Dispatches from Yosemite

Semi-radness

2010-05-14T13:57:00.000-07:00

Headed back up Leaning Tower yesterday with Big Wall veteran Alex from Tasmania. Didn't send but had a rad time! It all went pretty well till the big roof on the 2nd-to-last pitch. Got there feeling tired but still with a bit of strength left and super-psyched to try one of the final cruxes of the climb. Unfortunately I misread the sequence of moves to get into the roof and flailed around trying different approaches before finally working out how to climb it. This was a bit silly as in hindsight the sequence is really obvious (and it's awesome! big moves up from a wet sloper to the roof underclings and then a few punchy moves before a desperate slap around the corner of the roof to a sinker handjam). I managed the rest of the pitch pretty easily and decided to come back down and try and free-climb the pitch cleanly. My arms were toasted though, I got most of the way out the roof before my foot slipped of a smeary hold and I didn't have enough juice left in my arms to hang on. Gutted, I fell and the Leaning Tower free ascent will have to wait for another day. It was cool to go to the top though, and great to actually get worked trying to free some pitches as opposed to just sitting around waiting for them to dry out. Conditions are getting better here now and all sorts of people are heading up on all sorts of routes. There's a log jam on Freeblast and a few teams are heading up to freeclimb.

In other news the gear is finally down from Freerider thanks to Crazy John and Crazier Anna. The haul bag was up on the wall for a few weeks and survived about three storms. Unfortunately the gear inside got wet and there's now an interesting white fungus growing on the lobes of the number 5 Camelot (sorry Adam). Zac and Elmar just arrived in the Valley and they look pretty keen.

Waterfalls in bad places

2010-05-11T13:51:00.000-07:00

Just wandered up to the base of the Salathe and there's a waterfall running down the line! A fair bit of snow fell last night so Freerider might be wet for another week. Far out, 6 weeks in the Valley and it's still soaking wet - I must have done something pretty bad in a previous life. Will head up tomorrow and if by some miracle it's dried out I'll push on upwards, otherwise I'll get our gear down and head back to try and send the upper pitches on Leaning Tower. Pretty quiet in the Valley at the moment, most of the free-climbers have bailed. There's a bunch of parties on the nose. See ya'll back in NZ soon.

Lurking fear

2010-05-09T14:32:00.001-07:00

Decided it was time to top out a route so I enlisted the help of an American gully-climbing specialist called Josh (famous for his back to back benightments in the previous week) and we set off for a 1 day ascent of Lurking Fear. It was awesome. We started at first light and stood on top of El Cap in the dark after climbing some immaculate pitches of rock-climbing. Perfect really, no free ascent or speed records or anything crazy.... just good fun on a big hunk of perfect stone. Have started recruiting partners for a last ditch attempt on freerider starting on Tuesday. Psyched.

Aid climbing sandwich

2010-05-07T17:01:00.000-07:00

Went up Leaning Tower again yesterday. Both Derek and I managed to send the crux lower pitches which was great. Stunning climbing on an amazing wall. Unfortunately for us Leaning Tower is a popular Big Wall and we got stuck behind a slow (3 hrs plus per pitch) aid party. We couldn't work out a friendly way to sneak past them so we rapped off and left the final few pitches for another (hopefully less crowded) attempt. Close but no cigar.

We climbed some stuff

2010-05-05T12:26:00.000-07:00

Pretty psyched to be finally getting some good weather and dry rock in the Valley. Freerider is still soaked so we've hitting up some other classic free routes here.

First up was the Silent Line on Gold Wall. It's around ten pitches of stunning crack climbing with a cruxy 5:13 first pitch that climbs off to the side of a bolt ladder than most people aid up. Super fun to be getting on some harder pitches on dry rock. Derek crushed the 1st pitch and I got close but slipped off some slopey crimps in the sun. The highlight of the climb was on pitch 5 where you climb up inside a massive chimney that completely closes off all around you to a point where there is a exit hole that you have to crawl through on your belly! Hard to describe what it's like crawling out a horizontal squeeze chimney and staring straight down 200m to the Valley floor but it's rad.

