Yosemite Life
Went bouldering outside. First time.
El Capitan
The first day of my life climbing on El Capitan. Perfect weather. Thrutched my way up the first two pitches of Zodiac by myself.
Featuring maneuvers such as cam hooking, a horizontal roof section, many many offset cam placements, and even a bit of free climbing!
Yosemite High Country
Life is good right now. I am not responsible for any of this beauty but I would love for you to come and enjoy it with me.
These were all taken during the last two days, mostly from Tioga Road. The land is emerging sooner than usual after a mild winter.
Lost Arrow Spire Tip
A day of adventure with 2 incredible human beings.
Many photos and general awesomeness courtesy of Ben and Lindsey.
They travel a lot and write about it here:
Missoula to Yosemite.
Highway 12 over Lolo Pass eventually meeting up with highway 395. 1150 miles.
Washington Column Day 2
You wake up in the morning hundreds of feet above the valley floor. Your day will consist of climbing. Your decision making energy is entirely directed towards climbing. For a brief period of time it is a simpler existence that reminds me of a main reason why I enjoy bike touring so much. Your objectives are clear.
Climbing Washington Column: Day 1
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.
More Cold Yosemite and Some Aid Climbing
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.
Cold Yosemite
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.
Yosemite- Royal Arches
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
Climbing in Yosemite – Day 2
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.
