bigwalling

Well seems to be raining out so thought I'd post some pictures and words about what I did in yosemite. I spent 2 months in the valley and managed to climb 4 El Cap routes and solo After Six about 6 times. The rest of the time was spent drinking and hanging out with friends in the valley or at Coiler's place in Chinese Camp. I arrived in the valley and the second I got there I dropped food off in a bear box in Curry Village and headed for the base of El Cap. I checked out Kaos and the Shortest Straw and decided I'd do the Shortest Straw as a warm up for bigger and better things. The next morning I woke up and carried my gear and some beer to the base to fix the first pitch. It rained the whole time I was climbing and it was good fun to stay so dry due to the steepness of the wall. The next day while hiking my last load I ran into someone who was planning on soloing Lunar Eclipse, but it was too wet to climb. So I told him he could come along with me as long as I got the odd leads. So we started the next morning and climbed the route in 4 days. It was good fun and hear are a few pictures. After the Straw I rested for a while and then got talked into a push on Zenyatta Mondatta. I walked into the Cafeiteria and the next thing I know we are starting up the route that afternoon. We ended up taking about 33 hours, which we all thought wasn't that bad for us. Two of us had never even done a push ascent and my buddy never short-fixed. I epiced on the tenth pitch due to a missing feature, which cost us about 2 hours till I made the call to send up a "cheater draw"(stiffened quickdraw with duct tape). We were all worked after the route! Saddly I didn't bring my camera, so I have no pictures from the climb. After more rest and laziness/massive drinking and eating I talked Zak and Aaron into another push. We decided to do the Tangerine Trip but started it with a variation. I led the first block and then jugged for the rest of the route. Zak had done the route 2 times before this and ended up taking the 3rd block which lasted for 9 pitches and led us to the top. He was super stoked on having led that many pitches in a row. The route took us 25 hours, which kinda sucked but we had fun so that was all that mattered. My final completed route of the trip was Plastic Surgery Disaster. I was way impressed with the route and had wanted to climb it ever since I heard of it. We spent a bunch of time on the route and raged the whole way up the wall. None of the pitches are easy and there are plenty of chances to get really hurt or die. The pirate cleaning pitch 1 on Plastic Surgery Disaster The pirate leading pitch 2 on Plastic Surgery Disaster The pirate leading pitch 5 on Plastic Surgery Disaster The Suicidal Failure on Plastic Surgery Disaster The pirate cleaning pitch 8 on Plastic Surgery Disaster The pirate leading the roof on Plastic Surgery Disaster The last pitch on Plastic Surgery Disaster That has been my summer so far, I'm going to the Bugaboos for the next 3-4 weeks for more climbing then after that maybe some Squamish stuff and back to Yosemite.

hit a nerve did i?

He could not free them that is for sure! But obviously the people who put the bolts in can't free the real climb either. They had to bolt it, to bring it down to their level. There is plenty of hard aid pitches that could be freed... but it would be insane without bolts. So should we go and bolt all those too?

Adding bolts... is just plain old stupid! I can tell you that it is by sheer luck that the bolts are still on Numbah Ten and Snow White this week. I had a buddy who was just up here and was going to chop them but they raged too much to get the job done.

The anchor bolts are lame under the boulder! They used to have hangers on them, but those hangers are on some other climb now. Someone should chop them! Iron Horse pretty tough??? WTF??? HAHAHAHAHA!!! Best aid route on Lower Wall that I've done is, Narrow Arrow Diagonal. I highly reccomend it!

If you add a bolt you are a lame fuck!

no, this is looking up right from the base I think, I remember that stance on the right side of the crack, layback right after it to easy climb and the ledge.

looks like toxic shock

Rythem Cliff stays in the shade.

I'm guessing they are quite bad!

Hmm, I'd say that is good but forget anything bigger than 3.5 friend. And ya only bring one of them. I would say stoppers to #8 and then some Hb brass offsets. Don't think you need any hooks. Maybe if you didn't free the face at the end of pitch 4?

HAHAHAHA... good luck! I will be leaving the next thursday... you know where to look for me!

Still leaving around this time. Anyone???

How sad everyone wants to stay home and work!

Boulder aiding... funnest at night with a few other guys. Get drunk as fuck and hook your way up the improbables! No crash pads allowed... Yes it can hurt when the hook pops!

you should be drinking OE800 for breakfast!

Where is Doug now? I'd be interested in asking him a few questions about some routes at Index. also my truck is fucked! 3k but I only pay 500 cause of insurance. Peas, what is up? I haven't talked to you in a long time!

come on fuckers... you know you want to go there.

2.5 weeks till i go... looking for a person to split gas with... let me know if you want to.

HAHAHAHAHA... I almost spit my coffe out with #4 jordop!

Hey, I'm looking for at least one person to drive with and split gas. I won't be coming back till September, so you might need to figure out a different way home. PM me or drop a note/post here. you can also email jzhector at yahoo dot com

no what you need is... BIGGER BALLS!

I don't think there are too many bolts on it. I went out there to do it 2 years ago but did Online instead. Charms looked to be more of a crack pro thing, where as Online is more of a sport climb.

when the old bolt was removed it cratered the hole a bit. The depth is not an issue at all.

i replaced the first bolt on it yesterday. They are now all 3/8s. I used the orginal hole but it sorta cratered, that said it should be totally bomber. A short scrub would be good, as it is sorta dirty. The bolts in the crux are all pretty close too.