Since then we've been up on leaning tower twice. It's a shorter than the typical Yosemite "Big Walls" but it packs quite a punch. It starts with a scramble up an exposed ledge and then a steep bolt ladder to get into the freeclimbing. The climbing is steep and pretty sustained in difficulty. We've sent a bunch of the 5:12 pitches on it (up to the 4th pitch above the bolt ladder) and have worked out how to climb the crux 5:13 pitch. Unfortunately this crux pitch has been wet each time we've been up there but we hope it will dry soon. Tomorrow (Derek's last day) we're heading up there to send, wet or dry!

And as things finally drying out here and we still have a bunch of gear stashed halfway up El Cap I've extended my trip till the 17th to try and at least get a shot at climbing freerider...

We are spending today on El Cap watch, lots of action up there right now. The Tassies (Garry and Alex 2nd) are on the Nose and Alex the German and Josh the Gully Climber are on the West (soaking wet gullies) Face.

Some more photos

2010-04-28T20:26:00.000-07:00

And the last snow storm of the trip is half way through. Think we will escape to Jailhouse tomorrow and then throw our selves at the big stone!

Fine (drying) weather photos

2010-04-27T17:19:00.001-07:00

A break from trench climbing on TKO at Arch Rock

Weak Sauce
Cluster F*#&
Hot Sauce

hmmm

2010-04-20T12:07:00.000-07:00

So the rain that was forecast is falling as snow, about 2 inches on the ground so far and it looks pretty set in. Might have a better chance of a ski descent than a free ascent of El Cap!

Progress

2010-04-19T15:42:00.000-07:00

Freerider.

JC has been making mathematical models of the drying of Freerider on El Cap. It is quite a complicated situation. There must be snow on top that melts down all the time. Every morning it is soaked and when the sun hits it it starts to dry up and by evening looks mostly dry (except for the ear and a few pitches above the spire!).

Anyways more progress has happened. We have climbed Freeblast and a few more pitches and have hauled gear up to the top of hollow flake. Was cool to spend a night up on the wall and we had some great learning experiences on hollow flake...

So now we wait to see what to see what tomorrows bad weather does to JCs model and then charge up as fast as we can to be there right as each pitch dries enough to climb them.

Does anyone think the Teflon Corner is climbable running with water? Looks like rain for a couple of days here and then another fine spell starting Thursday. Hopefully the rain will wash of whatever snow is left on the ledges and things will dry up properly in time for us to give it a good shot.

More on Offwidths

2010-04-19T15:33:00.000-07:00

We are both psyched to send Space Invader (a 5.12 levitation offwidth. 45 degress through a roof) when it drys out.

I did Twilight Zone as a warm up the other day and am still feeling the effects four days later. (see here for a description I should have read first).

The Hollow Flake pitch is awesome except for the extreme rope drag pulling me out of the offwidth.

JC is managing to avoid offwidth duty so far.... but he is mastering slabs.

Offwidth Dreams

2010-04-15T17:59:00.000-07:00

Simon Carter flew in for a photo shot and managed to capture us on the Monster Offwidth.

Snow

2010-04-12T15:41:00.000-07:00

Snow again.... but weather looks to be improving for the rest of the week. Does anyone know of rad climbs in Yosemite that dry quick? Maybe some short hard crack or offwidth or any other suggestions? Anyone got info on the leaning tower free route (eg how quick does it dry!)?

School days

2010-04-11T14:19:00.000-07:00

So it's been 1 week in the Valley and we're getting in the swing of things. After the big snow fall (see pic below) it's taken a while for things to dry out. So we've been cragging lower down at some riverside boulders and some single pitch areas.
Turns out all the time Derek has spent grovelling around at Castle Hills has prepared him for offwidth climbing. I'm still struggling with it but am enjoying all the other cracks and weirdness of Yosemite climbing. A few days ago El Cap looked kinda dryish so we started up a route called freeblast which climbs 10 or so pitches up El Cap. It was rad but we stopped at section called the half dollar as it was running with water. Super fun to have an adventure and get a feel for what the Americans call the BIG STONE. A dude called James came up with us for fun and snapped a few photos... check out his flickr. Looks rainy again for a few days but as soon as there's a fine spell we're feeling ready to have a go at freerider.

