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losbill
Jun 13, 2013, 2:01 PM
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DA sounds just a bit unnerving! Gail good job getting out and getting something done. Glad to hear Mitch got out. Went on a fool's mission up to Cannon a week ago Sunday. Figured all the forecasts were wrong. They weren't and we got rained off by a short but intense rainfall with a few lighting strikes to spice things up sometime after noon. Just as well since we had finished our beer and burgers in North Woodstock and were headed south when the real nasty stuff came through about 3 PM. This weekend I wimped out. Climbed at the new CRG gym in Watertown, MA on Saturday. Fantastic facility! Congrats to the Hardy Boys! Did the Grandpa thing on Sunday. But with mountain biking, basketball and soccer it was a pretty good cardiovascular day. Headed for North Conway on Saturday. Hope we can find something dry to climb.
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dagibbs
Jun 13, 2013, 2:11 PM
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I've driven past Cannon a couple times, looked at it, and found it quite intimidating looking. Among other things, the approach looks nasty -- a long slog up all that rubble. Also, I'd have to find some route information, but I'm sure there's a guide around somewhere that covers it. But, it also looks like it could have some awesome climbing.
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Gmburns2000
Jun 13, 2013, 2:26 PM
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dagibbs wrote: I've driven past Cannon a couple times, looked at it, and found it quite intimidating looking. Among other things, the approach looks nasty -- a long slog up all that rubble. Also, I'd have to find some route information, but I'm sure there's a guide around somewhere that covers it. But, it also looks like it could have some awesome climbing.
the approach is long and cardiovascular, but not so bad. the climbing there is pretty fantastic, and the book (secrets of the notch) is worth getting. the rock can certainly be loose.
as Bill said, though, because it's east-facing weather is a very real problem. you can't see the weather until it's on top of you, and the ridges, particularly across the notch (franconia notch) do get lightening strikes. After having been caught there in bad weather multiple times, and a couple of those times the forecast was good, I won't go there any more without the assurance that the weather will be pristine (pristine = no chance of lightening). for me, just not worth it.
and oh yeah, the descent is worse than the approach. 
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dagibbs
Jun 13, 2013, 2:36 PM
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Gmburns2000 wrote: dagibbs wrote: I've driven past Cannon a couple times, looked at it, and found it quite intimidating looking. Among other things, the approach looks nasty -- a long slog up all that rubble. Also, I'd have to find some route information, but I'm sure there's a guide around somewhere that covers it. But, it also looks like it could have some awesome climbing. the approach is long and cardiovascular, but not so bad. the climbing there is pretty fantastic, and the book (secrets of the notch) is worth getting. the rock can certainly be loose. as Bill said, though, because it's east-facing weather is a very real problem. you can't see the weather until it's on top of you, and the ridges, particularly across the notch (franconia notch) do get lightening strikes. After having been caught there in bad weather multiple times, and a couple of those times the forecast was good, I won't go there any more without the assurance that the weather will be pristine (pristine = no chance of lightening). for me, just not worth it. and oh yeah, the descent is worse than the approach.
Loose rock... that I am not unfamiliar with. :)
Yeah, the east-facing, but weather approaches from the west, I'd heard that too. And the lightning strikes.
Hm... ugly descent.
Hm... yeah, would have to be an absolutely pristine forecast, I agree.
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Gmburns2000
Jun 13, 2013, 3:02 PM
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dagibbs wrote: Gmburns2000 wrote: dagibbs wrote: I've driven past Cannon a couple times, looked at it, and found it quite intimidating looking. Among other things, the approach looks nasty -- a long slog up all that rubble. Also, I'd have to find some route information, but I'm sure there's a guide around somewhere that covers it. But, it also looks like it could have some awesome climbing. the approach is long and cardiovascular, but not so bad. the climbing there is pretty fantastic, and the book (secrets of the notch) is worth getting. the rock can certainly be loose. as Bill said, though, because it's east-facing weather is a very real problem. you can't see the weather until it's on top of you, and the ridges, particularly across the notch (franconia notch) do get lightening strikes. After having been caught there in bad weather multiple times, and a couple of those times the forecast was good, I won't go there any more without the assurance that the weather will be pristine (pristine = no chance of lightening). for me, just not worth it. and oh yeah, the descent is worse than the approach. Loose rock... that I am not unfamiliar with. :) Yeah, the east-facing, but weather approaches from the west, I'd heard that too. And the lightning strikes. Hm... ugly descent. Hm... yeah, would have to be an absolutely pristine forecast, I agree.
