers if asked would wax poetic about mountainscapes, so I won't dive into it. The photo above shows Half Dome from the north and an awesome view of the intimidating northwest face. We arrived at Fairview in the early afternoon and were astonished to find snow at the base! David appears to be enjoying it though.
As is the case with climbing most domes, the first pitch is the toughest and then they gradually get easier. I think the first pitch went at 5.9 and David did a stellar job leading it despite the relative wetness of many cracks!
I reckon we had climbed 3 or 4 pitches before David started to feel lousy. It was starting to get dark so we need had to rappel off and that turned out to be a mini epic. We rapped off some slings first and then a super shady set of bolts that moved and spinned in every which way, check them out:
Needless to say, we didn't conquer Fairview Dome that day, but at a later date... That night we planned on sleeping outsidfe up in Tuolumne, but were rained out once in the middle of the night, forcing us to drive down towards Yosemite Valley where it wasn't sprinkling. The next days in the Valley turned out to be a spectacular one as we were climbing both Serenity Crack and Royal Arches (got rained off of Serenity Crack, take note- bail number 2!). At the first belay stance, is David.
The next photos are assorted throughout the day we climbed Royal Arches.
The last photo above is looking back at Royal Arches from Curry Village with the Washington Column to the right and North Dome above it. We tried to climb the Washington Column and sleep at the dinner ledge, but got turned around due to weather, it was pretty lame. Either way on the way down Ryan and David had a good view of the enticing Northwest face of Half Dome.
We relaxed in the Valley for a brief time and then met up with a good friend from WV, Stephen who came out with us to climb Fairview Dome fo realzies this time. A classic pose of David in belay stance with tantalizing Tuolumne in the background.
After some 6-8 pitches and going slightly off route we made it to the top and the rest of the photos are pretty silly, but the 360 panorama views were spectacular.
I took a quick video at the top, listen for bacon cheeseburger...
Next we decided to climb Cathedral Peak, an easy, classic climb far away from the road and often never seen by any tourists. Along the way we saw the Matthis Crest, which looked like an awesome alpine traverse, with a fair amount of snow travel involved!
The approach to Cathedral was a bit longer than we expected, but before long we caught view of the Cathedral! David was thinking about coming with us, but instead decided to take a hike, all the way to Yosemite Valley- some 24 miles away! RESPECT to him for that effort, including some hairy routefinding along the John Muir Trail and less than ideal conditions.
It was an awesome climb with classic liebacks, jams and a lot of slab climbing. Here we are the beginning of the first pitch, the weather was looking pretty good at this point.
Ryan and Stephen both did the climb in street shoes and I tried to do it in my alpine boots. Big mistake that was, I could only edge and not smear on the rock- which is crucial!
Despite the relative good weather in the photo above with Ryan, it did not last long! Soon we were climbing with snow falling, it was an amazing alpine experience!
Coming back down from the summit was a little bit of a yard sale. The conditions were slick and we came down a less than typical way, but of course this coincided with the general theme at Yosemite. Ryan and Stephen chillin out on the way down the slabs:
After Cathedral Peak we all cruised back to the Valley to sunshine and warmer temperatures. This was where an ambitious plan was developed for Ryan and David to attempt the Northwest face of Half Dome. I decided I would try to help them by hauling some gear to the base, to see to it that they have the best chances of success. Let me set up the scenario for the photo below. We tried to get to Half Dome by taking the slabs below the base and got shut down because we couldn't find the route!
So we retreated back to the Valley and ate waay too much pizza. There were 4 of us and so we ordered 3 pizzas, pretty reasonable right? They messed up on one pizza so we got 1 for free- that makes 4 large pizzas for 4 dudes, we literally filled up a table with our pizzas! It seemed like every person that walked by inquired about them! Keep in mind that a typical tourist will pay about $20 a pizza for what we were eating and we got all 4 for about 30 bucks (due to discounts)! So anyway, we re-calibrated our plan to climb Half Dome, to include bringing 2 extra pizzas for the hike in!
The approach hike did not go as smooth as planned. We stuck to our original plan of me acting as Sherpa to ferry gear to the base for Ryan and David to climb. First, David got separated from us by accident because of a mis-understanding. His knee was bothering him from his epic, marathon hike from Tuolumne and due to the pain, could not continue. So, Ryan and I decided that perhaps it was possible for him to lead all the pitches and me to jug up as second. I ran from way up the trail to Half Dome down to David to get his gear we would need for the hike. After turbo hiking back up to Ryan we slogged all the way to the base of the Northwest face of Half Dome. I don't think I mentioned that we took the typical tourist route- 7 or 8 miles and all of it miserable. By the time we got there I was exhausted, having carried both ropes and the rack- like 80lbs!
