keinangst
Apr 30, 2004, 2:35 PM
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Registered: Apr 1, 2003
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We arrived at the trailhead parking lot a little after 10:30pm Friday, each of the 4 of us laden with 50-lb+ packs. Fueled by a potent combination of adrenalin and Cracker Barrel biscuits, we set off on the 3-mile hike up the private dirt road leading to the Yonah Mountain camp. The face of the wooded granite dome was still invisible to us on the moonless night, so we trudged up ever-steepening grades under only the limited guidance of a few blue LED bulbs. We got to the top and made camp close to midnight, with plans to hit the main face first thing in the morning.
After a hearty breakfast, we headed uphill with full gear, intent on a few warm-up pitches on the several easy Army Colored Routes (5.3-5.6). Since only Scott had been to Yonah before, and since none of the rest of us had ever climbed real slab before, we figured this would be a good place to start. I jumped on White (5.3) and Scott clipped in to Red (5.4) a few feet to my right. The starting points of these are all at the top of a short 4th class scramble that you'll find if you follow the trail marked "main face" and "x-wall."
Despite the fact that it hadn’t rained in over a week, both routes were at least half wet with persistent, wide streaks that made us a little apprehensive in some of our foot placements. Even so, we cruised right up the bolt ladders with little difficulty. We climbed past the army-strung cable to a small wall and set up natural or combination anchors for the belay.
After I brought up Brad, got him clipped in to the power point, we decided to go ahead and do the second, easy 30’ pitch. Scott did the same after bringing Justin up without any problems. This shot was taken right before I followed Brad up the second pitch. Note the spray-painted arrow for the directionally challenged:
http://www.rockclimbing.com/...n=Show&PhotoID=30928
It was our first multipitch experience, and it no doubt transcended the relative ease of the climbs themselves. The geography of Yonah is such that, after the long approach hike, you are already very exposed at the base of the wall. It only gets better the higher you go, and the rewards of a great view far outweigh the effort expended in getting there.
After what was probably an inordinate amount of time getting our 4-man, double-rope rappel rigged, untangled, finished…no, wait, untangled some more, and finished, we continued down the cliff line to the area of the classic slabs Dihedral (5.6) and the Army Numbered Routes (5.4-5.7). Brad and I opted to have a run at the former, while Scott and Justin continued down to Army #1. Almost all of the climbs in this area are pure trad slabs, occasionally mixed routes with a bolt or two in a cruxy area.
I ran up Dihedral without much trouble, despite never having led on slab with gear. At Brad’s urging, I continued past the first ledge (at 20’ up) onto the next slab, placing just about as much gear as the rock would take. I arrived at a couple of bolts, and added a tri-cam for a 3-point anchor. Brad followed and met me a few minutes later. We discussed whether to rap from there, but decided to continue up to the vertical headwall at the top, staring at us from a perch about 50’ higher than our current spot. There was an easy (5.1 or 5.2) crack to the right, but I opted for the more challenging face directly above.
So I set off on another lead, a bit sketchier than the first. As a relatively new trad leader, I always hate to run out a placement more than 10’, but had no choice a couple of times on that second pitch. On top of that, the second pitch seemed quite a bit harder than the first, even though the rating was still at 5.6. Climbing onto the slopey ledge at the headwall, I set a few bomber pieces in a deep crack and had a go at the final set of moves for the “optional 5.9+ finish.” Let me put it this way: Imaging doing your first V2 boulder problem on granite, no crash pad, and the landing slopes gently backwards off a 200’ slabby face. I gave it the old college try (a C-student at community college), but gave up and set up a belay.
Meanwhile, I heard the distinct sound of cowbell hexes off to my right, and figured that it might be Scott…but leading trad? It had to have been someone else, since Scott hadn’t yet led more than a 25’ 5.2 or 5.3 boulder in Birmingham for practice. Back to my belay duties. Brad agreed that the second pitch was indeed tougher than the first, and watching him second made me afraid of what I had just done. Nonetheless, it was exhilarating to earn such a nice view after all of that work. We traversed left and scrambled up onto the path.
After a short walk down to the Army Colored Route rap stations, we saw Scott and Justin coming our way. Scott was beaming, talking all about how they had just finished three trad pitches. They began about 100’ right of us, on Army #1 or #2. After that, they followed the pre-strung (and often manky) cables diagonally up the face to a big overhang, and then set up a third pitch to better negotiate the final section without creating excessive rope drag. Low-angle slab can cause the rope drag to get a little obnoxious, since you have to pull it not only though your own gear, but also across a face and any ledges or features along the way. On more than one occasion, we felt as though we were hauling 80-lb bags up, just to discover that we were only taking up slack.
After some deliberation, we thought it might be best to just keep climbing some of the easier multi-pitch stuff, if for no other reason than the experience and the great Appalachian exposure on that beautiful April afternoon. So we again got on two side-by-side routes, Army #7 and #8 (5.5 and 5.6, both named two-star routes in the Craggers’ Atlas).
On my way up, I met with both a family of spiders and a wasp nest, both of which I expertly avoided by skittering like a little girl a few feet in one direction. Scott and I let the long 150’ first pitches of these two and joined up again on a couple of belay ledges at an army cable (pics next page). Also en route, I had become a little sketched by the fact that one of my “bomber” nut placements had worked itself out by rope drag alone, leaving me a good 30’ over my last piece. In my head, that redundancy statement about “you’re only as good as the piece before your last one” came to mind. Faced with the prospect of a 60’ tumble and several weeks in the skin graft ward at the local White County Hospital, I quickly placed a tri-cam with some force.
Scott and I then set up the belay off the cables and corresponding bolt hangers. Here's Scott in the midst of blowing a snot rocket:
http://www.rockclimbing.com/...n=Show&PhotoID=30321
Then we both belayed Brad and Justin up the first pitch:
http://www.rockclimbing.com/...n=Show&PhotoID=30320
Brad and Justin had very little trouble joining us at the ledge. The views just kept getting better as the day went on. The second pitch was relatively short and easy, following in part the army cable that is strung diagonally across the face. It finishes up over a block section of headwall, on a section of rock where the whipping of wind against the rock face becomes a roar. Brad came up, staggered a little from Justin, who arrived a couple minutes behind him. At the top, we sorted our gear and just sat around—partly from exhaustion, and partly from exhilaration.
Long story short, we called it a day after a short side-trip to The Boulder to mess around and (coincidentally) catch an amazing sunset.
On the morning of day two, we decided to try a couple of recommendations from the local experts and regulars: A couple of short toprope climbs (boulder problems, really) called Orgasm (5.8) and Scully’s Grunt (5.10). Even after the tiring previous day, we all quickly flashed the easy one and started working the hard one. It was a nice a workout and we all got on the rock and gave it a go, working off each others’ previous beta. It finally went after numerous tries. Here's a topo:
http://www.rockclimbing.com/...n=Show&PhotoID=30318
We casually strolled down to The Boulder to maybe set up on something else. Except for a stout 5.10 lead-only handcrack through a roof, it was pretty weak (and so were we), so we decided to go break camp and get on the road.
The hike down, minus a couple gallons water each, was much more manageable. We immediately stopped at the West Family Restaurant for some outstanding fried chicken and an all-you-can eat buffet of everything Southern and good. First, we all took short “vagrant baths” in the men’s room to make ourselves a little more presentable during the after-church rush. Overall, West’s is highly recommended for an after-trip, homestyle meal. It made a very nice ending to a great trip.
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