yeah, but the W/G Ridge is a fantastic sandbag at the crux (well worth doing) and everyone says Moby Grape is classic, too. I've only done first few pitches, but that was good to that point.
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Dip
Jul 1, 2013, 6:15 PM
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Howdy all. It’s been a while since I posted here; in fact it’s been a while since I’ve written anything at all. Just got back from Squamish and thought I’d throw up a little trip report. Enjoy. Or don’t.
Day 1: We four travelling companions landed in Vancouver at something like 1:00 in the morning, secured our rented Dodge Caravan, and immediately cruised the Sea to Sky up to Squamish, where we arrived at 3:00. While we were able to score a couple hours of sleep on the plane we knew it wasn’t quite enough to sustain a whole day of climbing, so we crashed in the van in the campground parking lot until 5:00 when the sun came up. Or at least I assume that’s when the sun came up. This was the Pacific Northwest after all, and it seemed the sun could be something of a rarity. Immediately upon stepping out of the van we grabbed our packs and went exploring. The immense beauty of the woods was breathtaking, reminding us of something out of a fantasy novel. Big boulders, tall pines, and a huge expanse of granite as a backdrop greeted our tired eyes and reassured us that we’d picked the right destination. After sampling a couple boulder problems in the woods near the base of the Grand Wall and watching helplessly as one of the freakishly huge mutant slugs tried to carry off poor little Billy (okay not really, I don’t even know a Billy but holy Christ the slugs are big out there!) we found ourselves underneath Exasperator.
Although the night spent travelling and the short nap in the van left me feeling far from well rested I reasoned this would make an excellent first pitch of the trip, so I immediately racked up and got after it. I moved through the easy part at the very bottom, struggled through the footless section that followed, then scored a good rest at about half height on the first pitch with just one problem: when I was engrossed in my previously mentioned struggle I stopped to place gear when I should have kept climbing, and in doing so left the entirety of my smaller nuts hanging on a biner now a good distance below my feet. I was pumping out when I placed pro, was faced with either hanging or just trying to keep going, and I picked the latter. This blunder effectively ruled out the second pitch since no one else was in the mood to follow, meaning the gear required for the beginning of pitch two would remain where I foolishly left it hang, but I figured I’d make a dash for the anchors at mid-climb anyway and then sort it out from there. While it seemed a good plan at the time it didn’t exactly work out as I’d hoped, as I ended up taking a nice little whip near the chains. I was bummed to blow the onsight but resigned that getting a fall out of the way early couldn’t be bad for my head. I eventually lowered and left the climb for another day. And right on time too, as a light rain commenced in unison with my feet touching the ground.
With conditions for rope climbing steadily deteriorating we decided to use the cover of the forest and spend the rest of the day bouldering around the base of the Grand Wall until our tired bodies could stand no more. We then got stupid drunk, made all kinds of new friends around camp, and finished the night off at a party in the woods near Dream Catcher.
Day 2: We woke to a steady downpour. When we planned the trip this was the day we hoped to do the Grand Wall, reasoning that a Thursday would be less crowded than a weekend and fairly chill. I’m not a fast climber by any means, especially on multi-pitch granite since my home state isn’t exactly teeming with that sort of thing, so the prospect of having very few people around and being able to take our time was appealing. Looking back I wish it would’ve worked out that way, but as always the weather gods proved triumphant. As a consolation we sought out the dry overhanging rock of Chek Canyon.