We also made the mistake of not bringing pads to sleep on, which made for a terrible nights sleep. The skeets were dive bombing us all night too, needless to say we woke up without the energy we needed to crush 24 pitches of tough climbing! The night we arrived I had to learn how to jug up the rope too, which was both tough and embaressing. So, with all the factors working against us, we had no choice but to bail. It made me sad to do so, but we were not in shape to do the climb. I absolutely hate turning around when it is because of my abilities, but just the other day the opposite situation happened while climbing in Wyoming. What goes around comes around I suppose.
Since we couldn't do the route we wanted, Ryan and I decided to just climb Half Dome via the regular route since neither of us had been up it yet. The views from the top were nice and we even posed for some silly shots, don't do this at home kids!
Looking down into Yosemite Valley was super cool too.
During lunch we got paid a visit by a curious marmot, keen on having some of our pasta primavera...
The cables going up and down were actually steeper than I thought they'd be. The week before someone slipped off and acutally died, very sad.
Getting off the mountain we took the slab route since we couldn't find it before and I looked back to see the massive face, the route starts off towards the left and traverses to where you see a piece of the mountain sticking out at the top. In fact, we awoke in the morning of our attempted climb to 3 base jumpers who leaper off the top of the mountain and glidded into the valley. They flew quite literally right over us in squirrel suits, it was absolutely spectacular, they sounded like jet planes!
After a day or so of rest, Ryan and David decided to do a serious climb. Called Separate Reailty, it is rated at 5.12a and is an overhanging roof crack. The climb was located near Inspiration point on the way into Yosemite Valley and the view was absolutely spectacular:
Ryan and David worked it in a sort of sequence, so I tried to lay out the photos as they solved the problem. The photos were taken by Mr. Cunningham (the dude in the badass hat) who hung from our fixed line. The only way into Separate Reality was to rappel straight in, a real cool way to approach a climb! The next photos follow the progress of the climb as David and Ryan worked it:
Check that big smile on David's face!
It was sad to end our climbing excursion in Yosemite. In such a short time I learned more about climbing than I have in my whole climbing career and I hope I get the extraordinary opportunity to climb with crushers such as Stephen, Ryan and David again one day!
I took them to the city first, to check out REI and stop by my climbing gym. I think they were a bit overwhelmed by my gym, perhaps because it is one of the best gyms in the nation! The bouldering area is absolutely top notch:
The view from upstairs out into the San Francisco Bay, Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz is way nice too:
Next we headed back towards my old place in El Granada of Half Moon Bay. I was super spoiled living so close to the ocean with spectacular sunsets, we went out to Pilar Point Harbor, watched the sunset there across the jetty and looking south.
After a good nights rest on the California coast, we made quick time to Yosemite that morning (after getting the gear and food sorted out!):
in order to try and climb Fairview Dome in the Tuolumne part of the park. It certainly did not take long for me to fall in love with this part of the park, it was remarkably alpine-like and high in elevation. I always love climbing at altitude, the aura of the clean air and rapidly changing weather, raw landscape and wilderness will always have a place in my heart.
Anyway, most mountaineers if asked would wax poetic about mountainscapes, so I won't dive into it. The photo above shows Half Dome from the north and an awesome view of the intimidating northwest face. We arrived at Fairview in the early afternoon and were astonished to find snow at the base! David appears to be enjoying it though.
As is the case with climbing most domes, the first pitch is the toughest and then they gradually get easier. I think the first pitch went at 5.9 and David did a stellar job leading it despite the relative wetness of many cracks!
I reckon we had climbed 3 or 4 pitches before David started to feel lousy. It was starting to get dark so we need had to rappel off and that turned out to be a mini epic. We rapped off some slings first and then a super shady set of bolts that moved and spinned in every which way, check them out:
Needless to say, we didn't conquer Fairview Dome that day, but at a later date... That night we planned on sleeping outsidfe up in Tuolumne, but were rained out once in the middle of the night, forcing us to drive down towards Yosemite Valley where it wasn't sprinkling. The next days in the Valley turned out to be a spectacular one as we were climbing both Serenity Crack and Royal Arches (got rained off of Serenity Crack, take note- bail number 2!). At the first belay stance, is David.
The next photos are assorted throughout the day we climbed Royal Arches.
The last photo above is looking back at Royal Arches from Curry Village with the Washington Column to the right and North Dome above it. We tried to climb the Washington Column and sleep at the dinner ledge, but got turned around due to weather, it was pretty lame. Either way on the way down Ryan and David had a good view of the enticing Northwest face of Half Dome.
We relaxed in the Valley for a brief time and then met up with a good friend from WV, Stephen who came out with us to climb Fairview Dome fo realzies this time. A classic pose of David in belay stance with tantalizing Tuolumne in the background.
After some 6-8 pitches and going slightly off route we made it to the top and the rest of the photos are pretty silly, but the 360 panorama views were spectacular.
I took a quick video at the top, listen for bacon cheeseburger...
Next we decided to climb Cathedral Peak, an easy, classic climb far away from the road and often never seen by any tourists. Along the way we saw the Matthis Crest, which looked like an awesome alpine traverse, with a fair amount of snow travel involved!
