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El Capitan- Triple Direct- 5/10/2019

5/26/2019

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Making the short approach to the fixed lines.
​I woke up Friday with my truck filled with portaledges and haul bags. Doug and I were moving away from our partnership and inviting a third person, Matt to accompany us up on the big rock. Three people means more banter, more water, more food, and more rope tangles. Especially because Matt has never climbed a big wall before and has jugged a rope >3 times. We were prepared for this new challenge and ready to blast up the rock.

I got to the valley early Friday around 4pm and my friend Brett so graciously helped hike loads to the base of heart ledge. We brought 16 gallons of water (about 4 a day), with one haul bag, the one I carried stuffed with 10 
gallons and rainflys. I was close to 100 pounds. I gave Brett the smaller load with the remainder of the water. Brett and I took a couple short trips to get the water and ledges to the base and by the time we were done, Doug and Matt rolled in and they hiked the ropes and rest of the gear to the base. The three of us jugged up the lines and stared space hauling. One of the few benefits of having three people, the hauling is very "easy". The bags left the ground at 7pm and did not reach Mammoth Terrace until 2am. It was a night full of hauling followed by a short night of sleep. ​​
​We woke up Saturday morning at 8am with a few hours of sleep and had a real slow start to our morning. We rapped the fixed lines, stashed our gear and trekked back to the car. We made breakfast along with a few sandwiches for lunch. I also had my first hard boiled egg in my life. To conserve our sparse poop tube capacity, we drove around the loop to Bridalveil Falls bathroom. After navigating through the tourist filled parking lot, we made our way back to El Cap bridge, grabbed the rest of the ropes, snacks, and water and departed to Freeblast. We did not start climbing Freeblast until 12 in the afternoon and eventually topped out at 4pm on Mammoth Terrace. Doug rope gunned us up. Off of Mammoth Terrace, Matt took his first 
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Some good ol' night hookin'.
lead of the day to he deceiving Pharaoh Ledges. We set up our ledges (not big enough for three people to sleep) and I took the next three pitches to Grey Ledges to fix. I started my lead at about 8:30pm and took pitch 12 in a little less than an hour. Doug followed up and cleaned the pitch, passed the gear off to me and I began the link for pitch 13 & 14 to Grey Ledges. Pitch 13 was fun, it featured a bunch of cam hooking and and small cam placements. I hooked a little bit extensively but that made the pitch go by quicker. I reached the anchors around 10:30 and continued up into pitch 14's awkward chimney section. With it being night time and aiding, the chimney pitch sucked. With a bit of time and frustration, I reached the anchors, fixed the rope and rapped down to Pharaoh Ledge by 12 at night. We made a quick dinner and began to catch up on sleep we lost the night before.
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Matt jugging up on one of the traversing pitches.
​Waking up on the side of El Cap is probably one of the most peaceful places to wake up at. The sound of the wind, birds, and smell of cold Sierra air always greets you in the morning. Fixing the three pitches the night prior, gave us a good head start for Sunday. We made our coffee, bagels, and completed some personal business and headed up our fixed lines. We took turns space hauling, making hauling more of a fun activity than a dreaded chore we had to do every pitch. Before we knew it, we had our bags up at Grey Ledges and Doug took pitches 15 & 16 up to the Cross Roads section of the route. Doug popped a cam and took a nice fall into space while linking pitch 16. Matt and I jugged up our lines and met up with Doug at 
the belay. The night before we talked about how were going to haul and clean the next couple traversing pitches, and on paper we seemed to have it down. Boy where we wrong. I took pitch 17, running through it and ready to haul. It took at least an hour and a half to haul the pitch due to ropes being unorganized, haul bags getting messed up, and just an all around cluster-fuck. Eventually the bags made it up as well as the rest of the team. I took pitch 18 next and fucked it up even more than the hauling. I lowered down way to far, followed a line of bolts (not on the topo), to a couple of rivets, (not on the topo), to a chossy hooking section (not on the topo). It seems as if I was unable to read, disregarded the obvious pictures shown and made my own route. Upon reaching the last 
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Matt on the wrong off-width crack.
bolt, being lowered well below the belay, I was top stepping a bolt in my aider and placing a hook with my finger tips. The hook seemed bomber, I weighted it, taking my foot off of the bolt and the took popped. I took a good violent daisy fall cutting my finger open and partially expanding my screamer on my aider. 60 feet below the belay, Matt could tell my finger was covered in blood. I jugged back up the rope, assessed the situation and finished the pitch the correct way.  We eventually hauled all of our stuff over to the Cross Roads bivy ( a really nice bivy despite the description) and set our stuff up. Matt took the next pitch off of the bivy and fixed up to pitch 19. We had one of our first early nights, in good position to finish by Tuesday.
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Doug getting the belay organized.
​Waking up, this was one of the first days we all felt real rested. We packed up our stuff, hauled a quick pitch and began moving. We really found our momentum this day. Switching off mid haul, always having some one lead the next pitch and really got going. Doug took pitch 20/21, through the Great Roof into the Pancake Flake. While belaying Doug on the Great Roof, a couple of NIAD people were cruising through at a sub 10 hour pace. It was ridiculous how fast and controlled these guys were moving, especially at a sub 10 hour pace. 
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Cleaning the Great Roof.
It left me thinking about how insanely fast sub 2 hours is. I jugged up the line, cleaning The Great Roof quickly, mid haul, Doug gave me the rack and I was off on the Pancake Flake. It was a cruiser pitch, leap frogging .75 all day. I got up to the anchors, started the haul when Doug caught up to me, took over the haul and I began leading the next pitch up to Camp 5. We were really cruising now. After some awkward aiding, and a cam popping off my harness, I made it up to Camp 5. Doug took the last two pitches up to Camp 6 where we hauled all our bags to. I took The Changing Corners pitch that night. Changing Corners was a fun pitch, walking up cams the progressively wider and wider crack until you 
hit bolts. Matt followed up and as the sun was setting, Matt took the last pitch of the day, pitch 27. We fixed our ropes, cleaned our pitches and set up our bivys. ​​
​Tuesday, we woke up ready to blast to the top. Packing up our bags followed by some tom-foolery, we jugged up our lines. Doug took pitch 28, and I took the last two bolt ladder pitches to the top. We topped out around 12 in the afternoon and began our descent shortly after. With haul bags, we made the descent rather quickly with me running ahead to retrieve the car and celebratory cobras. A team of three provides a little bit more rope chaos (if untrained), but makes up for it with good times, easier descents, and more poop tubes. Due to my new career, I think my Yosemite season this year was short lived. With 6 moths of non-stop training, it is unlikely I will be returning for another wall this year. I 2020, we plan to knock out The Shield, Zodiac, and a few other walls in a day. 
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The obligatory portaledge shot.
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Starting the descent down.
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Doug almost walking away from the climb unhurt.
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Washington Column- Skull Queen (In A Day)

5/2/2019

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Making avocado bagels with a hunting knife.
At 4am, Doug & I awoke to the dreaded melody of an Iphone alarm. We shot up with anticipation ready to get this done. 

