Finally the weather cleared and we headed out with our German friends Simon and Lawrence, to climb Washington Column.
I got to lead a pitch of 5.10 to skip a bit of a line that had formed at the second pitch. Definitely felt adventurous. I also did my first ever pitch of aid climbing in a pretty epic setting.
It was awesome to be climbing with Cole, who has quite a bit more big wall experience and the patience to teach the rest of us goobers.
The next day was cold, cloudy, and raining again. After a lazy morning we went out to practice aid climbing. Aid climbing involves carrying ladders made out of webbing to stand on and allows you to get up sections that would be almost impossible to free climb.
Our plan was to climb the south face of Washington Column as soon as the weather improved, which requires aiding.
The day after climbing Royal Arches was at a relaxed pace. We hung around Camp 4 and then Cole and I climbed the 2-pitch route Harry Daley (5.8), called “One of Yosemite's best 2 pitch climbs” by some dude.
The first pitch is pretty thin and the second is a handcrack. It was fun to climb on Glacier Point Apron.
The next day was my first day of cruddy weather in Yosemite. Every other day had been sunny, but that day it got about 40 degrees colder (saw snow at times) and was cloudy all day. These pictures are all from the cold day.
No climbing was attempted.
On the 3rd day in the Valley Floor I had met up with my friend Cole and we climbed Royal Arches with Cole’s friend Pete and Pete’s Dad. Royal Arches is 15 or so pitches of wandering easy climbing (5.7). We did a variation that took us up a pitch of 5.9 and easy 5.10. Probably the tallest route I had ever been on
The second day we set out to do Nutcracker, a 5-pitch 5.8 on the grandiosely named Manure Pile Buttress. We got to the base of the route and there were multiple parties climbing all over it. They were ‘mobbing’ it as one kid put it. We decided to get on After 6, a more mellow climb of the same length on the same formation.
After 6 was pretty chill to say the least, and despite an extremely relaxed start to the day, we were done with 3 or 4 hours of daylight left. We decided to get back to the bottom and climb Nutcracker too. It turned out to be an excellent route and we did it in the best light of the day with no jabronies mucking up the works.
Sunday night I was dropped off after we had hiked 15 or so miles and had no idea what I was doing. After a bit of an adventurous first night spent on the valley floor I acquired a place to camp in Camp 4. I had joined the line to acquire spots in Camp 4 around 5am that morning and ended up being the 3rd person in line.
Dan Carter was the 4th in line. He was looking for someone to climb with, and we ended up shrending for the next 2 days. Dan is the man.
These pictures are from the first day where we climbed at an area called Church Bowl.
2 days of hiking. We parked at the Porcupine Creek Trailhead on Tioga Pass Road and hiked to the summits of North Dome, Eagle Peak, and El Capitan.
A warm summer Sunday in Acadia National Park. Mount Desert Island, Maine.
A few more pictures of navigating the sandstone maze that is the Fiery Furnace.
In July Jeff, Andy, and I biked from West Glacier, Montana to Vancouver, British Columbia. The whole trip was about 900 miles and it took exactly 2 weeks.
Our first day we biked through Glacier National Park on the Going to the Sun Road, it was quite an epic start.
Update: This hike was 13 miles long and after all was said and done I think Mom may have been the least tired.