Among the people with whom I spoke before the trip I didn’t hear the highest praises for Chek, some even sinking so low as to compare it to Pennsylvania sport climbing. However upon arriving I found that to be very far from the truth and was impressed with not only the quality of the routes but the sheer beauty of the area. Even in the dreary mist that prevailed for the majority of the day the contrasting greens of moss and pine set against the grey background of the massive boulders speckled about the canyon were astounding. It would’ve been a cool place to explore even if we didn’t get to climb, which was a moot point since we were each able to pluck off a few routes, Kigijushi being perhaps the most memorable.
After spending the morning and part of the afternoon at Chek we loaded back in the van and returned to Squamish, where we thought it might be fun to hike the backside of the Chief. We were wrong, only making it about a quarter of the way up before calling it stupid and bailing. We planned on climbing the thing later in the week anyway, why waste energy walking it now? And besides, the rain appeared to be subsiding and climbing dry rock seemed like a much better time than an endless walk upstairs toward a view sure to be obscured by low hanging clouds. It took a little bit of convincing on my part, but we returned to the base a short time later, loaded back in the van, and boogied on down Highway 99 to Murrin Park and more specifically Seal Cove. Here we climbed Sole Mate, a fantastic 5.10 slab rising gently out of the ocean. Climbing directly over the sound was surreal, although despite our high hopes none of us was consumed by a rogue killer whale mid-climb. Next time maybe. After topping out we went back to camp to relax (and of course drink) the rest of the night away.
Day 3: Still no sign of the sun but no rain either. We took our time leaving camp and eating breakfast before heading out to sample the Smoke Bluffs. Even upon arriving it was apparent that we were in no hurry to climb, only doing Penny Lane and Quarryman (both rad!) over the course of the few hours we were there. There was a surprising amount of people out for a Friday afternoon, not so many that it was too crowded but enough that we kept running into groups on the climbs we sought out. No big deal at all though, it was just nice to be dry and at a new place. At around 4:00 it dawned on us that we hadn’t been more than one pitch off the ground yet, so two of us decided it’d be a fine idea to grab the headlamps and meander up Diedre. We were correct too. That climb was super cool! We started at 6:00, topped out at dusk (which we were pleasantly surprised to find came quite late at Squamish), and since we may have overlooked the little tidbit of how exactly we were supposed to get down we rapped the route in the dark, later finding out that the walk-off was a lot easier than it looked in twilight. Still, totally worth rapping, even if it was a tiny bit more time consuming. We arrived back at camp at around 1:00a.m, chugged the liters from Howe Sound Brewing our friends were nice enough grab for us while we were trudging upward, and then promptly passed out.
Day 4: Before heading up Diedre last night we entertained ideas of doing Angels Crest or the Grand Wall today but with the late hour of our return it quickly became apparent that we wouldn’t have the energy to embark on either of those journeys. In fact, after three days of climbing and trekking all over BC I barely had the energy to get out of bed, damp and uncomfortable as it was. So instead of subjecting ourselves to a long day on the wall, we decided to “hire a boulder matt,” as our new Kiwi friend liked to say, and spend the day wrestling pebbles. So it was that after a quick stop at the climbing shop and another at the liquor store we took to the woods beneath the chief and had ourselves an excellent day climbing the tiny classics of Squamish, and tying on a fantastic little buzz in the process. If you’re beginning to wonder if we did more drinking than climbing on this trip you’re not alone. It was a photo finish. Fortunately the two are not mutually exclusive.
Day 5: The Grand Wall. Ever since last fall when I decided to embark on this trip I’d been eyeing the Grand Wall with all kinds of hopeful optimism. In fact ever since I first read Fifty Favorite Climbs I had it earmarked as something to try, and with our time in Squamish running low it seemed it was now or never, or at least now or not until next time, and who knew when that would be.