After a successful 2018 climbing season in Yosemite, we started planning the 2019 season shortly after. We talked about long free climbs, hard aid routes, tough single pitch climbs, as well as some talk about some 14,000' mountains in the Sierras. With my new career change, and Doug's current career, our (my) schedule was looking grim. With a lot of plans on the back burner, we decided upon two climbs to start the season off and then play it by ear for the remainder. The conclusion was blasting up Skull Queen 5.8 C2 in a day would be a good warm up route for our second planned climb this season, Triple Direct.
The last time we aided was when we did Leaning Tower in a day in November so our aid skills needed some sharpening and Skull Queen seemed like an easy enough choice. We woke up at 4am in our classic bivy spot, smashed some breakfast, spilled some coffee, and raced down Highway 140 blasting the custom 21 Savage on our way to check off another send. 
We arrived at the parking lot, dark quite and the ominous sound of the raging waterfalls all around the valley. Dough & I planned on going fast and light hoping to get on the wall before any one else. Boy where we wrong. We saw a team racking up in the parking lot, with half the gear we had getting on South Face planning to top out in a day. 

We now realized we had competition. We made one last quick account of gear and departed off in the dark. The faster and much lighter team quickly caught up, passed us and began leading our new formed gang through the woods to the wall. 

After a quick hour, my shirt was soaked with 
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Doug got a little to excited for his instant coffee.
sweat, but we found ourselves at the base of the climb, along with three other teams and we were last in line. ​
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The numerous parties ahead of us.
We were really in it now. We grabbed our number and waited our turn to begin. After 20 minutes, the faster and lighter team bailed due to the amount of teams before them and Doug and I were one group closer to sending. Finally the first pitch was clear and I blasted up it, hauled up our little day bag and ran over to the second pitch to get ready to climb. There are two variations of the second pitch, a 5.10b C1 crack and a 5.11c C1 thin crack. The group ahead of us was aiding up the 5.10 crack so to get things going, I went up the 5.11 crack to the right. We got to the second belay and waited for the group ahead to clear the third pitch. I quickly ran up the 5.8/5.6 scramble and got to Dinner Ledge. At least now we have a comfortable spot to lounge about while we wait in line.
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Doug waiting on pitch 4, The Kor Roof.
The group ahead of us kindly let us pass, since our route splits off at the fourth pitch (Kor Roof). There was one party still ahead of us, the follower began following the Kor Roof and Doug impatiently started following up right on his tail. Im not sure why he started, he was hanging in his harness for about an hour waiting for the climber ahead to work his way around the roof while I comfortably sat in the shade belaying. 

Eventually the climber ahead made it through the roof and Doug finished leading it shortly after. I quickly jugged up while Doug short fixed the pitch and was starting on the rivet hangers for pitch 5.
I threw Doug on belay and quickly followed him up pitch 5. 
Doug took the next two pitches (pitch 6 & 7) and linked them for a longer pitch. We find it more efficient to lead in small blocks rather than keep swapping leads. Pitch 6 & 7 were cruisers and went by without a hiccup. Or at least we thought. As Doug was hauling the small haul bag, the gallon of water (about 1/2 full) found it's way to the top of the bag. As the bag rounded a corner, the water fell out. Fortunately we had one full gallon tucked away and another liter on my harness. With more than half of the climb done, we were still in pretty good shape and making very good time. 

The next two pitches of C1/C2+ were mine. Pitch 8 started out as C2+ thin and did not 
Picture
Doug leading pitch 6 & 7.
seem that way at all. ​We had 4 or 5 Metolious Offset cams that seemed as if no other cam would fit, those always found a way in. It almost felt like cheating with those. On this route, leap frogging offset cams made a C2+ pitch feel like a bolt ladder. With more leap frogging off sets, I set up the anchor at the belay and am soon met with the haul bag shortly followed by Doug. Pitch 9 proved to be even more cruiser than the first.
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The bomber hooks on pitch 8.
The fixed gear at the start of the route was in bomber condition and the crack system spanning after it, ate cam hooks, beaks, and grappling hooks like nothing. I found that utilizing hooks can speed a pitch up dramatically. After hooking through 15-20 feet, I reached more rivets. Leap frogging rivets with an occasional bolt was too easy. The last "C2" section leading up to the belay was cruiser. The low angle slab made top stepping a joy and the obvious off set placements made it seem like the rivet ladder extended the whole pitch. 

Doug took the last two pitch block to the top. Pitch 10 started with a C2+ crack that 
seemed to jump around a whole bunch. It seemed to also be one of the steeper sections of the climb. Doug aided through that no issue and was stoked to get to Pitch 11, the "awesome 10b splitter". I jugged up quickly and Doug was already racking up. We still had an hour or two of daylight and one free climbing pitch left. I was stoked to be rapping in day light. 
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The awesome 5.10 splitter.
Doug is a super strong free climber and cruised up the crack quickly. He made a gear anchor at the top and followed up just as quick. We topped out Skull Queen in a day despite the numerous parties ahead of us at the start, and even had a couple hours of daylight to spare. It is always a good feeling when you start the descent of a climb still in the day light. I was more excited to hit the market and grab a celebratory cobra. 
The rappels were straight forward and clean. We experienced no issue with them and quickly got to dinner ledge where another party was starting their descent. As we were setting up the rappels for Pitch 1, we heard the distinct sound of rock fall across the valley on Half Dome. A decent size rock came off the middle of the dome and created a cloud of dust. By the time we got to the base and packed up night fell on to us. Doug and I raced back down the trail and made it to the truck by 9pm. It took us 14 hours car to car with a total of 10 or so hours to actually climb the route. It was a good warm up for the season and got our systems dialed for Triple Direct. 
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Pulling ropes on Dinner Ledge.
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West Face- Leaning Tower 11/17

11/23/2018

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​Ring ring... Ring ring... Ring ring...

The dreaded sound of iPhones alarm.
Between an alpine start at 3:30am and being peed on Doug mid pitch, it’s hard to decide what was my favorite part of Leaning Tower in a day.

Since Doug’s and I bail on Leaning Tower, we’ve been talking about getting back on it. And what better way to do it than a one day ascent? 

We awoke 3:30am in the back of my truck off of 120. It was cold but a lot more bearable than our original plan of bivy if at the base. 
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3:30am Alpine Starts
We departed at 4am from the dirt road and began our first leg of the approach. Smashing down 120 to get to the Bridalveil Falls parking lot at 4:30am.

