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boadman
Oct 5, 2008, 4:32 PM
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irregularpanda wrote: angry wrote: So whats wrong with me? I feel like Muslim who's totally burned out Mecca. Nothing. Do you need Mecca or something? Besides, you have *whispers* the diamond.
Whispers even quieter, "it's too bad the diamond kind of sucks."
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pmyche
Oct 5, 2008, 4:47 PM
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caughtinside
Oct 5, 2008, 5:40 PM
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I have to say I agree with much of what angry says, but not all.
First, I think the climbing in the valley is fantastic. Second, I'm not sure the fantastic climbing makes up for all the hoops and nonsense you have to jump through to get to it.
Camp 4 sucks. Sure, it's fun and you meet people, but it's noisy and dirty. If you can get out of Camp 4, your experience will be much better.
The real trick though is going off season. Come October 15, the valley will empty, but the weather will still be perfect. November and December are the prime season. No tourists, good temps, few climbers.
During the high season though I'll take tuolumne any day.
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camhead
Oct 5, 2008, 5:57 PM
Post #29 of 76
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for destination climbing areas, I always balance the overall experience with the quality of the climbing. Yosemite seems to be at one extreme: terrible experience with excellent climbing. In my opinion, the only place with better climbing and a worse overall experience is Hueco Tanks.
On the other hand, you have places like Potrero Chico, where the actual climbing is not that great, but the experience of the place is amazing.
There are places with awesome climbing AND camping/lifestyle experiences, but I'm not going to say where they are.
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potreroed
Oct 5, 2008, 9:29 PM
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I agree with you, Angry. In 42 years of climbing I"ve only been to the Valley once. I stayed a month, had a good time, but have never had any desire to go back.
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tradrenn
Oct 5, 2008, 10:03 PM
Post #32 of 76
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angry wrote: Isn't "Big Stone" supposed to be last thing I think before I fall asleep at night?
Nope.
Maybe you just like sandstone the most and granite just doesn't cut it.
I have granite in BC so I'm not looking forward to go elsewhere to climb more granite, but sandstone sounds so sweet.
I guess J_ung was right when he said:
j_ung wrote: Once you go sand you can never go.....
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scottb
Oct 5, 2008, 10:38 PM
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caughtinside wrote: The real trick though is going off season. Come October 15, the valley will empty, but the weather will still be perfect. November and December are the prime season. No tourists, good temps, few climbers.
I agreez with this! One of my best trips to the valley was the week before Christmas. It's cold at night but temps are great during the day, you can just walk up and get on just about anything you want, no waiting in line to get a spot in Camp 4, no traffic jams and so on.
Still, it only takes one dumbass in C4 to keep you from getting sleep.
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twbaker
Oct 6, 2008, 1:13 AM
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I can understand, it would be pretty annoying if someone kept going on and on about another area instead of being excited about where you're at -especially when you are in a place like Indian Creek. I can agree with some of what you said about the valley, but it certainly depends on what you fixate on.
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irregularpanda
Oct 6, 2008, 1:23 AM
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boadman wrote: irregularpanda wrote: angry wrote: So whats wrong with me? I feel like Muslim who's totally burned out Mecca. Nothing. Do you need Mecca or something? Besides, you have *whispers* the diamond. Whispers even quieter, "it's too bad the diamond kind of sucks."
ssssshhhhhh
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irregularpanda
Oct 6, 2008, 1:53 AM
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deltav wrote: irregularpanda wrote: angry wrote: Little monsters. They aren't monsters. Babies are parasites. Not true
Sooo,
It survives off the mothers blood, oxygen, and nutrients for almost 10 months. Then it's born.
Once it's born it survives off of the hosts (mother and father) food, water, shelter, money, time, energy, and sanity for at least 18 years.
How is it exactly that a baby is not a parasite, and a parent is not a host?