We woke early enough, but at the same time not, and reached the base of Mercy Me at something like 9:00a.m. By this time, despite all the running and enduro training I’d done the last few months to get my overall fitness up, I was wrecked. The easy (but holy fucking runout!) slabs of Mercy Me were a drain on my tired legs. The move over the wet streak was terrifying. The downward traverse was fun, if not for the fact that there were people right up our ass, and we were right up someone else’s ass, and they were right up someone else’s ass, you get the idea. There must have been twenty people on the route all around us. We were under dressed, under prepared, under motivated, and ended up bailing at the first aid ladder. We thought hard about just going to the top of the split pillar, and we probably should have since we were right there, but we were having absolutely no fun at that point, and to look up and see a ton of people, then to look down and see a ton of people, just wasn’t our idea of a good time on a multi-pitch route. So while I’m a little bummed that we bailed (more bummed that the weather wasn’t nicer earlier in the week), I was super psyched to seek out some less crowded options, and maybe chill out for a bit. At least we tried it, and there was always next time, and whatever other bullshit I could sell myself to justify being a huge punter.
Immediately upon reaching the ground we hit Exasperator again, and this time I didn’t pitch off (psyched!). After that we went in search of our other two friends who’d spent the day biking at Whistler, and you guessed it, drank more booze. Sometime around dusk it started raining. Sometime around 11 we were struck with the idea that we should walk to Shannon Falls and climb Klahanie Crack in said dark rain. Sometime around midnight we arrived and giggled our way to the top, making for perhaps one of the most memorable moments of the trip, despite it being something of a foggy memory. Nothing like a dark wet drunk easy crack to lift your spirits after being punty mcpunterpants on the major objective of the trip.
Day 6: Still raining pretty hard when we woke, and by now our tents were soaked, along with everything in them. Last night’s soggy climb probably didn’t help that cause, especially the part where we returned to our temporary homes drenched and covered in a dirt-mud cocktail, but then again it was totally worth it. It was our last day and we wanted to climb, but between the rain and the fact that we were feeling pretty run down we weren’t sure we’d get a chance. Instead of sulking about it (much), we tore down camp and went to the rec center for showers and Ping-Pong while the deluge continued outside.
Eventually we grew tired of sitting around indoors and went for a drive to look for something to eat, even though none of us was particularly hungry. After eating a light lunch at one of the café’s in town we scooted back up to the campground parking lot to hang out, where at around 3:00 the rains mercifully stopped. Immediately as the last drop hit the ground we jumped back in the van and drove to the Smoke Bluffs to walk around and hope against hope that the rain wouldn’t return. After a week of no sun we were getting good at deciphering rain clouds from those that weren’t, even in the perpetual greyness that hung over Howe Sound for the entirety of the trip. When we arrived at the bluffs we were once again surprised by just how quickly the area dried out, and were able to squeeze in ascents of Cat Crack, some good but kind of dirty crack beside it, and Flying Circus, although by the time I cleaned the last one the rains had returned, if only in the form of a light drizzle. We discussed maybe setting a toprope on something else, but instead elected to go back to camp and celebrate the conclusion of an amazing week with some of the amazing people we’d met, and of course a whole lot more beer. At 1:00a.m. we retired to the van and took a nap before catching a flight back to Philly the following morning.
Squamish was rad. I’m still hungover.
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Gmburns2000
Jul 1, 2013, 6:33 PM
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Dude, way to make the best of a lousy weather situation. sounds like you got a shit-ton anyway.
super cool TR. thanks for posting up.
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gblauer
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Jul 2, 2013, 2:23 AM
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nice report...too bad you had foul weather. when I went to squamish we had amazing weather. I loved the climbing and the forests. I agree...felt like I was in a fantasy novel.
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Dip
Jul 2, 2013, 11:59 AM
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Yeah super cool out there. I wouldn't say it was horrible weather, i've certainly had worse weeks at the New. When it was all said and done it was a great trip. Probably couldn't live there, but will definitely visit again someday.
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gblauer
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Jul 2, 2013, 12:03 PM
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I am up at the gunks (since last Friday) and it's been rain rain rain. Trying to get out today, but, it's soaking right now.
Have been enjoying exploring the far Nears and Lost City.
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losbill
Jul 2, 2013, 1:27 PM
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Good report! Thanks for sharing! Ditto what Greg said!
