Yosemite!

Greetings, dear and faithful readers. Yes, I still have a blog. Apparently, the long-suffering folks at blogger.com will let you keep your blog, even if you haven't posted in 15 months. It has been a long time, and I am back on the road. As this provides more interesting fodder for blogging, I figured I would start posting up again.

Thomas and I just recently set off for five weeks in California. The first stop is Yosemite National Park. We loaded up the clown car and hit the road!
Approximately 30 hours of driving later, after taking turns driving and sleeping (uncomfortably) in the passenger seat, we arrived for a brief stop in Flagstaff, Arizona. We had the chance to spend the night there and catch up with great friends, Cris and Dave, have lunch with Mom and Dad, and briefly sample the bouldering at Priest Draw.

The original plan was to spend a few days in Flagstaff, but the high temperatures and the proximity to Yosemite Valley were luring us onward. We decided to press on and get ourselves established in the Valley before the Fourth of July hullabaloo kicked into high gear. This proved to be a good call. What a zoo! We arrived in the Valley in the wee hours of the morning and I immediately jumped in line for a spot at Camp 4, the historic climber campground and the only campground in the Valley for walk-ins.

We managed to get a spot and, due to a combination of sleepiness and uncooperative weather, spent the next couple of days cragging and enjoying a nice walk up to Yosemite Falls.

After a time of resting and catching up on sleep, we decided our first long route would be Higher Cathedral Spire, which just happens to be the highest free-standing pinnacle in North America, woo hoo.

The rock on the route is uncharacteristically bad by Yosemite standards, but the historical value of the route and the awesome summit, made it absolutely worth the effort:

Evidence of climbers past. Not to worry, Mom, we didn't have to rely on these for protection.

A great first summit and welcome back to the Valley!

Our climb on Higher Cathedral Spire, afforded great views of a line on neighboring Higher Cathedral Rock which we set as our objective for the next day--Braille Book, a 700' 5.8. The climb followed a wide crack in an open book corner system and proved to be great fun.

Thomas led us through a fun 5.10 hand crack and stemming variation that added to the quality of the route:

Because the Cathedral Rocks were treating us so well, we decided the next day's objective would be South by Southwest (11a) on Lower Cathedral Spire.

The route involved a LONG approach, made longer by our failure to carefully read the guidebook's approach instructions and instead "following our intuition" to the wrong side of the formation. There was also a lot of jumbly climbing required to reach the "money pitch," which involved a fun and powerful finger crack sequence followed by a long and sustained hand crack in a corner.

Once again, the summit was worth all the effort and simply awesome:

For Independence Day, we opted for a route that was likely to see less traffic and help us avoid the crowds. We settled on the Kor-Beck route (5.9) on Middle Cathedral Rock. We were sold on this route after reading the guidebook's introductory statement: "slightly awkward and technical in that classic Yosemite way." Bring it!

The climb lived up to its billing and 600 feet of wide crack climbing later, we were tired out. Climbing wide cracks is hard work!

Yosemite is amazing, and sometimes I need to remind myself of that when I get caught up in the mess of the crowds and the often Disneyland-esque atmosphere of the place on the Valley floor. As a climber, this place is full of history and the opportunity to test oneself against the feats of the greats of the past. So far, in all honesty, I have been disappointed in my own efforts as I have struggled to settle into that comfortable mental state that comes from climbing lots of rock and being comfortable in one's abilities. Fortunately, there's plenty of time and an abundance of rock to continue to seek out that "flow" that makes climbing such a unique and unparalleled experience.