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bandidopeco
Oct 6, 2008, 3:00 AM
Post #37 of 76
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Actually the Valley is pretty great.... in moderation. If your going to bandit camp (I used to have an awesome place, near camp 4 until I was awoken one night after a semi-epic and had to drive the 4 hours home pissed) it's getting trickier, but staying legitimately for a few days and getting on some long routes is great. Plus Camp 4 is like the EU which is cool.
If it wasn't for the scene it would be awesome, but it's Yosemite!!! so of course there's going to be a scene. Maybe the rangers could be a little bit more reasonable, but you'll get a certain number of power trippers in any such job, deal. If you want big walls without the crowd, go somewhere way more remote/dangerous/expensive and deal with 15 days of bad weather on your 20 day trip, or go to Yosemite, or stay home.
Yosemite does have it problems, but all of those problems are totally predictable. Just accept them, which is what I try to do whenever I go there, at least until I get pissed at something and leave for IC.
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the_leech
Oct 6, 2008, 3:46 AM
Post #38 of 76
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pmyche wrote: jfox, you broke the law in plain view of a LEO and got tooled--wtf did you expect? That national parks are lawless free-for-alls? Because you lacked a little discretion you now hate YV. Hm.
Word to that.
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mtl_climber
Oct 6, 2008, 5:19 AM
Post #39 of 76
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caughtinside wrote: I have to say I agree with much of what angry says, but not all. First, I think the climbing in the valley is fantastic. Second, I'm not sure the fantastic climbing makes up for all the hoops and nonsense you have to jump through to get to it. Camp 4 sucks. Sure, it's fun and you meet people, but it's noisy and dirty. If you can get out of Camp 4, your experience will be much better. The real trick though is going off season. Come October 15, the valley will empty, but the weather will still be perfect. November and December are the prime season. No tourists, good temps, few climbers. During the high season though I'll take tuolumne any day.
how is the temp in that period ?? and the rain, is it something like 1 day of rain outof 2 day of sun ??
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tradrenn
Oct 6, 2008, 6:15 AM
Post #40 of 76
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Welcome back CI
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sungam
Oct 6, 2008, 9:35 AM
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tradrenn wrote: Welcome back CI
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rat-baby
Oct 6, 2008, 11:47 AM
Post #42 of 76
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Don't blame the valley for you being retarded and going in what sounds like peak season. Hit it on the fringes and you get perfect climbing weather, and few climbers and tourists.
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dingus
Oct 6, 2008, 12:59 PM
Post #43 of 76
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angry wrote: Please fix me, I'm broken.
Hi angry
I live a hundred miles from Yosemite and its often Nosemite for me too. Didn't climb in the valley once this season.
Oh, and you'll be dead some day. Yosemite will still be pretty much the same as it ever was.
How' that for justice?
DMT
(This post was edited by dingus on Oct 6, 2008, 1:04 PM)
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dingus
Oct 6, 2008, 1:02 PM
Post #44 of 76
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caughtinside wrote: I have to say I agree with much of what angry says, but not all. First, I think the climbing in the valley is fantastic. Second, I'm not sure the fantastic climbing makes up for all the hoops and nonsense you have to jump through to get to it.
So says the man who grew up with a 'local' Yosemite....
(psst! Don't believe you caught!)
DMT
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dingus
Oct 6, 2008, 1:05 PM
Post #45 of 76
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Name one other location in the US with more than 2 dozen grade VI climbs RIGHT NEXT TO A PAVED ROAD.
Name ONE.
DMT
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camhead
Oct 6, 2008, 2:24 PM
Post #46 of 76
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dingus wrote: Oh, and you'll be dead some day. Yosemite will still be pretty much the same as it ever was. How' that for justice? DMT
this is true.
I wager to bet that El Cap, Half Dome, Watkins, will be there long after Castleton Tower, Moses, and Standing Rock have tumbled down the talus as well. heh.
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happiegrrrl
Oct 6, 2008, 2:46 PM
Post #47 of 76
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"Don't hate me because I'm beautiful!"
