Yosemite 4/21- big wall or bust

Finally, a weather window. Alex Lloyd and I spent the prior week going back and forth making sure we have the gear we need to send South Face of Washington Column. One of the easier Grade IV big walls in Yosemite. With that being said, we were not prepared for what was to come. (That sounded a bit drastic, it went pretty well)


    Lloyd and I slept in the back of my pick up Thursday night right outside of the entrance to the park in preparation of an alpine start up the wall. We woke up at 6:30 Friday morning, and had a good start entering the park at around 7. We parked our car at the hotel, made a quick breakfast as we scrambled to organize our gear. Downing our coffee as we depart from the parking lot, 9am rolled around. 

Getting all of our gear organized in the parking lot.

It took about an hour or so for the approach and it was heinous with our heavy haul bag. (We only hauled to pitch 3, so we decided to splurge a little) We get to the base of the climb and there was another group starting. We scramble our way to a ledge to wait while their first climber started up. It took a little longer than we expected but by noon, they finally cleared the first pitch. ​​

Lloyd on Dinner Ledge.

Lloyd took the first pitch with a mix of free climbing and aid. He blasted through that relatively quick and I jugged up after following the haul bag and moving it about. (The first pitch is fucked for hauling, straight slab) We get to the top and the group before us let us pass. We made our way across the big downward slopping ledge to the second pitch. Theres two variations of it, a 10b on the left corner and a 11a on the right. 

I jumped on the 10b to aid it and it took me longer than id like to admit. Granted it was my first time aiding on gear (not much trad experience either), but I tried my best to go as fast as I could. I eventually topped out and had an easy haul up the pitch. Lloyd jugged up ready for the third pitch. Lloyd free climbed the third pitch pretty easily and I jugged up after maneuvering the haul bag through the pitch. (Kind of slabby but the haul bag gets stuck pretty easily on this pitch) We walked around dinner ledge, looking for our spots to sleep for the night. We took a quick water/snack break and I started up pitch 4. 
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Lloyd at the anchors on pitch 4 as the sun was setting.

Pitch 4 was a great surprise to me in terms of aiding after the first three pitches. Like I said, I have never aided before this so doing a roof pitch to a traversing crack above was wild. I easily free climbed up to the roof and after a reachy top step I clipped the first roof bolt. I made my way bolt-to-bolt (with the help of a fixed sling) to the end of the roof. There was another fixed sling on the crack which made the transition very easy. I threw gear in to my right and slowly traveled while my aiders intertwined with one another. I got to the anchors and Lloyd started jumaring up. It took him a good amount of time cleaning and following on the traverse but I couldn’t complain due to the beautiful view I had. I was comfortably hunkered down under a roof hundreds of feet above the valley watching the sun set on half dome. 

It was absolutely beautiful. By the time Lloyd made it to the anchors, the sun has already set. Our original plan was to fix pitches 4 & 5 and jug up them in the morning but decided against climbing 5. We fixed our rope at the top of four and did a crazy rappel in to the dark down in complete openness. At a certain point you were just floating in the dark watching the rope bend over the corner of the roof. It was a little unsettling to watch your rope bend over a corner like that when you can’t see anything below you and your just watching it, knowing nothing is going to happen but waiting for something to. ​​

We both made it down and the group that let us pass earlier was there to accompany us. We wasted no time in dumping our gear, taking off our harnesses, rolling out our sleeping bags and starting dinner. We had some dehydrated meals and some Jamerson to wash it down. I traded some whisky for some gummy bears and they were some damn good gummy bears. I laid awake in my sleeping bag looking at the hundreds of visible stars and the lights on the valley floor reflecting on my day. I was pretty stoked to have sent Kor roof and happy I was on a big wall finally. 


   

 We woke up at 6am to half dome and all its glory. Our new Canadian friends decided to bail. The sun started to rise above half down warming the wall with its rays. I jugged up our fixed rope after breakfast and it was a little bit of a challenge jugging in an open space and over the ledge. It was a new experience but it was insane to be there, hanging in an open space with the sun rising over half dome. As Lloyd started his ascent up, a new group rushed over the ledge on to Dinner Ledge. There were looking like Nascar with the way they exchanged their gear. They were moving quick. Lloyd and I thought about letting them pass but we saw them fall on Kor roof and we decided to just send pitch 5 and go fast. Lloyd crushed pitch 5 and the swinging pendulum went smooth. I followed pretty easily and lowered out and that went smooth as well. By the time I was starting to send pitch 6, the new group was almost done with pitch 4. Cool, we weren’t gonna hold these guys back. ​​

Waking up to Half Dome.

I started up pitch 6 and it was going smooth. I was placing some micro nuts and cruising up through the middle of the pitch. I get to the top and the crack goes left. I remember Lloyd telling me I should go right. I didn’t take the topo with me (we only had one copy) so i yelled down to Lloyd. He tells me theres a crack that goes right. I tell him theres no crack but theres a deep pocket on a bulge. The pocket flares out and I was only able to fit a Metolious 00 in it and it was way over cammed. I aided off of it and looked over the bulge and was unable to see any sort of crack. (If I were to top step off of that piece, I would of totally seen the anchors) I go up the gnarly crack system to the left. Its a little wet and ate up the rest of my small cams. 

Alec Jugging up pitch 5.

At the middle of the crack, I see the anchors and look further I see which way I should of went and I kicked my self. Well fuck, Im on the wrong crack and its gonna be a little dicy to get back over. I get to the end of the crack and theres a fixed nut in another crack system way up there. I place a green alien in the crack and it is way under cammed AND the crack was wet. I topped step off that and reached out to the wire on the nut and couldn’t clip it. It was such a far reach, I came back down, breathed and tried super hard and barely clipped it. The nose of my carabiner got in and I pushed it through. Nice, Im not totally fucked. I reach over the ledge and feel jugs on jugs on jugs. I pull my self over and scramble down to the anchors. Finally, I finished the pitch. It took a lot longer than expected. Lloyd eventually made his was up. ​​

The Canadian Crew and Lloyd getting ready for the day.

It was about 2pm on top of pitch 6, Lloyd and I decided to bail. We came to a conclusion that we were going to slow and would have to make a rappel and descent in the dark. We weren’t that prepared for it and decided it would be better if we just bailed now. We lowered down an got to the anchors of pitch 5. The group below us was almost done cleaning, but they shared the anchors with us and we bullshitted for a bit. They were a super sick group of guys that eventually got our rope unstuck. We lowered off pitch 5 to the anchors, gathered our things and made another couple of rappels down to the base. We hiked back to the car feeling satisfied with our experience. Even though we didn’t send our climb, we got within 4 pitches of the top, but we still felt satisfied. It wasn’t really about topping out, it was just fun being on the wall, hundreds of feet up with the exposure and just doing your thing, climbing. It was an amazing experience. 


    With all that being said, Lloyd and I are already planning another attempt on the wall. Were coming back with a stronger game plan and more time. ​