Washington Column- Skull Queen (In A Day)

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 

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. ​

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.
​

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 

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.

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. 

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. 

Pulling ropes on Dinner Ledge.