mountainmatt Posted April 27, 2009 Posted April 27, 2009 Trip: Yosemite - Various Date: 4/18/2009 Trip Report: I just returned from spending 7 days in the valley with my buddy Evan. We were treated to perfectly sunny days, mid 70 degree temperatures, and small crowds. Day 1: Link of ‘the Surprise’ (5p, 5.10a) to Selaginella (4p, 5.8). The first two pitches of the surprise were nothing special, but pitches 3 and 4 provided some fun finger cracks to the “surprise” slab exit. Salaginella was absolutely fantastic! Four really fun pitches that end about halfway up the upper falls trail. Day 2: Five open books including Munginella (3p, 5.6), Commitment (3p, 5.9), The Caverns (5p, 5.8). Munginella was a really fun and relaxed warm up for the day, definitely a classic. Commitment was also an excellent line that involved a difficult ‘committing’ move to exit the 5.9 roof section. The Caverns was the worst of the 4 routes we did on the Five open books cliff; the first pitch was wet, the third pitch was dirty and covered in biting ants (which were stirred up by a party ahead of us), followed by a wet and dirty fourth pitch, and a dirty loose “4th class” exit pitch. Day 3: Higher Cathedral Rock – Northeast Buttress of (12p, 5.9). This was a great route that worked me over. The opening pitches went without any trouble and we were at the base of pitch 6 by about noon. From here, the route is very exposed and the hard pitches are just beginning. The 5.9 finger crack was challenging but fun which led us to the base of the chimneys. Pitches 7 and 8 were full on chimneys that involved almost every trick on the book. I was exhausted by the time we hit the super exposed traverse on pitch 9. Pitch 10 was a nice long wandering series of features that led us to yet another offwidth / chimney pitch. We broke this last section into two pitches for rope drag and topped out just in time to watch the sun going down. A great route overall, but the chimneys definitely kicked my butt. Day 4: Much needed rest day. Showers, pizza, beer, and relaxing in El Cap meadows watching teams on Salathe and the Nose, as well as someone putting up a new free line near Reticent wall (Caldwell and Potter were both in town). Day 5: Lower Cathedral Spire – South by southwest (6p, 5.11a). Another awesome route! The approach is not pleasant as there really is no trail. Pitches 1-3 are relaxed 5.6 / 5.7. Pitch 4 provided a fun 5.9 section to a bouldery 5.10d with HUGE exposure. Pitch 5 provided a very hard 5.10 section of hand crack to a fun 5.11a lieback section. The remaining pitch wandered to the top and involved a nice tunnel exit (reminded me of the south face of Prussik a bit). There were fantastic views from the top in great weather. Day 6: Middle Cathedral Rock – Central Pillar of Frenzy (5p, 5.9). This is one of the best routes that I have ever done. Every pitch was excellent, the cracks took great pro, and there were fantastic views of the captain all day. There was still a lot of snow at the base which shortened the first pitch by about 40 feet. Day 7: Cragging at Church bowl. It started raining somewhere around 3 or 4 AM that morning, but we still wanted to try and get some climbing in. While the cracks were really wet, after French freeing the leads, we still got on some TR lines. The valley Leaning tower North dome, Royal arches, half dome Salliginella from the lower falls area Pitch 1 of Salliginella Pitch 3 of Salliginella Pitch 4 of Salliginella Half dome Approximate route of NEB Base of NEB Pitch 4 of NEB Pitch 5 of NEB Upper section of NEB Pitch 10 of NEB Upper and lower cathedral spires Matt on top of the lower cathedral spire El cap Central pillar of frenzy Gear Notes: Trad rack, rope, beer, and expensive valley pizza Quote
Rad Posted April 29, 2009 Posted April 29, 2009 Cool. Yep, the NEB is a pretty physical route. More so if you get off route up high as we did. Nice work. Quote
miker Posted May 3, 2009 Posted May 3, 2009 Nice! 43+ pitches of climbing on some of the best rock around. Quote
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