​This time, we didn’t botch the approach and got to the base at 5:30. Fortunately there was a fixed rope on the catwalk so we were at the base of the bolt lasers in no time. By 6am Doug started up the bolt ladders while I sorted gear. We brought a mini haul bag with 2 gallons of water, snacks, and storm jackets.
Once Doug fixed the line he pulled up the mini haulbag, and I started jugging up the two most overhung pitches on the route. With lack of sleep and being sick, this posed a real challenge. I ended up doing a mix of re-aiding and jugging. Eventually I got up to the belay and began the third pitch.
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Doug traversing on pitch 4.
The third pitch took me a little more than an hour and half too lead mostly from me contemplating the hook/mantle move up to the intermediate belay. After that, I did the few aid moves to the bolt ladder and cruised through it. When I got to Guano Ledge, I made a quick anchor and started pulling up the small haul bag. The small haul bag, filled with water and snacks arrived quickly, but Doug arrived shortly after making my break short lived. I was pretty sick the week prior and did not get any better for the climb. My whole body ached and cramped while I sat and belayed Doug. ​​

Between wiping endless snot on my jacket  and giving out a little too much slack, Doug was off on pitch 4. There is a significant amount of fixed gear on the pitch through the traverse and Doug blazed through it linking the 5th pitch as well. I lowered out, cleaned the traverse and quickly jugged through the bolt ladder.
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The VERY steep pitch 8.
It was 3pm or so when I started up the 6th pitch. It was a pretty straight forward pitch and by the time I was reaching the top, we got our first rays of sun. Unfortunately for Doug he was in the shad hanging at the belay. As I made the anchor, the short lived rays of the sun quickly dwindled as it retreated behind the mountains. I pulled up the light haul bag and as if on cue Doug followed suit reaching me in no time. 
The next pitch was one of the more interesting. The first 40’ of slab served as a great warm up for the very steep last 3/4 of the pitch. There were tons of fixed fraying slings that made cleaning a breeze but watching Doug swing about made it nice not to lead, and my belay ledge a little more comfortable. 
When I jugged up to Doug I felt even more sick than when we started so I gave the last pitch to him. It was now dark so the head lamps came out and Doug finished the last C2 pitch with a breeze and scrambled to the summit. The summit of leaning tower is weird, but oddly expected. It’s more of a summit ridge with no real solid ledge to just stand on. We topped out after 12 1/2 hours of climbing, which definitely wasn’t the fast time but it was in a day which is all that mattered. ​​

​We rapped down the initial descent to get to the ground behind Leaning Tower and made our way to the gully. The gully was one of the more interesting descents, I felt like a caver rapping down with huge boulders somehow lodged between these to walls. It was pretty neat at night and all the raps were clean for the most part. No huge rocks were dislodged and the ropes pulled clean. After 7 or 8 raps we made it down to where we started and it was a nice way to finish off the day. We gathered our bags and quickly descended back to the car. In total it was a pretty good 21 hour day of nonstop fun, snot riddled sleeves and wall climbing. 

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Last pitch to the summit.
Unless we do a winter ascent of something, I think this marked the end of our season this year. It wasn’t a bad season at all, I broke my ankle on the Nose, we climbed The Prow on Washington Column, did Lurking Fear on El Cap and finished off on a one day ascent of West Face, Leaning Tower. I’m sure other people have better season but for two average climbers taking time off work & school, not a bad season at all. ​​
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Lurking Fear- EL Capitan 9/1/2018

9/11/2018

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Getting our gear set up at 11pm Thursday night.

With a rough start to the Yosemite climbing season by breaking my ankle on the first pitch of the nose and being out 
for 3 months I thought this year would be looking grim due to the quickly approaching winter season. I hunkered down 
for three months with a boot on doing what seemed like endless rows, pull ups and other body weight excersies  

just so I could maintain fitness for El Cap. I couldn’t climb really and practice, I just had to stay in shape. I was absolutely sick of pull ups. Up and down up and down.

After months of pull ups and rows, my ankle finally fully healed. Doug and I found a weather window from the smoke of the Ferguson Fire, not to hot and clear skies. I got the days off work (after paying a coworker $100 to cover me) and got all our gear together. Doug and I got to the valley Thursday night, parked in the meadow (not the bridge, could be potentially towed but didn’t) and we were off to Lurking Fear. Before we knew it we were at the base of 
The Nose and both thought wow this isn’t so bad. About 15 minuets later our pace has slowed and the uphill is killing us. Our usual attack method of going 100% all the time was stopped in its tracks. Everybody knows El Cap is tall. No body ever talks about how wide it is. It’s a short slightly uphill 15 minute approach to the nose. Once at The Nose, you can go either left or right from there and it’s just slightly never ending uphill. After an hour of slowly walking through the night and a couple leaking gallons of water, we made it to the base of Wings of Steel 
and bivouac there for the night. 

Friday morning we shuttled gear about a 1/4 mile to the base of Lurking Fear and then just started climbing. We never really stopped moving and just hung out. We were on a mission. I’m not saying we were soldiers sent on a mission to kill, we were two young climbers who trained for months to finally climb El Cap and we’re gonna do it. We joked 
around and had fun but we maintained efficiency at a moderate pace. 
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Drinking the morning coffee on the portaledge.
We never came close to our physical limit  the whole time. We knocked out 5 pitches on Friday (I said moderate pace) with some bomber hooks, bolt ladders and easy C1-C2. Setting up our portaledge was a shit show. I hadn’t taken it out of the bag since we did The Prow and we always pack it so it’s readily deplorable upon next set up. For some reason it was more tangled than a hippie white girls hair. We spent 10 minuets solving the problem and then we’re cooking our freeze dried meals.
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Sweet bivy at the base of the wall.
PictureDoug on pitch #2.

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Pitch #7 traversing hooks.

