After all the friends left I was feeling a little rocked. Maybe it was a weekend of drinking and shenanigans. Maybe it was seeing my lady for such a short time and then having to say goodbye. Maybe it was the over-stimulation of 20 some odd people showing from every corner after the three of us (Neil, Hugh, and myself) had been sitting around twiddling our thumbs. Whatever it may have been, I was ready to taking a long hike and get away from the crowds so we could laugh our way up the West Ridge on Mt. Conness. Once the peeps went their separate ways Neil and I scooted over to the permit office to make it happen and dahn dahn DAAH, thunderstorms in the forecast! Shit! It was the wrong time to shoot for the tallest rock in town and now we were left with no plan, no friends, and rain on the way. Definite low point of the week!
But as with all expeditions you gotta roll with the punches. We decided to feel out the rain at Tuolumne, get on the few things, and move on if the weather went south. Day 1: trying to climb Crescent Arch, at the top of my trad grade after a week off of climbing with thunderstorms brewing. Conclusion: BAIL! Luckily some old pitons and a nut we gave to the booty bin plus some single rope stretching shenanigans got us to the ground in two raps. Sweet! First bail success! That afternoon we decided to climb On the Lamb - a 4 pitch traversing (climbing sideways) 5.9 before skipping town to lower (and hopefully dryer) ground. That night my nerves kicked in big time! When you climb sideways the leader and the follower both experience the same consequences if they fall, what we call a pendulum (like when your parents held you high on the swings and let go but with more rock around). All night all I could think was "Shit, this is at the top of my grade here in Tuolumne and I'm going to being "leading" the whole time after a week off and a climb we bailed off (did not inspire confidence). Ahh!" The nerves kept me up and by the morning I was whimpering to Neil about how I couldn't do it. He gave me two goods reasons why it'd be fine ("we'll sew it up." "Let's just see it first.") and we were on our way. My nerves kept with me through my first lead. But by the time we were on our way across this rock I couldn't stop laughing. Here are the stats: my first lead, 5.5 and some 5.8, 1 hour. My second lead, 5.8 (with some thunder threatening), 10 minutes. Sometimes you just have to shake the sillies out!
With the rain coming sooner and sooner in the day we decided to head to lovers leap in the Lake Tahoe area to seek dryer weather. The dream came true and we found a gem of a spot in the process. The climbing was stellar, the small campground community was tons of fun, and it wound up being a great place for Neil's B-day bash complete with smashing a flaming guitar (already busted). We happened upon some friends we had already made in Tuolumne and then made it our business to make nice with everyone we met on the crags. By the time the big day came we had a crowd of folks (and one awesome dog named Lumi) who were ready to hang. Big shout out to Sunny, Tony and their gang and also Jay (Robcat) who joined us camping and climbing while we were there. Unfortunately, the Lover's Leap story did not have a happy ending when on our last day of climbing we heard a climbing accident happen while we were approaching the crag. A lady named Nor (Nur?) had pulled down some loose rock while climbing and taken a really bad fall in the process. Neil, Robcat, and I assisted in the rescue and did what we could to get her safely down from where her rope caught her some 300 feet above the ground. She sustained some serious head injuries but we've been informed that her doctors are expecting a full recovering within a month or two. Phew! A scary day that we'll both remember.
Feeling a little rattled after the incident we headed into South Lake to pick up our buddy Hugh who had been on a Vegas adventure for his B-day. We all decided to head back to Tuolumne and give the backcountry another try. When we showed to get our permit this time the skies looked clear and all systems were go! Off we went on the most epic two days of backcountry adventure that I'd ever been on. Hugh took a lot of stats which I don't remember now but the long and short is that we hiked 7 miles uphill to camp at Young Lakes and then the next day essentially hiked to the top of this mountain (Conness), dropped down a gully to the bottom of the cliff, climbed back up on the rock (1,500 ft.), hiked back down the way we came to camp, and finally put our packs on to hike back to the car. All in all, it was a 14 hour day of making it happen! Amazing climbing though! Another full on romp in the mountains! Neil, Hugh, and I simul-climbed the whole ridge. That's when we all tie into the rope and climbing at the same time while the leader puts gear in to protect the whole team in case of unforeseen disaster. No such disaster came and we laughed our way to the summit. First alpine climb complete!
We were all pretty beat after our big day but Neil wanted to get a little 10c in on our rest day, "Bombs Over Tokyo." Hugh and I belayed and took photos and called it a day. The next day we did a little more cragging on Olmstead in Tuolumne before Neil and I took off to get a permit for our next backcountry adventure: Venusian Blind, 5.7 on Temple Crag. Getting the permit was easy-peasy and before we knew it we were on our way. Somehow this climb felt more intimidating than Conness. The climbing was going to be harder and more continuous with some harder route finding and essentially the same elevation gain. The hike up to second lake was beautiful: six miles of mellow uphill along the north fork of big pine creek complete with waterfalls, tall forest, and a view of the rock we were looking to climb. When we got to second lake we found a great spot to camp with perfect views of the climb and the silty aqua first and second lakes. We got an early start to approach the climb (5am hiking) and after some heming and hawing found the bottom of the route. From there it was cruise control all the way to the top! This backcountry, alpine style climbing is absolutely blowing me away. Amazing hikes to idyllic camping at alpine lakes followed by cruzer climbing with beautiful views the whole way and always the big summit finish. Can't wait to get more done!
We've been in bishop for a bit here while I wait my climbing shoes to get fixed up (I'm tough on equipment). But tomorrow when they're ready we'll be on our way back to Tuolumne to meet back up with Hugh and finish our tick list in those parts (Fairview Dome, Crescent Arch, Third Pillar of Dana) and then Mt. Whitney, South Buttress and Charlotte Dome, South Face is all we have left. Two weeks left now on the road to make all the dreams come true! It's already been a ride and we're still going!
Thanks for sticking around for the long post! More to come (hopefully in more concise formats!) Check out the photos and stay posted. See ya!
