Friday, May 27, 2011

One Week in Yosemite Valley!


We've been in the valley for a week now. The weather is fantastic and the landscape is unbeatable. We have been very busy this week adjusting to the climbing here... This place is hard! or I'm just a wuss. So far Liesel and I have climbed Super Slide, Serenity Crack and Commitment into Selaginella as well as a few nice boulders. We also ran/hiked up to Nevada falls via the Mist trail one "rest" day and back down a portion of the John Muir trail.
Looking down Pitch 3 on Super Slide
Commitment and Selaginella are on the center of the buttress
Yosemite Falls

Here are some neat photos, mostly of Half Dome.





El Cap towering over Liesel.

Yesterday was the highlight of my trip so far in Yosemite. Siebe and I got up on the Captain and climbed the Nose up to Dolt Tower. Siebe was psyched to suss the moves out in hopes of one day freeing the route and I was happy to have a long day on jugs and aiders. I learned some new techniques and free climbed maybe a total of 200 feet all day, the approach shoes never came off:) Thanks to Siebe for being psyched to endure a long, COLD day.
Dolt Tower is just down and left of the much larger, more obvious El Cap Tower.

Looking down pitch 6? 7?
Siebe saved a Pop Tart for the top.
Bad Mofos.

Before we arrived in the valley Liesel and I stopped in Joe's Valley for 2 days of climbing, but the weather shut us down the second day. We ended up climbing in Triassic that day with David and Christine, two friends living in SLC. Triassic is much less popular than Joe's but we found it to be a nice area, densely packed with good boulder problems. I really enjoyed Desparete V7 and David did good work on Lemmonhead which is featured on the cover of the old, black Utah Bouldering book.


Monday, May 9, 2011

Pine River Pile 5.9X

Yesterday, Sunday May 8th Liesel and I went up to the Pine River near Vallecito reservoir for some kickazz clamping. Nuggernaut 5.8 was the goal for the day, instead we put up a new route on the cliffs just south of Tradistan tower.
If choss is your flavor of choice, this route might be perfect for you... For everyone else, skip it... It's dangerous and stressful. Here is a little trip report.
The climb is accessed from the Los Pinos trailhead, which is about 4 miles east of Vallecito Reservoir. Hike up the trail about a mile and then head up the hill on the left. The climb can kinda start here, the approach is about 800-1000 feet of 4th and low 5th class scrambling. Aim for the immaculate looking slabs on the left side of the buttress.
P1 - 5.7R Mostly body dragging through plants and choss for 40 meters, belay on the right.
P2 - 5.9R/X This pitch actually had about 10 meters of really good, protectable climbing. Face climbing to the second roof encounter of the climb, skirt the roof on the left side on VERY fragile holds... I knocked down a truckload of choss coming out of the roof before the good jams. This brings you to a giant ledge... belay here.
P3 - 5.4X Traverse the massive ledge about 45 meters with little to no protection. I found 2 marginal placements to protect Liesel on the traverse, luckily this pitch does not have much in the way of real difficult climbing. If you are bolder than I am you can continue up to the top of the buttress from this belay or from the point 45 meters to the left... I tried 3 times to go straight up with no protection and a LOT of choss tossing.

We rappelled from here in one sketchy 70+ meter rappel, if you only have 2 60s you will have to do two rappels, one long and then a short one from some trees. The following picture is looking up from the end of the rappel, which we rigged with a slung block near the highest tree in the center.
All in all we were both really psyched to be off the thing alive. The line could surely go higher, but not by us on that day.
Pine River Pile 5.9X F.A. Kevin Hadfield and Liesel Goshen
The view was pretty nice though:)

Ta Ta for Now Indian Creek...


The exodus from Indian Creek has begun. Liesel, Siebe and myself all left the creek earlier this past week after a month or so long stay. Liesel and I are in Durango for some rest and a much needed break from the relentless cracks.

Our time in the creek was productive, Liesel sent infinity +3 times the cracks she had "sent" ever! She also got a lot of experience on the sharp end of trad climbing. I had hoped to send harder lines in the creek this trip, after a year and a half break from splitters. All the bouldering and sport climbing did pay off but not as much as I'd hoped, my trip highlights were the three towers in a day with Liesel mentioned in a previous post. I also flashed some 11's and had a great time until injuries started piling up near the end. We're psyched for a return trip this fall!

We had some friends visit while we were in the creek. It was wonderful to have a short visit from Mike/Tom... Congratulations on your first crack experience senders! Sean Moon and his laday Abby made a quick visit:) We got to check out some cool classic cars as they drove by our campsite in Castle Valley. It is always great to see Mooner, I don't know what I'll do when they move to ALASKA!!! in August:(
Siebe Vanhee... Legend. Dude sent AIR SWEDIN on his third go! Mad respect... I can't wait to hear about the down time between the creek and Yosemite. Here he is catching some air over small pieces of gear!
Thanks so much to Siebe Vanhee, Ken Anderson, Brent Clements and Hannah for being such great neighbors in Creek Pasture.
Siebe and Ken simul-sending... Ken on 4X4(5.11) and Siebe on Hydaulic Pump(5.12+)
Yes! we are on our way to Yosemite on the 15th/16th gotta make that money! Stop by Gardenswartz Extravaganza at the La Plata County Fairgrounds if you wanna say hi and pick up some sweet deals... the sale starts May 13th and runs through Sunday.