Saturday rolls around, we take care of our business and we’re off. Instead of swapping leads we started doing small block leads of two. We found this is more effective for us giving the follower more rest time and and exhausting the leader more from leading and hauling two pitches and then giving them proper recovery time to do it again. We shared hauling duties with space hauling and jugging the haul line so it was not all that bad for hauling purposes. We climbed/hauled 5 pitches and fixed one. The stand out pitches that day were pitch 7 with fun traversing hooks and pitch 8 long off width. I placed a couple questionable #3s on the offwidth and just walked up two #4s the whole way. Doug took the next couple pitches and absolutely killed it with the free climbing. The whole climb, Doug took the bulk of the free climbing due to him being a stronger climber. We set up the portaledge quick and made dinner and we’re off to sleep.
​
Sunday we did 6 pitches up to Thanksgiving Ledge (Pitch 17). Pitch 12 had a sweet traverse followed by some bomber hooks. Doug took the next two pitches French freeing and before I knew it and some horrendous hauling on pitch 14, I had the next two. I cruised through pitch 15 and then pitch 16 was a bit weird and dirty. Going off the log book at Thanksgiving Ledge, the last group to have climbed the route and log it in the book was three months ago. Some of 
the cracks higher up on the route were pretty dirt/leaf filled and I often found my self cleaning the crack with my nut tool. (Made the mistake doing it with my finger and got something lodged in my finger nail). 
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Pitch #12 traverse.
Eventually it was Doug’s lead and we had one pitch to Thanksgiving Ledge. While I looked up into the night, Doug was cruising offwidth into the stars, it was a pretty sweet angle to watch someone climb an offwidth. Before I knew it we were in the cave cooking dinner psyched to have finally taken our harnesses off and sleep on a ledge.
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Sweet cave on Thanksgiving Ledge.
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Doug getting ready for the last day on Thanksgiving Ledge.
​
The next morning we made a quick breakfast and got back to work. We shuttled our gear across the ledge and climbed the last two pitches to the slab section at the top. From the top of pitch 19, we shuttled gear all the way to the unroping spot and when it was safe, we packed our bags for the descent. We didn’t realize how long of a descent we had a ahead of us. It was our first time doing the east ledges, but it was pretty straight forward. The fixed lines were in good condition and 5 hours later we found ourselves in the manure pile parking lot. Not more than 20 Minutes later it begins to rain.
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Summit pic.
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The Prow- Washington Column 5/31

6/10/2018

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After my quick and painful start to the Yosemite climbing season with a 25 foot fall on the nose, I spent a month half-ass rehabbing my injury. I’ve never been good with injuries due to my stubbornness. My ankle was about 75% when May 25th came around. Doug and I had a plan to do the nose in 3 days 4 nights and Memorial Day weekend was perfect. I knew my ankle couldn’t handle any free climbing but I was sure I could top step and jug at the very least. 

​I pick Doug up Thursday after work and we pack the car, print out the topos and head down to valley. Arriving in El Portal, it was dark, cold and beginning to rain. We were determined to climb regardless of the weather so we packed (or we so thought) rain gear. Unloading the car and setting up camp for the night in the back of my truck, Doug realized he forgot his clothes. Now you might not think that’s a big deal, but Doug was wearing basket ball shorts and a polo. If we were to get caught in a storm on El Cap, Doug would be screwed. We concluded we would need to go to the mountain shop in the valley and grab a jacket and pants if we were gonna climb a wall this weekend. After some contemplation about the logistics of time, we figured we should just do a shorter route due to the set back. We ended up climbing The Prow on Washington Column. 
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Due to the shortness of Washington Column, we decided to take our time. We woke up Friday and made a casual trek into the valley and the hit the shop. By noon we found ourselves at the base with another team. They’ve been camping at the base for a couple days waiting for the rain and weather to subside before they start. Doug & I moved past them and started up the 10a/C2 section. Doug took the first pitch with speed. He got up to the anchors quick and started hauling. My ankle seemed to be doing good as I jugged up behind the haul bag. I met up with Doug at the top of the pitch and soon after we swapped gear and I was on belay.


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​This was the first time I really aid climbed after I feel on The Nose so I was a little bit hesitant to start up. I walked out the first 6 or 7 feet of the slab to the start of the dripping wet C2+ thin crack. The first piece I plugged in, I tugged on it a few times and it popped. I thought to my self fuck this. I hear Doug behind me telling me its all good and try to place it a little further right where its drier. After a few tugs I was climbing up the ladder. For the next 50-60 feet I aid up though small off set cams and micro brass nuts. With every top step, my ankle was throbbing more and more. Just trying to wiggle my ankle into my aider, torqued it in such ways where it was painful. After I lead the the C2+ thin section, I had to lower off. Doug finished the pitch for me. ​​
We cruise through the third pitch and set up on Anchorage Ledge. This was our first time using the portaledge outside of our kitchen and living room. We pull up and anchor the bags on top of the ledge and set the portaledge below. We messed up and set the portaledge on an uneven part of the wall. If we weight one side a little more the opposing side would shift tremendously. That night Doug and I slept very still. Which is a first because Doug literally can’t go a single night with out sitting up in and finding some reason to dig through a bag or take a piss. 


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The next morning we decided to boil coffee on the ledge due to how janky of a job we did setting up the portaledge. With some peanut butter bagels, cliff bars and instant coffee, I started up the bolt ladder for pitch 4. The bolts were bolts and posed no challenge besides a sore ankle. I didn’t even have to get high up in the aiders. It was a great way to start the day. When I got to where the actual crack started, my ankle was feeling a but funky. After some more offsets, brass nuts and top stepping my ankle was burning. Trying to wiggle my ankle into the ladder made it burn more and more. I yelled down to Doug to take and lower me and I shamelessly gave Doug the lead. I felt discouraged due to bailing my from my leads twice but I couldn’t top step for the life of me. Doug finished pitch 4 & 5.
By the time we got to the top of pitch 6   both the weather and my ankle began to turn bad. Our plan was to knock out pitch 7 for the second day and set the portaledge up there on the sloping ledges. At the pitch 6 anchors it began raining so Doug sorted gear and I lowered down and set up the portaledge. This was by far the quickest we’ve set up the ledge and dropped the rainfly. I crawled inside and Doug passed me the cooking gear, sleeping bags and water. I got everything set up while he covered our gear and ropes with trash bags. Doug has had a weird obsession with being stuck in a portaledge during a storm. Well lucky for him he got just that (not a the epic storm he’s been wishing for but rain none the less) on his 24th birthday. We cooked our dinner on a hanging jet boil to the rain dancing against our rainfly. I peered over the edge to and saw the orange flow of their rainfly atop of pitch 3. ​
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As the sun began to rise over Half Dome we pulled our rainfly up and began boiling coffee. We fueled up for the final push up The Prow with bagels. coffee and beef jerky. We quickly dismantled our bivy and my ankle had not gotten any better. Doug took the rest of the pitches for the climb...