The approach to Cathedral was a bit longer than we expected, but before long we caught view of the Cathedral! David was thinking about coming with us, but instead decided to take a hike, all the way to Yosemite Valley- some 24 miles away! RESPECT to him for that effort, including some hairy routefinding along the John Muir Trail and less than ideal conditions.
It was an awesome climb with classic liebacks, jams and a lot of slab climbing. Here we are the beginning of the first pitch, the weather was looking pretty good at this point.
Ryan and Stephen both did the climb in street shoes and I tried to do it in my alpine boots. Big mistake that was, I could only edge and not smear on the rock- which is crucial!
Despite the relative good weather in the photo above with Ryan, it did not last long! Soon we were climbing with snow falling, it was an amazing alpine experience!
Coming back down from the summit was a little bit of a yard sale. The conditions were slick and we came down a less than typical way, but of course this coincided with the general theme at Yosemite. Ryan and Stephen chillin out on the way down the slabs:
After Cathedral Peak we all cruised back to the Valley to sunshine and warmer temperatures. This was where an ambitious plan was developed for Ryan and David to attempt the Northwest face of Half Dome. I decided I would try to help them by hauling some gear to the base, to see to it that they have the best chances of success. Let me set up the scenario for the photo below. We tried to get to Half Dome by taking the slabs below the base and got shut down because we couldn't find the route!
So we retreated back to the Valley and ate waay too much pizza. There were 4 of us and so we ordered 3 pizzas, pretty reasonable right? They messed up on one pizza so we got 1 for free- that makes 4 large pizzas for 4 dudes, we literally filled up a table with our pizzas! It seemed like every person that walked by inquired about them! Keep in mind that a typical tourist will pay about $20 a pizza for what we were eating and we got all 4 for about 30 bucks (due to discounts)! So anyway, we re-calibrated our plan to climb Half Dome, to include bringing 2 extra pizzas for the hike in!
The approach hike did not go as smooth as planned. We stuck to our original plan of me acting as Sherpa to ferry gear to the base for Ryan and David to climb. First, David got separated from us by accident because of a mis-understanding. His knee was bothering him from his epic, marathon hike from Tuolumne and due to the pain, could not continue. So, Ryan and I decided that perhaps it was possible for him to lead all the pitches and me to jug up as second. I ran from way up the trail to Half Dome down to David to get his gear we would need for the hike. After turbo hiking back up to Ryan we slogged all the way to the base of the Northwest face of Half Dome. I don't think I mentioned that we took the typical tourist route- 7 or 8 miles and all of it miserable. By the time we got there I was exhausted, having carried both ropes and the rack- like 80lbs!We also made the mistake of not bringing pads to sleep on, which made for a terrible nights sleep. The skeets were dive bombing us all night too, needless to say we woke up without the energy we needed to crush 24 pitches of tough climbing! The night we arrived I had to learn how to jug up the rope too, which was both tough and embaressing. So, with all the factors working against us, we had no choice but to bail. It made me sad to do so, but we were not in shape to do the climb. I absolutely hate turning around when it is because of my abilities, but just the other day the opposite situation happened while climbing in Wyoming. What goes around comes around I suppose.
Since we couldn't do the route we wanted, Ryan and I decided to just climb Half Dome via the regular route since neither of us had been up it yet. The views from the top were nice and we even posed for some silly shots, don't do this at home kids!
Looking down into Yosemite Valley was super cool too.
During lunch we got paid a visit by a curious marmot, keen on having some of our pasta primavera...
The cables going up and down were actually steeper than I thought they'd be. The week before someone slipped off and acutally died, very sad.
Getting off the mountain we took the slab route since we couldn't find it before and I looked back to see the massive face, the route starts off towards the left and traverses to where you see a piece of the mountain sticking out at the top. In fact, we awoke in the morning of our attempted climb to 3 base jumpers who leaper off the top of the mountain and glidded into the valley. They flew quite literally right over us in squirrel suits, it was absolutely spectacular, they sounded like jet planes!
After a day or so of rest, Ryan and David decided to do a serious climb. Called Separate Reailty, it is rated at 5.12a and is an overhanging roof crack. The climb was located near Inspiration point on the way into Yosemite Valley and the view was absolutely spectacular:
Ryan and David worked it in a sort of sequence, so I tried to lay out the photos as they solved the problem. The photos were taken by Mr. Cunningham (the dude in the badass hat) who hung from our fixed line. The only way into Separate Reality was to rappel straight in, a real cool way to approach a climb! The next photos follow the progress of the climb as David and Ryan worked it:
Check that big smile on David's face!
It was sad to end our climbing excursion in Yosemite. In such a short time I learned more about climbing than I have in my whole climbing career and I hope I get the extraordinary opportunity to climb with crushers such as Stephen, Ryan and David again one day!
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