There's no such thing as bad weather, only bad attitude

2010-04-05T16:41:00.000-07:00

Arrived in the Valley a couple of days ago. Bouldered on the afternoon we got in which was fun, and then spent some time yesterday learning how to climb (wide) cracks. Yosemite cracks are insanely good! Then the snow came in... there's about a foot of snow on the Valley floor so have to wait a few days for things to dry out. We've made gaiters out of duct tape and deck chair covers and are getting weird looks in Curry Village.

San Fran

2010-04-02T08:52:00.000-07:00

Arrived in San Francisco yesterday. A mate of mine Asaph lives in Berkeley and I stayed in his sharehouse. It's cool here, lots of people keen on saving the world and coming up with smart ways of doing it. Got dished up a gourmet dinner by Asaph's housemate (including a potato, turnip, and pear with honey glaze soup!). Now off to source some food and gear. Derek arrives early arvo and then we off to Yosemite. Weather not looking great in the Valley for the first few days but that's ok.

Corporatisation

2010-03-28T21:05:00.000-07:00

This vague dream of climbing El Cap got a bit of substance to it last year when I was lucky enough to win an AMP scholarship. These scholarships are choice. No age limit or criteria, all you have to do is have a dream that captures the attention of the judging panel. You can read about the other recipients here. If you've got something rad you'd like to achieve I'd definitely recommend applying for the scholarship. The AMP folks I met were super supportive and genuine in their excitement about helping out other kiwis. I'm not a fan of the corporate world but this was a pleasant experience for me. It's a straight forward online application process, and then a brief interview. And if you're lucky enough to win you get to dress up and pretend you are fancy and go to the awards dinner.

This is me shaking hands with the PM. Apart from those silly ideas about mining in national parks and taxing the poor to give to the rich he seemed like a very nice man and he even politely inquired as to whether it would be possible for me to climb the Sky Tower...
Here's a pic of the the other recipients. I found meeting them all quite inspiring and I wish them all the best on their adventures.

Offwidth Dreams

2010-03-27T13:58:00.000-07:00

We just spent a day organizing gear and making bosons chair. Researching tactics and talking lots of climbing.

JC has been spending time visualizing being relaxed in offwidths.

Offwidth beta:

http://www.highinfatuation.com/blog/how-to-climb-offwidths-101/

http://www.widefetish.com

http://www.monsteroffwidth.com/

Plan A

2010-03-23T16:32:00.000-07:00

Yosemite Valley is kinda like the centre of the rock-climbing universe. It's been the setting for all sorts of progressions and wild adventures and incredible achievements in rock-climbing. Because of its gigantic size, immaculate steep stone and half decent weather it's the place where many of the best climbers in the world have gone to push the limits. Ever since I started climbing over a decade ago I figured that, if I ever thought I had the ability to climbing something there, then it would be an amazing place to visit and experience some of that history.

Well it's taken a while but I reckon now is a good time to head over there and give it a go. The plan is to try and free-climb one of the major routes on El Capitan. El Cap is the big imposing piece of granite - about a 1000m high. The easiest free-route up El Cap is freerider, and that's what I aim to climb. The route line is marked in on the pic to the left, and for a bunch of beta on climbing free-rider you can't do better than Jake Bresnehan's description over at whipper magazine. There's a whole lot of other things to climb there and Derek is sure to have some wild ideas on things to climb, but for me getting on one of the big free routes on El Cap is certainly the main event. From accounts I've gathered from people who've been up on freerider some of the easy pitches sounds terrifying and the hard pitches sound desperate. But that sounds quite good to me. Well, good in that I am really want to try something that I really don't know if I'm capable of. The crux pitches halfway up freerider are about as hard as I can climb starting off the ground on a fine day with a fair wind and a well rested body. So trying them up on a wall like that will be interesting. Can't wait!

8 sleeps to go

2010-03-23T15:44:00.000-07:00

Kia ora! Plans made, flights booked and gear is mostly sorted. Flying out on April Fools Day to go and try and climb something big and rad on El Cap. Seems appropriate. Here's a shot of the Captain to keep you psyched...