The fun hadn’t ended though! We had full on fucked up the very last pitch. If you were to look at the topo, its about 15 feet of C1 climbing with a bolt in the middle and then an easy 60 feet of 4th class scrambling to the summit. It took Doug about an hour to set the belay up and start hauling. With a couple tugs on the haul bag the haul rope slid and somehow was caught in a crack. After make shifting a 2:1 to get the bag off the rope and onto the anchor, I jugged the lead line to the top to figure out what was the issue. When I came around to the summit. I was greeted by Doug running around to get the haul rope unstuck while my lead line was redirected 3 different ways over the coarse of 50 feet. 
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It was a complete shit show. Once the haul line was situated, I lowered back down to re-release the bag. The bag finally starts covering some ground but gets hung up under a roof. I abseil another 30 feet to fix the bag and end up just following it, help lifting the bag over every corner. It was horrible. All said and done a 15’ C1 pitch paired with a 60’ 4th class scramble took us all of 3 hours. We topped out and threw down our sleeping bags, made some dinner and went to sleep
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We ended up botching the North Dome Gully Descent with haul bags so that added to the experience as well. All said and done, without finishing my two leads, i had mixed feelings. We had finally accomplished a wall despite my lack of carrying my end of the rope. I am thankful for Dough to have lead and hauled all the pitches, but what are partners for am I right?
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El Cap- The nose Injury Speed Record

4/29/2018

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My first time on El Cap’s “The Nose” was short and painful. I made The Speed Injury Record on The Nose by taking a 20 foot fall onto a ledge on the first pitch. Im extremely embarrassed by how quickly and low on the route I fell. But theres nothing I can do about it besides find a silver lining and let my ankle heal.

Doug and I have been training for a few months in preparation for this Yosemite season. We were gonna do a trial run on The Nose up to Texas Flake and rap down just to get our feet in the cracks on the granite giant. We woke up in our usual El Portal spot at 5am, made coffee, a quick bathroom stop and were on the trail by 6am. About 15 minutes later, I started up Pine Line as a quick warm and clipped the tree at the top. Doug quickly followed, we flaked our ropes and within a couple minutes I was running up the 4th class scramble to the ledge at Pitch 1 intermediate anchors After clipping them, moving through the bolts, I placed my first cam of the day. I mantled up to a slab sloping section at the base of the cracks (about 5 feet over my piece). Placed another cam, pulled and bounce tested it and it seemed “bomber”. Clipped it, stood up on the aid ladder and was reaching for the piton where I found I was just a tad short of clipping it. I sat back in daisy chain and then a second later, I hear the dreaded sound of a cam popping.


I fell down about 5 feet and saw the slab go by, then about another 15 feet saw the intermediate anchors and finally the ledge. I think the rope caught about 2 feet off the ground so it barley slowed my fall (not enough to make a huge difference but something is better than nothing). I fell directly on my feet and my right ankle took the force of the fall. I collapsed as I hit the ledge and my vision blurred for a quick second. I felt my ankle burning but other than that I felt okay. Doug yelled up asking how I was and I replied “Okay, but my ankle is fucked.”  Doug lowed me down and after a quickly assessing the injury, I tried aiding back up but my ankle couldn’t bare any weight. We decided to bail, not even up the first pitch of El Cap. Doug lead the rest of the pitch, cleaned it and then helped me abseil down. After a shameful & painful decent paired with very generous groups of climbers asking if I needed help, we made it back to the car. My ankle was about twice its size and throbbing, but I did set the Speed Record for the fastest El Cap injury. ​
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West Face, Leaning Tower- Our 2nd Bigwall

10/7/2017

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Picture
Doug packing the bags in the early morning.
Doug and I have wanted to try a big wall together for some time now. We both have very limited experience with aid climbing so we thought why not try West Face, Leaning Tower 5.7 C2. We decided upon this route just due to Leaning Tower being a mostly over hung wall and a few pitches are straight bolt ladders, we thought it would be a good beginner wall. ​
We woke up in our usual bivy spot in El Portal and cruised into the valley right around 5:30am. I entered the Valley Loop eventually turning off to Wawona Road and another quick turn into Bridalveil Fall parking area. I dropped Doug off along with all of our gear at the bathrooms and crossed the road to park my truck on the side of it. So far we were pretty on track to start the approach by 6am, get to Ahwahnee ledge, drop the bag and fix the next couple of pitches for the following day.  Our plan soon went to shit.
This is the first time doing the approach so but we had a little map and our head lamps so it wasn’t too bad There are two ways of doing the approach, the first way is once your past the house size boulder, turn off into the dirt trail marked by carens and it will eventually lead you into the boulder field (recommended). The second option is once your past the house size boulder, go directly into the boulder field and scramble your way up through it and up some loose dirt path (not on the map) until your at the base of the wall (not recommended). Doug and I chose the later. The approach took us two hours not including the cat walk traverse. 
Doug took the haul bag for the end of the approach and I went ahead with the little bag filled with all our gear and scouted the cat walk. Thankfully there were already fixed lines and the first part of the cat walk wasn’t so bad. Towards the end of it, thats where it gets pretty gnarly if your carrying the haul bag. The last 75 feet or so are climbing up and down a little ledge about 3 1/2 feet wide and about 200-300 feet high. I would not recommended doing this part of the approach with a haul bag WITHOUT fixing the lines first, its exposed.
Picture
Doug making the exposed catwalk traverse.
Picture
Anchors at the start of pitch 1.
Picture
Washed out view of the valley.
Once to the anchors at the beginning of the climb, I dropped the gear and shuttled across the cat walk to drop off the second bag at the base and return to assist Doug whose carrying the pig. Once were all situated, I roped up with 14 quick draws, 2 beaks, 1 cam hook & zero cams. I was banking off there being a plethora of fixed gears as described in each and every topo. 
I cruised through the bolts and get to the roof on the first pitch. Clipped the fixed head at the corner of the roof and quickly realized I am in need of a cam. The next section consist of a perfect offset crack, a blown out head and 10 feet to the next clip able head. With the gear on me, I threw a cam hook in the only spot I figured it would work. I weight the cam hook and step on to it on the roof. I go to top step and the hook adjust and pops. I blow the fixed head and fall to the next bolt about 12 feet below. I yell down to Doug to tie the offset cams to the haul line and he does. I pull the cams up and get situated at the bolt directly below the roof. I had just blown the first fixed head making the distance to the next one about 15 feet. I use the beaks and get up onto the head wall of the roof. Throw the offset cam in where I had previously placed a shitty cam hook and made another beak move up into the next fixed head. ​

​I ease through the rest of the bolts right into the second set of anchors. I tie off the rope and set up our 2:1 hauling system. We packed pretty comfortably with water and food so the bag was a bit heavy. The hauling system made it a breeze to bring it up. Doug took the next two pitches to Ahwahnee. ​

Pitches 3 and 4 took Doug a little less than three hours to complete.  It was his first real time aiding. (Neither him and I frankly had the necessary experience needed to accomplish this route but we thought we would try any way) Doug went pretty slow the first thirty minutes of the pitch. Only going about ten feet, I knew it was gonna be a rough next few hours hanging around at these anchors. 
Picture
The group ahead of us on Pitch 5, The Ramp.
Fortunately I had the haul bag containing the water and snacks. As the sun grew lower, the wall finally got sunshine making it more shitty hanging out at this belay. Again, I had the water and snacks so I couldn’t complain. Finally Doug made it to the anchors and hauled up from Ahwahnee. I jugged up and met up with him at the ledge. ​
​
Picture
The soloist topping out on pitch 4.