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dagibbs
Jul 9, 2013, 8:16 PM
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Saturday, I head out to Home Cliff fairly early (7:30am departure) with Jex (later to be joined by Mike, Velta, and Kate.) We got there early enough that, even after a warm-up climb, there was noone else there and I got a chance to lead Magical Mystery Tour (5.6 PG). This climb goes part way up the cliff, then traverses across about 8 other routes -- so if the cliff is at all busy, it isn't reasonable to climb it. This was a great climb, and far better protected than described in the local guide ("good climbing, but sparsely protected"), I think due to the fact that the PG section was the traverse, and it now crosses enough routes with bolts on them that the entire traverse ends up well protected. It is also listed as a 2-pitch climb, but I figured on doing it single-pitch to my great regret near the end from brutal rope drag.
Sunday, my expected climbing crew shrunk to just Flo, who climbs a solid number grade better than me, and myself. We headed to Mont King, which Flo hadn't climbed before. After the de rigeur climb up Rocketman, the classic three-pitch (5.4, 5.3, 5.0 trad) run up to the top, we looked at other stuff. There's a bunch of bolted, but not documented climbs on Mont King -- and we played around with these.
The first one, he made it up with a lot of work, but I was unable to complete. It was probably in the 5.11+ range. After pulling the rope, I noticed a core shot and we cut off the end this was close to, losing about 5m from his 70m rope.
The 2nd one was a series of widely spaced bolts up a slab, then a steep headwall, finally disappearing over the top of that. Flo went up this, taking and hanging a few times on the headwall, then proceeding well past the half-rope mark, before finally calling down safe. In all, probably a 45-50m route. I followed easily up the slab, but had a very tough time (not surprisingly) with the headwall, before getting over it with a lot of rope tension and hanging. As I got to the top anchor, it started to rain. We had no obvious way off -- rappelling on the one rope wouldn't work. We chose to continue up the easy (much less than vertical) upper portion of Mont King to the top of Rocketman, but as I approached the anchor, we heard a bit of thunder, which encouraged us to hurry our descent. We made it off safely, if a bit damply, packed up under an overhang in the cliff, and headed out.
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gblauer
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Jul 10, 2013, 7:01 PM
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sounds like fun.
any climbing is better than what I am doing...sitting here in cape cod. No rock climbing here. I am letting my muscles re-charge and taking a much appreciated rest.
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Gmburns2000
Jul 10, 2013, 8:08 PM
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gblauer wrote: sounds like fun. any climbing is better than what I am doing...sitting here in cape cod. No rock climbing here. I am letting my muscles re-charge and taking a much appreciated rest.
Apparently there are a couple of boulders on the cape, and there's one natural traverse that I can't remember where it is that's quite difficult. It seems quite a few people the "Scargo Hill Tower off Route 6A in East Dennis" (gunks.com) for a good pump. You can solo 5.6 to the top and walk down the stairs on the other side.
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dagibbs
Jul 15, 2013, 5:20 PM
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Got out for an evening climbing on Friday with someone a lot stronger than me, so spent a fair bit of time hang-dogging hard stuff. I also lead an easier trad route, as a bit of a break.
Saturday went to Montagne d'Argent, herding a few newbies along. Lead some easy stuff for them, setup a couple top-ropes on some harder stuff. Red-pointed a 5.7 trad route on which I'd previously taken a leader fall in which my top piece pulled, so a bit more scared than normal in that section. No problem this time -- I've got a more complete rack than at the time I last lead it a couple years ago.
Sunday I spent bolting my first sport route. At Lac Sam, a short easy (5.7) climb up a fun little cliff. The section of cliff in question often has water running down it -- so the rock is naturally quite clean, though stained almost black. I climbed it, marking likely bolt locations. My climbing partner who is about 5'5" (to my 5'11") also climbed it, making sure that the clips I thought were good, were also good for someone noticeably shorter. I will say, a drill and other bolting gear is heavy stuff to carry up while climbing. After I had done bolting, and dusting, my friend climbed it, and agreed that it was a good lead for her, and it was her hardest lead yet.