I just got back from my Yosemite 101 trip. Wow. What a beautiful place, even without the waterfalls, and with the dry dust and the sheep herds in the corralled areas.
So funny - All the CA'ians were saying how awfully humid it was. I couldn't feel ANY humidity! It seemed as dry as JTree in April to me. I guess it's all just a matter of perspective.
I can see how the slow traffic combined with stupid maneuvering, and the green dragon vehicles seemingly appearing by magic on long, winding, unpassable roads sucks. I got caught behind one of those once and it really does seem to detract from being able to enjoy the natural beauty. There's just something odd about staring at the fat ass of a barge full of fat-assed folks staring up and into lands they would never dream of setting foot upon.
I think that minimizing the amount of driving on the roads and staying away from the village areas is helpful to avoiding the stress of civilization.
Also, since I was with all the Supertopians and other volunteers for the Facelift, and camped in a secluded spot(compared to being in a public campgrounds) it helped to form a buffer. I don't doubt that loud people at 7am would piss me off - it did enough this weekend in Slime to yell out "STFU!!! It's 7 o'clock in the morning!!!" to the "guide" with his party of 3, one of which asked "What's top-roping?" when he said the word. He went on with an answer so convoluted I couldn't even follow it.
We climbed a little bit while I was in Yosemite and for the most part we saw very few people while at the cliffs. First it was on a wall near Royal Arches - nobody there.
Here's me on TR, on (something like, I can't recall for sure) PokerFace, p1. Nobody else there the entire time we were.
I was pretty happy with how far I got. I stopped and lowered off before the hardest part, because I knew I wouldn't be able to do that part, but I was pretty surprised that I had been able to get the amount clean that I did get.
We also climbed at Pat and Jacks for a good 6 hours and I think we saw one other party in the afternoon. We ran into the most people at Lower Cathedral, and while we waited for a party to clear their rap rope and base-strewn crap from the start of Begger's Buttress, I saw the only example the whole time of asshole climbers... But the other party we climbed near before that was very cool.
And on the last day there, I followed someone up a route that I knew I would be able to do - very easy, the Regular Route on SunnySide Benches. Great climbing on all the routes, I was on, though I didn't get on any full-on cracks(and was glad of it, since except for that last route everyone was climbing harder stuff than I was used to).
Here's Half Dome from Glacier Point Tourist Stop. True...it was unavoidably tourist. But, I expected that. The cool thing, for me, was seeing the Cloud's Rest formation in relation to the Dome from this angle.
I had found Cloud's Rest very appealing the day before as we traveled from Toulumne(where I found an arrowhead AND a huge can of Spam while on clean-up along the road. It was still full, though it had been opened. From the 1960's or 70's - 4 by 5 by 2 inches. That's a lotta Spam!
Anyway - seeing Cloud's Rest from the two vantage points helped put the area in perspective to me, and made me just want to get back there and see the place from points other than the obvious tourism vistas. I can't wait to go again..... Maybe next spring. Anyone who is familiar with getting away from the maddening crowd there, who would like a travel partner.... PM me.
Looking west in El Cap Meadow at sunset. Good night, Yosemite. I hope to see you again soon!
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jfox21
Oct 6, 2008, 7:34 PM
Post #48 of 76
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the_leech wrote: pmyche wrote: jfox, you broke the law in plain view of a LEO and got tooled--wtf did you expect? That national parks are lawless free-for-alls? Because you lacked a little discretion you now hate YV. Hm. Word to that.
i completely agree. i did break the law. i deserved to be punnished. however, the ranger did not deserve to have the attitude he did. he treated us like scum and thought we were going to attack him the whole time we were talking to im. we were very polite with him and never showed any signs of aggression. i just felt like since we were climbers we were being treated like second class citizins
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pmyche
Oct 6, 2008, 7:53 PM
Post #49 of 76
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knieveltech
Oct 6, 2008, 7:58 PM
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+1, awesome post.
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