There was a group ahead of us that set up a portaledge at the anchors of pitch two and by the time we got to Ahwahnee, they had started up pitch 5, The Ramp. The group was going to fix pitch 5 and 6 and jug up the next day. On the other side of the ledge Doug was having a real bad time. He ended up throwing up a bunch and looked real shitty. (He ended up feeling better) By the time the leader had lowered off the sun was already setting. It had taken them about 5 hours for pitch 5 and 6. His partner jugged up in the moonlight and by the time he rapped down we were all in our sleeping bags. ​

While all of this was going on, a crazy foreign Husband/Wife duo was crushing their way up to Ahwahnee. 
While all of this was going on, a crazy foreign Husband/Wife duo was crushing their way up to Ahwahnee. The husband had previously solo’d this route in a day and was looking to top out of Wet Denim Daydream 5.7 C3. (Check out his video of soloing a few walls in Yosemite https://vimeo.com/78812123) The get to Ahwahnee and quickly realized the ledge is full of noobs and they decide to set up their portaledge a little bit under Ahwahnee. ​
Before we went to sleep, Doug and I decided that we were too slow and after everything said and done, get back to the Bay Area at like 12-1am Monday. That wouldn’t be an issue but Doug had to be in San Francisco at 6am. We decided to play it safe and called it. We would bail in the morning.

​
Gradually we all fell asleep and the sun rose again illuminating this super cramped ledge full of climbers. Doug and I got our stuff situated and were planning the raps down when we head some hard core yelling below us. Eventually a different breed of climber emerged. A free climber. He was killing his way up to Ahwanne with no aid gear, just a few quick draws and a chalk bag. 
Picture
Portaledge and the cramped Ahwanne ledge.
He got to the (free-climbing) crux of the fourth pitch, a gnarly lock off on a shitty (aka non-existent) “sloper” to a “bomber" side pull. To sum it up, it was a fucked up move. His first attempt on it ended with him falling and sliding down the slab. He pulled back up to it, clipped the bolt directly under it and brushed the hell out of this “sloper”. He soon the easily passed this crux and clipped the anchors. ​
Doug began the rappel to the second anchors. Even with the wall overhung, the raps weren’t nearly as bad as anticipated. I eventually met up with him at the anchors and we pulled the rope through and Doug began the last rappel to the base. There was a pre-fixed line from the second anchors to the base in which we attached ourselves to to help orient out selves to the base instead of going off into space. if you were to rap directly down without the line, you would fid your self about twenty feet away from the wall with a hell of a hard time getting back. I raped with the haul bag and it was not an issue at all. This wall, I decided to switch things up with the hauling system, for one I did a 2:1 pulley system. With the haul bag, I did a Black Diamond Swivel with a micro-traxion that set up worked really well. The swivel was great for rapping with due to the bag getting twisted, the swivel made this a non issue.


I eventually got down as well and Doug shuttled across the cat walk to drop the gear at the stash bag. He came back and helped with the ropes and help direct me across the cat walk. We traversed our way back on the cat walk and made it to the stash bag. We divided up gear and made the hike back to the car, this time only taking 30 minutes. 

Even though we bailed off the wall and our climb was unsuccessful, we still had a fun time. Were gonna dedicate the off season of Yosemite climbing to get better at trad/aid and be fully prepared for the next go. West Face is a pretty do able route for a beginner climber who has their aiding system down and wants to try a big wall. For us, Doug didn’t have it down and we were just taking way too long. I highly recommended giving this route a go and fixing the  line on the catwalk is a must. It offers great views and some interesting aid moves. ​

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Donner Pass Road 9/15

9/19/2017

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I haven’t had the chance to do some hard trad climbing for a while so when my buddy Zach invited me to Donner I was already game for it. With a  group of six, I wasn’t expecting to climb much( with all the beer and good times ya know.) Originally we were supposed to go to Big Chief but a few of our friends warned us against it, saying Donner has more to offer. So Zach, Akela, Scott, Ryan, Santos and I all headed out there. ​
Picture
Snowshed Wall
Picture
The crag dog.
Leaving from the Bay Area, Donner Pass Road is about a three hour drive East towards Truckee. Once there, you drive around the lake up onto Donner Pass Road and once you start gaining elevation the crags come into view. The road is literally surrounded by climbing. You can park at any of the several pullouts and find something to climb. The great thing about climbing at Donner is that everything is super accessible. No crag is more than a 30 minute approach on well established trails. 
PictureHair Shirt 5.8 Off Width
We parked our cars right across the ravine from Snowshed Wall. (Snowshed along with Black Wall, holds the most routes at Donner) We made the quick walk across the dry creek to the wall and Ryan decided to warm up on Hair Shirt. A nice 5.8 Off width. Before I start, I have to explain Ryan. He’s a very strong climber and an even more controlled climber. He will crush 5.12 on sport but the moment he feels uncomfortable on trad, he won’t push it. So Ryan starts up the off width with a few small cams and a #4. About 40’ up he places his only #4 and then realizes he’s out of gear for the second half of the climb. Ryan lowers off and before I tie into lead it, I run over to a couple nice looking gentleman with a fantastic dog and borrow a large cam. I lead the rest of the climb. I run out about 20’ to place the second large cam and run it out some more to the anchors. I feel super secure running out on trad just because your jamming your feet and hands into the crack. With off width, you jam your whole body in. It feels even more secure, Id be more worried about getting suck in an off width than falling out of one. ​​

I set up a top-rope and everyone enjoyed them selves on it. Akela has only been climbing for a couple months and she had a real interesting time figuring out the off width. It seems simple to jam your body in and move up but its an awkward thing to do. She had the idea down and after countless tries finally topped out on top-rope. It was pretty cool seeing how she managed to work up for not really knowing much about crack climbing. ​
Ryan then decided to try out Molar Concentration 5.10b. This time he had the appropriate gear and gets about half way and gets stumped at the crux moves. For us, it was a series of cross overs to a hand jam and then you can finally get the gear in up top. Ryan would have to do that section with some protection down low, but again he wasn’t feeling it and lowered off. With half the climb already protected,
Picture
Scott and Ryan getting ready for Molar Concentration 5.10b.
PictureRyan placing a piece on Molar Concentration 5.10b.
 I decided to lead it. I cruise through the first half just clipping the gear. I get to that section Ryan bailed from and move through it nicely. I placed a piece and gained the head wall. The last 1/3rd of the route is a nice finger crack with some decent feet. I cruised through the finger crack section feeling really good. I top out at the anchors and since it was a Friday with not many people, we had the luxury of setting up a couple top ropes. ​​

