keenwesh Posted June 17, 2012 Posted June 17, 2012 Trip: Yosemite - Half Dome and others Date: 6/13/2012 Trip Report: Spent a week and a half in yosemite with friends and did some great climbs. Mark Straub met us down there and we teamed up to climb some longer routes. The crew from Olympia loaded up the troop and headed out at 10 pm, I drove until weed, CA, keeping myself awake by taking pictures of the other guys drooling on themselves. the oly crew approximately 5 minutes from launch time here's luke zonked out in the back We made it into the valley in the evening and climbed some single pitch 5.7 chimney to the left of the start of the salathe, plans to bandit camp at the base of el cap were scrapped by the large number of rangers out and about and we headed back to a dirt turnout off evergreen road outside of the park for a fitful 5 hours of sleep. in gathering up our shit at 5 am to go back in for the camp 4 site luke managed to leave his little sisters sleeping pad. We christened ourselves "Team Retardo" and elected luke as the head of the varsity squad. Mark and I climbed the east buttress of el cap, super fun route, I got the P1 chimney and he crushed the P2 crux. cheesin' on the east butt The alcove swing was good fun too Mark and I had been planning on doing Half Dome all week, and we carefully laid out a plan that we'd hike up the death slabs on monday, try and make the top on tuesday or consumate our climbing partnership on big sandy, and finish the climb/descent on wednesday. Starting up the trail to mirror lake at 9 am we reached the base of the NW face by 11.30, mark looked at me and said, "I don't want to sit around here all day, lets just start climbing now". so it was decided, we slammed as much water as we could from the spring and mark took off leading the first block, up to pitch 6. Along the way he went from a honorary to a full member of team retardo when he fumbled his entire set of brand new offsets. I couldn't help but laugh and welcome him on board! We began communicating completely in either pirate or terrible german accents at this point for some reason. I took over the lead and made it to the P11 ledge maybe half an hour after dark. the last couple we got bogged down behind a korean team who were chainsmoking their way up. waiting for them to jug as the sun goes down the language barrier was quite large, but they were in good spirits and fun to huddle with 1000 feet off the deck Mark and I didn't get much sleep that night, having only brought a few extra clothes. I shoved my feet in my backpack and shivered to stay warm. A couple tins of sardines in mustard sauce made it bearable. early on tuesday morning mark led off the ledge into the chimneys. for claiming to suck at the wide he cruised his way up them. Jugging these pitches sucked, I have a weepy sore on my left elbow that is oozing through my flannel shirt right now, so awesome two pitches below big sandy alas, I was also to be immortalized in team retardo, when I managed to unclip the rope from a yellow/orange tcu offset on the pitch below big sandy without cleaning it. some people leave gear bailing off routes, we leave gear while climbing routes. just make sure you're the party after us and you could score half a rack! whatever. I really liked the quote in an article in the latest R&I talking about the priorities of the climb as #1 stay alive, #2 stay good friends, and #3 make the top. I led the last 5 pitches off big sandy, linking the first two zig zags. the lack of sleep and low food intake of the last 2 days began to take their toll on mark and he started to slow down jugging. I amused myself while I waited by taking stupid pictures of myself On the final bolt ladder pitch I had to skyhook a pinscar after the pendulum as we had dropped all the offsets and the single camhook. Standing on that creaky piece of steel was a lot more fun than it would of been with the proper gear, don't bring offsets! We cruised up the last pitch and topped out right as the sun set. We then proceeded to descend the 4th class slabs below the notch between sub dome and half dome for several hours in the dark, securing our place in the halls of fame of team retardo. if anyone wants some cell phone batteries, trekking poles, or sluggs of 4 year old gatorade at 11 pm due to desperate dehydration (that shit tastes like death) head this way (seriously the amount of dropped garbage from the notch is astounding). Otherwise keep going till you reach the base of sub dome and head left through the woods until the climbers trail is reached. A little longer then the advertised 20 minutes in the supertopo description but really easy. a great climb with a great partner, mark is a fantastic climber who isn't afraid to admit that he's tired. He tried to apologize for being slow after we made it down and I was happy to admit that while I'd been short with him on the last few pitches I still totally understood his fatigue and didn't blame him for taking a while to squirm his way up the "5.8" squeeze after thank god ledge. (it's burly and you don't want to haul a #6 up for 10 feet of climbing, here's a tip: left side in and use the small edges for your feet) on the last day in the valley I got up early to climb the Grack on the apron with my friends max and luke, ended up simuling through pitch two and three, nothing like telling someone that they absolutely can't fall 200 feet off the deck on their first multi pitch. that climb is like a 130 meter version of libra crack at index. so good and classic, a perfect route to cap off the trip. Gear Notes: doubles up to #2 BD, lots of small aliens, a single #3 and #4. A set or two of nuts. Skyhook is useful on the first zig zag, and slab pitch if you drop your camhook. Approach Notes: Death Slabs are fast and easy, fixed ropes are up. hand over handing the ropes on the way down with massive gobies adds to the experience. Quote
keenwesh Posted June 17, 2012 Author Posted June 17, 2012 (edited) thanks guys! such a good route, pretty much anyone can go repeat it in better style I think. I know I for sure pulled on gear for any move harder than 5.7. I have a great video of marks take of jugging that I promised him to not post. if he gives me the go ahead I'll put it up. think everyone has felt the same way that he he did at some point if they've ever fucked around with ascenders. Edited June 17, 2012 by keenwesh Quote
Pete_H Posted June 17, 2012 Posted June 17, 2012 Awesome. Looks like a great, productive trip. Nice work!! That NW Face has been on my list for a while. Despite your retardation you sure seem like nice kids. Enjoy your youth before you end up like an old lecherous cynical alpinist like many of us. Quote
burchey Posted June 17, 2012 Posted June 17, 2012 Nice work. Buddy just got off the Zodiac on El Cap - I'll leave the big wall stuff to you guys. Quote
TobiasT Posted June 17, 2012 Posted June 17, 2012 Solid work dudes. Bummer about the offsets, but a small price to pay for an awesome climb. Quote
bigeo Posted June 18, 2012 Posted June 18, 2012 glad you didn't buy those nomics; you would probably just drop them. sounds like a good trip, just stop taking this climbing thing so seriously Quote
billcoe Posted June 18, 2012 Posted June 18, 2012 Love the writing! Thanks for putting it down for us all! Quote
keenwesh Posted June 18, 2012 Author Posted June 18, 2012 glad you didn't buy those nomics; you would probably just drop them. sounds like a good trip, just stop taking this climbing thing so seriously I can hang on to my tools, dropping other peoples screws is what I'm awesome at. Quote
montypiton Posted June 19, 2012 Posted June 19, 2012 Keenan & Mark - glad to hear you kids are maintaining the proud standards of the CFCC! ("if I told you, you'd have to kill me") well done! -Haireball Quote
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