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Trip: Yosemite Exposure - Various Date: 5/15/2013 Trip Report: I'm not one of those guys who can walk up to El Cap and send it onsight, first try, like this tenacious youngster. I just don't have that type of talent. Rock climbing in general does not come easy to me like it does with a lot of talented climbers who post (and don't post) on here. I'm terrible at on-sighting, whether multi-pitch, big wall or single pitch. Thus, I have to get things wired, sometimes relentlessly, or else it's not an enjoyable experience. Not the best style I know, but I have to work within my personal constraints. This year I made up my mind to return to Yosemite as much as possible to see if I could desensitize my fear of being up on El Cap. Kyle Flick and I bailed from Dolt Tower in 2007, again out of fear more than anything. I perceived Yosemite, and El Cap, to be too overwhelming and left it to a future date. It wasn't a total wash though, since we managed to climb the RNWF of Half Dome. I've made several trips down to Yosemite so far this year, playing on El Cap and The Nose. It's starting to feel better, though there is that intimidation still lingering. I've gotten to climb with cool people, like the German Jakob Braun: And my friend Dustin Moore from Oakland: I've run up to Dolt Tower three times since February, each time the route feeling a little less daunting. I'm hoping that a few more trips and I'll be ready to climb something on El Cap. Dean Olin, Spencer Wickler and I spent five days down there last week, hoping for The Nose but getting slapped down by two days of weather, crowds, the relative humidity wasn't exactly where we wanted it, my hemorrhoids were flaring up (John Sherman excuse), you name it. As a consolation, we climbed what probably most Nose bailers climb to assuage the sting: Central Pillar of Frenzy. Yes, splitter cracks like the Nose, but 27 pitches shorter. We were left with a lot of time on our hands, so at around noon on Sunday, 5/11 we made a spontaneous decision to climb Lost Arrow Tip. The climb is more up my alley, resembling more of a Cascadian adventure than a Yosemite one. Lots of hiking for a couple pitches of climbing, vs. 10 minutes of approach for 32 pitches. Yosemite Falls was swollen with the recent sweltering temps. The noise of the falls was present all day, even from our site at Camp 4. It was too loud to be considered white noise. The trail was bustling with tourists, and I managed to score a bite-sized muffin from one of them on the way up. So, Lost Arrow Tip. If you only had one opportunity to do one two-pitch route in your life, I would choose this one. This is a full-on technical, emotional and physical challenge. On paper it seems pathetic. 4 miles and 3,000' of hiking for what? 220' of climbing? And the climbing isn't even that memorable. But taken as a whole, climbing next to the constant roar of the falls, rapping down into the dark notch with a couple thousand feet of exposure to each side, the expectation and anxiety that you have to do a Tyrolean Traverse to get back out, all of this makes the LAT one of the best Yosemite experiences I've had thus far. Rapping into the notch to get to the start of the route: Two 60m ropes and passing the knott 2/3 of the way down get you to the start of the climbing. Use the remaining slack in the second rope as your lead line, which is plenty to crank out the two pitches. Dean jugging the first pitch off-width. Pitch one has several new ASCA bolts and a couple pins. Our rack was a single set of cams and a few stoppers. The off-width protects sufficiently with a #2, #3 and #4 camalot. There are nice crystals outside the crack to aid in upward movement, and it's mostly low angled, much like the o/w on Backbone Ridge. Salathe Ledge offered up expansive views of the Valley: Dean busted out pitch two, taking us to the top. You will NEVER forget the step out over tons of air off of Salathe Ledge at the start of pitch two!!! Dean traversed first back over to the other side and set up the other two ropes for Spencer and me to follow on our own Tyrolean. A few shots of the ordeal. Dean committed to the traverse: My turn, up there with the ravens. Dean Olin photo. And trying to add mid-Tyrolean perspective: Spencer's turn: The approach, climbing, logistics, and deproach pretty much wiped us out for the day Monday. We did our best on Serenity Crack, but could go no further into Sons. The highlight was a Peter Croft sighting. He remarked on the heat and questioned our sanity at starting the route at 1pm. So, that's the saga so far. More to come...

My cure for sun damage and skin cancer prevention is to just have Jake photoshop a tan on me. Uh, despite appearances, I do not own or use a GoPro while climbing. For the record...

Ahh! Much better Jake! I don't understand what you said but it made me chuckle anyway.

^^+1 That or a gripped leader as I frequently am.

good God! Who is that shirtless ghost? Get a little sun already.

Thanks Veronica and Drep! Jake did really well. There were even moments when it looked like he was rock climbing.