We all had a nice climbing session at Snowshed. Every one had fun with the top ropes going back and fourth between the two cracks. Ryan easily cruised through Molar Concentration on top rope, easily hitting the crux moves. He even came back to Hair Shirt and killed it in his approach shoes, it was pretty sweet.    Before the sunset, we drove up the road to South Star Wall. South Star Wall is a very stout but very fun wall. 
Picture
Another photo of Ryan on Molar Concentration 5.10b.
Its an overhanging wall full of 5.12s-5.13s all on permanent draws. So you can try any route and easily pull your rope through if you decide its too much. Ryan (being the only capable 5.12 climber of the group) has been projecting Warp Factor 5.13a. ​
The first couple moves to clip the first bolt are pretty gnarly and you would definitely not wanna take a fall below the first clip. We all give a go trying to rodeo clip it but after numerous failed attempts Ryan decides to climb the route to the left Taste The Pain 5.13c and gets get to the second clip, lower and then clip the first bolt on Warp Factor. The first two clips of Taste The Pain are very doable and he gets situated on Warp Factor and lowers off. ​
Picture
Warp Factor 5.13a
Ryan spends the next 30 minutes projecting the route. Getting to each bolt and working the moves. I could definitely see him sending this route by next year, he was looking real good on it. Another guy (I believe his name was Harris) was there too, a Donner local. He was too trying to hit Warp Factor. From what he told us, the day before, he got to the last couple moves and fell off so we were all very eager to see it go today. Harris rodeo clips the first clip and then starts up. He gets to the third bolt in literally 4 moves and is looking super smooth. He climbs up to the fifth bolt to start the traverse right (the crux). His feet slip and he falls. He barley takes a rest and works his was back up and finishes the climb with plenty left in the tank. ​
It was pretty neat seeing my buddy project a 5.13 and then another guy just comes up and cruises through it. It really puts in perspective where you are with your climbing ability and it just motivates you more and more. Donner was a great place to spend my Friday, barley touching any routes, I’m already craving to get back with my trad rack and putting down some hard trad climbs. I highly recommend checking out Donner regardless of your climbing ability, Donner offers hundreds of routes at varying grad levels. ​
Picture
Sunset on Donner Pass Road.
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Royal Arches Labor Day Weekend 9/3

9/6/2017

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Picture
Doug racking up before we head out.
I awoke Saturday morning at 4:30am after a measly 4 1/2 hours asleep. Picked Doug up and were on our way to Yosemite by 5am. Already off to a great start, we were planning to hit one of the Yosemite classics, Royal Arches (5.8). Originally, the plan was to climb West Face on Leaning Tower  (5.7 C2) but we were not able to secure a haul line in time. Hopefully by the mid-October we can top out on Leaning Tower. 
We arrive at the Ahwahnee (sorry, The Majestic Yosemite Hotel) at around 9am. Jump out, sort the gear and start the light approach to the base. Already, we messed up. Instead of taking the first left with a sign signaling the climbers trail, we walked past that and took the second left. We started up a mix of 4th-5.5 scrambling up to the their pitch. From there, we were straightened our selves, getting back onto the route. The next few pitches went by and due to us not being roped up, felt like a long scramble of 5.5-5.7 “climbing” to pitch 7 where we finally decided to tie in. ​
Picture
Yosemite Valley.
I started up pitch 8 which consisted of a series of flakes and and Royal Arches suddenly started to feel more like a climb rather than a giant scramble. Doug followed and led pitch 9 with the “epic” pendulum. We both agreed that this overly-hyped “epic” pendulum was nothing more than a little rope swing. Doug then did a interesting slab traverse to the tree at pitch 10. 
Picture
Doug on the belay for pitch 10.
I then linked pitch 11 & 12. Pitch 11 offered an interesting hand crack on slab that felt more like climbing up a refrigerator with cracks on either side. I finished pitch 11 and then started up 12. In my opinion pitch 12 offers the most actual climbing on the route. You find the best way to enter this giant flake where I threw in fist and worked my way up. The giant flake only goes 5.7, but for me, this was the most fun pitch on the route. I scrambled up and out of the flake past the belay and about 100’ below the belay for 13, I found a manzanita bush I deemed appropriate for the anchor. Doug followed up and lead the remainder of pitch 13, about 100 feet or so. I scrambled up below him and linked pitches 14 & 15. Both were a ridicules scramble and I thought pitch 15 was the most interesting. After climbing pitch 14 (a long scramble up a face) you emerge onto a giant slab wall with some pretty good exposure. You traverse along the top of it to a three bolt belay. Since Doug & I were going to rap the route, our Royal Arches adventure ended here. ​
Picture
Doug hitting the first of many rappels in style.
The rap down was a headache in all honesty. It was a series of 12 or so raps, all being about 50’ apart. You would spend a few minutes rappelling and then another few minutes pulling the rope through while threading it through the next rap station. To save time we simul-rappelled everything except for two where the anchor was just a shitty sling and one rap ring. It took just as much time getting down than it did to “climb” the damn thing. By the time we got down, it was about 3ish and we were hungry and thirsty so we grabbed some pizza at the loft. All said in done, the first done was a successes only by the means we finished a route. The quality of the climb was very debatable but we did it none the less and had mixed feelings about checking it off our list.We retreated back to El Portal and spent the evening at the bar talking to a local who eventually showed us a sweet campsite along the river. ​
The following day, we awoke and swung by the lodge to grab breakfast and made our way to Church Bowl to brew up some coffee and sort the gear. We were planning to hit a popular route Church Bowl Tree (5.10-). Doug led this one while I belayed our soon-to-be French friend Ben laid on the bench looking. Doug cruise through the climb and we both ran a few laps on it on top-rope. The start isn’t as polished as its said to be but the top is defiantly the crux. Ben ran a lap on it as well and we soon came to discussing the aid route right next to us, More Balls Than Brains (A3 PG13). We had aid gear in the car and Ben had some hooks so we decided to set up a top-rope and practice some aiding on it. Each hook move on the lower part was bomber as well as the rivets. ​
Picture
Doug belaying on More Balls Than Brains.
Picture
Ben top-roping More Balls Than Brains (A3)

Once you navigated the blank face with pockets and rivets you got to the lower portion of the crack. You need cam-hooks to get past this part. Unfortunately for us, that was the two pieces we were lacking. After aimless attempts, we pulled through that section and continued on. The top of the crack to the anchors (15 feet or so) was really fun and interesting. I could not imagine leading this with your only “bomber” piece is a small rivet barley sticking out the wall. Major props to who ever is crazy enough to lead this. It just makes me think of how fucked up A4-A5 big walls are. Maybe some day…
Ben and friends also gave it a go, and soon we found ourselves with a group of 5. By the time the fifth person was climbing, it had started to rain. 
We packed up our gear and headed to get some thing to eat. By the time we got to the gear shop it had began to down poor. We were fortunate enough to grab a seat outside under an umbrella and enjoyed some burgers and fries. It wasn’t looking like the rain was going to stop anytime soon, so we hung around the gear shop for a while and decided to spend the rest of the evening at the bar in El Portal playing pool. 