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dagibbs
Sep 6, 2013, 6:59 PM
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Jessica and I had planned to climb at Bon Echo -- a provincial park in Ontario where the Alpine Club of Canada (ACC) has a hut, and where all the cliff access is by boat (the ACC also has a boat). But, the weather forecast for the weekend was pretty awful. So we started looking around... most everywhere within 6 hours (or so) drive, including Kamouraska, PQ; Rumney or North Conway, NH; Northern Vermont; the Adirondacks; or the Laurentians (Val David or Montagne d'Argent) had bad forecasts.
But, the Niagara escarpment, near Milton, Ontario had a reasonable forecast. Not good, but ok. The approaches weren't too comitting, the drive didn't involve two border crossings on a long weekend, and I could get a free hotel within 20 minutes drive of Mount Nemo, probably the most extensive crag in the area. So, that was the new plan.
Saturday we got a good day of climbing at Mt Nemo, which is a (generally) single pitch limestone cliff, mostly easier trad routes. Sunday we headed back, but after a couple routes, it started to rain. We waited a few minutes, but it wasn't stopping, so we packed up. Jessica had a friend nearby she wanted to have dinner with -- so we didn't mind an early finish.
For Monday, we were planning a relaxing day for the drive home, with a stop in Kingston Mills (near Kingston, Ontario) if the weather was ok. Forecast was 60% chance of thundershowers, but the crag was less than 10-minutes off our route home, and the walk-in was a back-breaking 5 minute stroll, so we figured we'd risk it even if the weather was impending doom -- as long as it wasn't actually dooming at the time. As it turns out, we got several hours of good climbing on most of the easy-to-moderate routes at Kingston Mills (it only has 14 or so routes) before we decided to call it a day.
Given the dismal weather forecasts, we had a surprisingly good weekend of climbing.
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Gmburns2000
Sep 6, 2013, 10:54 PM
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always nice when it works out that way. sounds pretty sweet.
nada here for me since march. winter was rough both weather-wise and personally. fingers are crossed i'll get something done now that spring is approaching, but one never knows. I'm working too many days and have too many orders to fill with my art, so I'm living vicariously...so thanks. 
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losbill
Sep 7, 2013, 3:47 PM
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Geez Greg! Get you butt out and do something! Your going to turn into a lard ass! Currently in California. Headed back today after 11 straight days of climbing in Tuolumne. This is a view of The Meadows from the Top of Fairview Dome.
On the way down from the Reno area things were pretty smokey from the Aim Fire. Definitely had some concerns. But we had a back up plan. Head south if necessary down to the Bishop area. So no worries. Right. Been thinking and dreaming for a year about climbing in the Meadows. No worries. Right.
However things cleared as we made our way south. Worries dissipated and spirits soared. By the time we started up the hill at Lee Vining it was beautiful!
Had a great time. I was out with 7 other Boston area climbers. Despite the Aim Fire we were chased out of the Meadows only one day. That day we went to Clark Canyon and had a wonderful day clipping bolts and climbing Tuff. Here is John clipping up at Clark Canyon
Due to road closures and threat of smoke the Meadows was like a ghost town. Felt bad for all the climbers who were not able to get there. But their loss was our gain. Most days we had the area we were in all to ourselves.
Here I am on the first pitch of Isotacy on Dozier Dome. I am relishing the first piece of gear I was able to get in for awhile and the last I will be able to get in for another awhile!
Here is Ed on Plutonics on Dozier Dome. It was a great lead. It is way steeper and harder than it appears in the photo!
Highlights included South Crack on Stately Pleasure Dome. Spectacular climbing on absolutely beautiful granite! Brad took the first pitch, an awesome, testy fingers to finger tips 5.9 crack. I took the second a 5.8 fingers to hands with great moves and rhythm. Here is Brad coming up to the second pitch belay.
The next two pitches eased off but were fun. My pitch featured some very substantial runouts, 40'+. You have to love those knobs!!!!