Trip: Snow Creek Wall - Tick-less ascent of Iconoclast Date: 5/4/2013 Trip Report: That's right, I think I found one tick on my arm the entire day. I didn't hear Jake Evans or Kyle Flick complaining of ticks either, so I think they had similar luck. Iconoclast is a lot of fun, and a lot of challenge. There isn't a "gimme" pitch on the whole thing, other than the 3rd class scramble from the ground to a small platform to start the Remorse travers to one tree ledge. The funky slab crack of Psychopath is a handful, and somewhat of a mental game. I think some people climb the crack straight up, while others (me) layback the crux part, move out left on a couple positive chicken heads for a few face moves, then perform a gripping barndoor back into the crack up higher. The next pitch looks worse than it actually is. It feels like 5.8 climbing around two roofs and over a completely detached block that will crush you if/when it ever decides to succumb to gravity. This was the location of natural rockfall three years ago. The yellow wall follows, with steep, slightly overhanging climbing that goes from thin locks to jug hauling, to smeary laybacks to finish it off. This is my favorite pitch of the route, and always challenges me. The final pitch of Iconoclast is a sustained 180' of varied climbing. Make a committing traverse way beyond and right of a lone bolt to another way committing move to a good crack for gear. From there, snag the arete and swing out over the shield. It's lower angled, but still feels exposed in the 90 or so feet of chickenhead yarding protected by one lone bolt. You get relief near library ledge in the form of a beautiful 5.8, locker hands corner to the anchor. The bonus of Iconoclast is one gets to finish on the final headwall crack of Outer Space. I've always used Iconoclast as an early spring climb to gauge my baseline for how well I've maintained fitness over the winter, given the challenging climbing and sometimes committing moves. Well worth a few more trips throughout the year! Flick kindly demonstrating the barndoor back into the crack on Psychopath The climbing certainly doesn't let up too much up higher Jake takes his turn Top of yellow wall The 5.8 corner of glory Of course sometimes, you have to wait your turn on Outer Space

Just what I need on that traversing around and hangin for dear life, some residue wd40. I'll put some on the key footholds just for you Gene!

That C4 will come out easily if someone takes a little can of Wd-40 up there. There's plenty of cam space left to extract it. As for other pieces, there's only a mangled 1st gen. .75 camalot fixed in the headwall crack these days. Not too bad for the traffic O/S gets.

You need to take more trips JasonG. Your photos raise the stock value of this website! Thanks for posting.

Nice list Tony. Although, I'm confused by this: I find the crux slab move on P2 over the bulge to be honest to goodness 5.10 and quite heady, as well as the terrain and moves getting to that crux move. The slab climbing after that bolt is top notch and also heads up. P1 of Mr. Tremendous is fun climbing too, and the entire route is a great seguey to Hello Kitty and the quality climbing on upper 8 Mile Buttress and Smorgasbord Crag.

You guys are on a roll! Thanks for the hard work. Not to stir up an old controversy but...How about placing a bolt where the fixed pin used to be on Dan's Dreadful Direct, and also replacing the old "Beckey Bolt" on the upper portion of that route? I get that this route was sport bolted then chopped. I'm not advocating the bolts be replaced, however, maybe a bolt can replace the pin that used to protect the crux of the route. From Dan Lepeska, first ascentist of DDD, excerpted from the above thread: Indeed, John's point of view, that the existing manky old fixed pin on Damnation Crack did contribute to some level of safety for the crux section of the route, is an accurate statement. It was an ackward clip, but it was also a critical piece of protection. Personally, I have no problem with the addition of a good bolt in a location that would be in about the same area as the original pin. One bolt is more than adequate. Additional bolts to make a sport climb of this route is not acceptable. In fact, his entire response, eloquent and gracious as it is, is well worth reading. I've top roped this climb numerous times, and would not know where the old pin used to be that he talks about. I'm an guessing it was probably within the first 15 to 20' of climbing. After that, there are plenty of opportunities for natural pro. So, I guess my suggestion would be to add two bolts: One "in about the same area" where the fixed pin used to be and replace the ancient bolt that is on the last 1/3 of the route.

Any TR from JasonG and I prepare myself for a wonderful photo onslaught! Thanks for posting!

Excellent! Thanks Kurt!

¡Excelente!

Nice report Sam. Your TR is borderline material for the Random Climbing Partner Stories thread Glad you were able to salvage some stellar skiing! Thanks for posting!

Nice knab Dan! Next time take your ice tools and beefy crampons and climb the NE Face first.

Why not climb it using the 3rd option, climbing to the top of the Hidden Couloir out onto the NW Face, then connect with the 3rd couloir? Sure, not the classic ice of the runnels, but at least you get to top out on D-tail.

The weather is shaping up. Here's my weekly plea for a climbing partner. Last weekend was fun climbing. Ideally, I'd love to get in a bunch of laps on the varied routes of Castle Rock. I'd be happy to be the ropegun! Prefer it in fact. I don't like cleaning gear. Send a PM or Email: touring29@gmail p.s., don't kid yourself. The snow will suck this weekend. Go climbing instead! John

God bless Washington.

And this is the proof! The first tick of the season, found yesterday evening on Upper Castle Rock.

haha, cause you know - there's nothing else good about nh! no granite to climb in summer, or anything like that... the baby stayed with his grandparents in connecticut this time. he'll stick to skiing for now Hmmm...maybe I'm thinking of Vermont.

The forecast looks decent. Warm enough to climb on some good routes on Upper Castle Rock. Send a PM my way if you want to get a good workout in this Sunday, or email: touring29@gmail John

Well at least New Hampshire has that going for it. Did you take the child up a few pitches in his Kelty Kid carrier? Nice photos and well done!

Good discussion here for those who are interested.