​
On our way out of the valley, apparently a tree had fallen on a car at the 120/140 split causing a back up to El Cap meadow for an hour. It was a complete stand still and soon the sun faded and night creeped in to the valley. We eventually made it out of the park 
and to the bar. After a couple hours of hanging out, we drove back to our super secret camp site and called it a night. 


Our experience with Royal Arches was nothing spectacular, actually quite the opposite. The climbing quality was no where near worth the rappels to get down and I doubt it for the North Dome Gully Descent. Im sure if your just entering the 5.7-5.8 range on trad, this climb is something, but for us (not to sound cocky) it just wasn’t all that it was hype up to be. Regardless, it was more of an adventure route than anything. Going between 4th class and 5.7 climbing, you’ll defiantly find your self enjoying the view of the valley. High and away from the tourist. ​
Picture
The French Bivy. Only thing missing is their white flag.
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The Emeralds & Bowman Lake 7/3

7/3/2017

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I haven’t been on a weekend climbing trip in a while due to my sporadic work schedule, so as soon as Mitch and Dave invited me to join them for a weekend filled climbing trip I jumped on it instantly. I-80 was traffic was crawling with people rushing up to Tahoe for a 4th of July weekend filled with booze and fire works. It took me an extra two hours in the hot summer sun to make it to the Emeralds where Dave and Mitch were at. (Usually takes two hours) As soon as I parked my truck, I wasted no time on getting out and moving. I don’t have a problem with long drives, but a combination of traffic and hot sun doesn’t sit well with me. 
​
Picture
Dave starting up "Second Time Around" 5.8 while Mitch belays.

Fortunately all the approaches at The Emeralds are real easy and straight forward. With a brisk 10 minute walk I was already with my friends. We started climbing instantly, warming up on an easy 5.8 “Second Time Around”. After Dave and I ran our respective laps, we walked down a little ways and jumped on "Unknown" 5.10d. This was a real easy route with only two bolts. It was a two-move wonder route with an easy scramble to the first bolt then on the head wall was there crux. After I lead that, I climbed “White Riot” 5.11a. ​​
Picture
Mitch leading "Super Size Me" 5.11a


“White Riot” was one of the better routes I climbed that day. It starts off with an easy sequence to the first two bolts. Then it goes into a corner sequence covered by a roof with a  hand size crack splitting it. You clip the third bolt then work the roof crack come over to the head wall and work your way up to the anchors. The high light of “White Riot” is the roof section by far. Dave ended up following the route on top rope and cleaning it. When Dave came down we all headed out to Fast Food Wall.



Ive climbed a bunch of times at The Emeralds and Fast Food Wall has remained my favorite wall so far. All the lines I’ve climbed there have been very clean and aesthetic. The right side of the wall, you belay off a gnarly ledge clipped into a lower belay-bolt. We started the climbing on the left side of the wall and I tried leading “In and Out Urge” 5.11b/5.11c (The grade varies between Mountain Project and guide books) I got up halfway on the route and started to feel my lack of food really take a toll. I had a pint of berries and coffee all day (it was 6pm by then) and I felt like complete shit. I tried working the crux of the route a few times and decided it was to heinous for my current state. I lowered off and Mitch gave it a go. He was able to pass my spot where I had bailed and made it to the next bolt. He to was shut down and bailed off. The route next to it was easier 5.11a “Super Size Me”.
Picture
Dave enjoying a top rope on "Super Size Me" 5.11a
Picture
Dave leading "Please Pull Forward" 5.10d
Mitch lead “Super Size Me” 5.11a and took a couple times but finished the route. He fixed my lead line to the anchors and directed it to the route to the left we previously climbed and cleaned it. I jugged the fixed line and took some pictures of Dave top roping “Super Size Me” 5.11a. Dave was real strong through the whole route, only taking a couple falls in the tougher section but finished the climb. Once lowered, Mitch gave the route another go hoping for a clean ascent. After some good climbing, Mitch toped out right as the sun started to set. 


Dave and Mitch went over to the right side of the wall and Dave had a sick lead on "Please Pull Forward" 5.10d. After Dave lead it, both Mitch and I ran up it to to finish off the day on a nice send train. Instead of driving back that night, Dave had access to a cabin in Donner and we cruised over the there for some beers and sausage. We spent the night on some cozy cots in the driveway under the stars. ​
We woke up feeling good, ready for another full day of climbing. After some coffee and a breakfast beer, we found our selves on our way to Bowman Lake for a day full of sport climbing. ​
Picture
Mitch working on gaining the headwall on "Larry Land" 5.11c
The drive to Bowman is about 6 or so miles on a paved road and then goes into a dirt road. Mitch’s Subaru and my Tacoma handled it like a breeze. I saw a few basic sedans so if you have any sort of sedan, you can make the drive too. (It gets pretty rocky at some places) We drove down the whole road and parked our cars and made the hike out to Larry Land. Its a huge wall with a short 10 foot wide roof section and a slaby head wall. I tried warming up on “Yuba Blue” 5.10b and it was pretty wet. I was unable to even make it to the second bolt due to the water run off. I bailed off and Mitch tried climbing “Hot Rod” 5.11b. He made it about 1/4 of the way up and was quickly shut down to the water run off too. It ended up being all the routes within our climbing capability (sub 5.12) were wet. Mitch tried "Larry Land” 5.11c and got up to the third bolt and lowered off. Dave and I both top roped it up to the third bolt and I found the sequence to get onto the head wall and climb the slab. I lowered off and Mitch gave another run up it getting about 1/2 way up and was to tired. He ended up bailing too.

After all getting shut down by Larry Land, we decided to just swim in the nearby swimming holes and head back to the cars.

Picture
Alec running up Nemesis V2
On our way back home, we stopped off at Deer Park Boulders in Rocklin. We had some fun times messing around on a gnarly V2 finger crack “Nemesis” Both Mitch and I sent it and ran some laps on it. Mitch ended up getting a V4 and a gnarly V3 mantle. After a quick session we started our drive back home. 

Overall, I felt okay about my climbing this trip. I could of sent some harder things but I definitely felt sore the following day. It was a lot more fun just messing around and having a good time climbing than it was trying to send some hard serious climbs. Im excited to get stronger and better and head back to Larry Land. ​
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