The other highlight was the Regular Route on Fairview Dome. Another terrific climb. I took the first pitch and ran it 200' to optional belay, 5.9 160' and 5.8 40'. Harder than other similarly graded pitches I had climbed in the Meadows. Plus although the face was dry the crack was wet from the previous afternoon's thunder storm that chased us off West Cottage Dome. Note to those using SuperTopo's topo for rack recommendation and planning to take the first pitch up 200' throw another one or two extra #2 or #3 BD cams on the rack. Here is Ed approaching the crux on the first pitch. The team waiting to start were YOSAR. Nice to know help was so close if needed!!!
Ed ran the rope out 215' for the next pitch requiring some simulclimbing. Topo characterizes the main part of this pitch as "incredible sustained 5.7 fingers/hands". Given the 5.9 rating for the first pitch I have concluded that this is code for 5.10a. It was tough! Definitely sustained and felt harder than the 5.9 and 5.8 bits I had done below.
The climbing eased off at this point and we moved upward with pitch after pitch of fun climbing on beautiful clean granite with great spacious belay ledges. I was totally worked from our first 420' and handed the rope to Ed to bring us to the top after leading the 5th pitch (our 4th). The man is a machine! Here he is up high on Pitch 6 (our 5th).
We were rewarded with a great summit with spectacular 360 degree views. A great way to end my trip to the Meadows.
Here is Ed with the Grand Canyon of The Tuolumne behind him. You can see it filling with the smoke from the Aim Fire.
Here I am with what I believe to be Mount Conness over my right shoulder. Yes it was a bit windy on top.
Looking forward to the Gunks for fall. See you soon Gail!
(This post was edited by losbill on Sep 27, 2013, 2:30 AM)
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Gmburns2000
Sep 7, 2013, 8:56 PM
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losbill wrote: Geez Greg! Get you butt out and do something! Your going to turn into a lard ass! Currently in California. Headed back today after 11 straight days of climbing in Tuolumne. Had a great time. I was out with 7 other Boston area climbers. Despite the Aim Fire we were chased out of the Meadows only one day. That day we went to Clark Canyon and had a wonderful day clipping bolts and climbing Tuff. Due to road closures and threat of smoke the Meadows was like a ghost town. Felt bad for all the climbers who were not able to get there. But their loss was our gain. Most days we had the area we were in all to ourselves Highlights included South Crack on Stately Pleasure Dome. Spectacular climbing on absolutely beautiful granite! Brad took the first pitch, an awesome, testy fingers to finger tips 5.9 crack. I took the second a 5.8 fingers to hands with great moves and rhythm. The next two pitches eased off but were fun. My pitch featured some very substantial runouts, 40'+. You have to love those knobs!!!! The other highlight was the Regular Route on Fairview Dome. Another terrific climb. I took the first pitch and ran it 200' to optional belay, 5.9 160' and 5.8 40'. Harder than other similarly graded pitches I had climbed in the Meadows. Plus although the face was dry the crack was wet from the previous afternoon's thunder storm that chased us off West Cottage Dome. Note to those using SuperTopo's topo for rack recommendation and planning to take the first pitch up 200' throw another one or two extra #2 or #3 BD cams on the rack. Ed ran the rope out 215' for the next pitch requiring some simulclimbing. Topo characterizes the main part of this pitch as "incredible sustained 5.7 fingers/hands". Given the 5.9 rating for the first pitch I have concluded that this is code for 5.10a. It was tough! Definitely sustained and felt harder than the 5.9 and 5.8 bits I had done below. The climbing eased off at this point and we moved upward with pitch after pitch of fun climbing on beautiful clean granite with great spacious belay ledges. I was totally worked from our first 420' and handed the rope to Ed to bring us to the top after leading the 5th pitch. The man is a machine! We were rewarded with a great summit with spectacular 360 degree views. A great way to end my trip to the Meadows. Looking forward to the Gunks for fall. See you soon Gail!
The life of an artist isn't easy these days. It's all work, work, work, work, work. Just gotta produce until the cow comes home. Doesn't help that the lady is in the final months of her PhD. Weekends are pretty much shot.
Still, I think I'll be getting out once the weather turns. Starting to get nice these days.
I'm jealous Bill. Did you guys stay at Heidi and Bill's? Don't they have a place out there? How's Ed? I hope he's doing well (and you, too). Miss you guys.
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gblauer
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Sep 8, 2013, 10:53 PM
Post #1145 of 1159
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Registered: Oct 4, 2002
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losbill wrote: Looking forward to the Gunks for fall. See you soon Gail!
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dagibbs
Sep 9, 2013, 2:06 AM
Post #1146 of 1159
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Registered: Oct 1, 2007
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Q: What did I do over the weekend?
I invited a bunch of climbers to join me at Lac Sam for the weekend, including sleeping over at the cottage Saturday night. I got 8 climbers (including me) for Saturday, 4 over night, and 6 on Sunday.
Saturday we canoed across the lake and bushwhacked in to lower cliff. I lead a couple (mostly) established lines there and dropped three top ropes. Then re-climbed one of the with my good buddy Hilti and, truly, built an anchor. Then, started bouldering a bit on the start of an unclimbed line to take a look at it... the first few meters looked good, and what I could see of the next 7m looked hopeful, then it would be about 15m of see what I find. Took one fall low down (caught by a white tricam), lowered the couple feet to the ground, cleared a bit more loose rock, and climbed. Bottom tricky bit was probably around 5.8, then the next 7m had enough gear... and the final part, I discovered a beautiful right-slanting hand-crack up the upper slab section. A bunch of gardening, but great gear. The climb wasn't suitable for a top-rope as it angled rightwards the whole way, but left me at the top-anchor (tree) of another climb we'd established. Now, I just have to come up with a name.
Saturday after climbing we had a swim, BBQed, and played a couple boardgames while drinking Port and Scotch.
Sunday we went to upper cliff -- this is approached from the top, rather than below. I set up three ropes, taught three people how to rappel, and after the 5 were at the base, I started bolting anchors, so we didn't have to sling trees any more. Bolted 5 anchors (though a few more, at least, will need to go in), and then rapped down and did some climbing. Picked out a couple more likely-looking lines. Upper cliff has a lot less gear placements available, so looking at sport (or maybe mixed) and top-rope lines.
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losbill
Sep 27, 2013, 2:34 AM
Post #1147 of 1159
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Registered: Sep 14, 2004
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DA - Just a boy and his drill! An heart warming story! "Caught by a white tricam" just can't picture it! Yikes!
BTW I have added some photos to my post about Tuolumne above.
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dagibbs
Sep 27, 2013, 12:49 PM
Post #1149 of 1159
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losbill wrote: DA - Just a boy and his drill! An heart warming story! "Caught by a white tricam" just can't picture it! Yikes! BTW I have added some photos to my post about Tuolumne above.
Yeah, the white tricam is a pretty small piece. I think 3kN rating or something like that.
And, awesome photos.
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gblauer
Moderator
Mar 16, 2014, 11:31 PM
Post #1150 of 1159
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Beautiful March Weather= Fun climbing at the Gunks
Spent all day Saturday climbing...got to the cliff at 830 AM (38 degrees) scrambled, slipped, slid through the ice all over the carriage road, set up a tarp on the snow (still about a foot on the ground, more in places, less in others) and did our first climb of the new year. We started on Eyebrow; a wandery 5.6 that ends up at the horseman rappel. It's a fun climb, hadn't been on it in years. My partner was feeling great so he put up Retribution...nice job Seth! I felt a little rusty but I cilmbed it well. One of these days I need to man up and lead it. We Tr'd Nosedive...does anyone else find the move to the ledge stupidly hard? Mitch joined us as we headed to the Gerdie Block, and then up to the No Picnic area and then back to Laurel. I think I managed 10 pitches (runing some laps on the Shit or Go Blind face and Laurel) on Saturday. We finished at 4, went into town and had dinner at Neko's. A totally and completely perfect Saturday. I felt great on the sharp end and I am looking forward to the upcoming climbing season.
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