From: Christopher A Kantarjiev Subject: The Wrong Trousers (?) - TR: climers in Yosemite Date: 2000/06/26 Message-ID: <3957F3D1.24DB8F5A@putzl.com> Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Accept-Language: en Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Complaints-To: usenet@dimebank.com X-Trace: bosphorus.dimebank.com 962065368 5868 209.233.228.106 (27 Jun 2000 00:22:48 GMT) Organization: The Dimebank Garage Mime-Version: 1.0 NNTP-Posting-Date: 27 Jun 2000 00:22:48 GMT Newsgroups: rec.climbing (Actually, I think I have finally found the right trousers for my climbing needs, but I felt some demented need to continue this trip report title trend...) Oh no! Another climer outing to Yosemite! Hide the women and children! The climer cult gets larger and larger. This past long weekend, a large, ever-changing group of climers descended into the Valley. I pretty much lost track of who climbed what, other than that there were two teams that climbed Royal Arches, with vastly different elapsed times. (I'll let them tell their own stories, but when YOSAR brought out the searchlight around 10:30pm to ask the 6 or so teams that were rapping if any wanted help, some of our folks were up there. No one asked for rescue, btw.) The putzl contingent chose cool weather over Valley climbs, and drove up to Stately Pleasure Dome in Tuolomne with Karlee Baba. We climbed South Crack, a great combination of finger crack and moderate slabs that really brought home how much we've progressed, especially mentally, since last October. Pat & I are both really comfortable at hanging belays now, and moderate slabby pitches that used to be freaky are now relatively straightforward. And what an awesome view! Descents, on the other hand, are still difficult. Neither of us is happy with unroped fourth class, as apparently most experienced climbers are; we rapped a couple of pitches off the top of the dome, then gingerly worked our way down the remaining slabs. Pat chose poorly on one pitch, preferring to slide down on her butt and getting no traction ... no harm, no foul, but apparently a "nice" adrenalin rush. Karl was supportive as always, escalating the difficulty just enough that we're stretching our skills and learning, but not getting frustrated. The afternoon thunderstorm loomed, so we called it quits. Pat & I drove over to 395 and stopped at the Mobil station for the highly recommended food with a view of Mono Lake (and a well-used Deux Cheveaux as an added treat!) We got to see some great lightning strikes and drove back in clouds and rain - a novel midsummer experience. Saturday we hiked - down from Glacier Point along the Panorama Trail and then the Mist Trail. All the way along we were trying to see if we could see Goodrich Pinnacle, where we climbed a couple of months ago, but I think we never got far enough around the Apron to really see it. Still being fairly new in the Valley, we're never really quite sure *what* we're looking at... the Mist Trail is a zoo, but the mist is a welcome relief from the 95 degree temps. Sunday was the big day - a return to Munginella, which we climbed with Karlee last October, but on our own, with me leading my first multi-pitch climb. It started off about as expected - we almost got lost finding the climb. We had been advised to "just go straight up from the bathrooms, slightly right" ... apparently we didn't go far enough right! We got up to the ledge, but too far left (across the stream bed). I knew what formations to look for, but at that point we were too close to the rock to see anything resembling open books. This approach stuff is hard! But Pat recognized "something" and got us going to the right. Some scrambling, a little downclimb, and we found the base. Another party was there and confirmed that we had, indeed, found Munginella. (Took us about an hour from the car, so it's 9:30 and starting to get hot.) The woman leading is also a first-time leader; she's being slow and methodical. We wait and chat. I try to understand where she's placed pro and why. It's a lovely day. I don't seem to be nervous now - though I was awfully nervous all night. Odd. Another party of three shows up - two experienced folks and another fresh leader (this will be her second lead). Some time passes, she reaches the tree, her partner starts up. I wait till he reaches the tree and start up. The climbing is easy (good!) and I find myself comfortable putting in a piece every three body lengths or so. First discovery is that I don't have enough slings and rope drag is my enemy. I find myself placing hexes rather than cams, which is weird - I seem to be saving the cams for when I really need them. (Just as well, since I placed two purple camalots anyway and might have placed another ... that I didn't have.) I've got some long quickdraws and make do. I have to hang out below the tree for a while - they've swung leads and she seems nervous about the belay, so I don't want to crowd her. Finally start to move and Pat calls "10 feet". Enough to make the tree, but not enough to loop the rope around it for a backup. Oh well. I'd saved a couple of slings for just this purpose. Make an anchor, clip in, tie off, remind myself how to make a Muenter hitch, belay her up. She curses some of my hex placements. Start the second pitch - it's a long time before I can get a piece in, which makes me nervous. Then I place a piece, realize the flake is loose, place the next larger cam at the base of the flake. OK. Start moving up and realize that it's not a flake, it's a rock, and it's completely worthless. Damn. Move up a little more, get a hex in. I'm probably too far right, but so it goes. Indeed, move left to get to the crack and realize that 1) I'm in for a big swing if I come off and 2) rope drag is not my friend. I just make it worse, of course, by clipping the fixed pin in the crack - even with a double-length sling it's too far. I come around the corner and see the previous party. "The belay's here, right?" "Yeah, you can do it there, or come up farther to this little ledge - there's a bomber crack for the anchor and you can sit. It make communication a little harder, though." So, bumblie that I am, I move up. Now I can't see Pat, the rope drag is worse, and it's getting quite hot... I get to a stance below the ledge. I tie off on a good nut, build an anchor. Then I realize that the power point is below the ledge, so I can't sit on the ledge and belay. Stupid stupid. Pull out that gear, move up. Bomber crack, yes, if you want to lieback - but I couldn't find any gear for the longest time. Pat calls up to make sure I'm OK. "Yeah, I'm trying to build an anchor..." Finally the light goes on and I find three decent to excellent nut placements far back in the crack. Cordellette, Muenter hitch, get my damn approach shoes, water bottle and #11 hex out of the way, and I can sit down and start belaying! Pat gets to the ledge, tie her off, place a fourth nut as a directional, and off I go. The last pitch is now very short, with just one cam about the midpoint. I belay Pat up, we rest, change shoes, coil the rope. Next leader comes up - she's combined the pitches and I start wondering if perhaps we should own a 60m rope. No idea what time it was. No matter! We start the descent, more or less unclear on where we're headed other than left and down. Of course, to go down, first you have to go up. But how far up? Well ... apparently not as far up as we went. We got onto vaguely familiar terrain, headed down. Found the dike that we had belayed down last October - of course, that time we'd been with Karlee, who had negotiated the dike on his own, and neither of us really remembered how. We found a rock to loop the rope around and rapped down. The rope got stuck. I got frustrated ... Pat defused it by offering to batman back up and figure it out. Hooray and thanks! She went up, we figured out that pulling the other strand would work better. Pulled all but enough for her to rap. She came down, we pulled the rope, coiled ... and the next party showed up, already on the ledge we were just reaching. They'd clearly found some secret passageway that we missed! Crossed the flowing stream and found ourselves back in familiar territory - basically at our turnaround point from the morning, where we'd realized we were too far left. Now it's gotten *really* hot, we've entered the mosquito zone, and we're both tired and nearing the end of our concentration. Stop to hose down with most of the remaining water, which helps a lot. At least we knew more or less where to go. We picked our way down a trail (almost certainly a different one - there's hardly just one "faint climber's trail through those woods!). Saw a 6 point buck all afuzz, lying down in stately manner about 50' above the Yosemite Falls trail, completely unconcerned by the folks oohing and ahing ... We made it! (We were back at the car around 2:30, for anyone who cares.) Thank goodness for mostly clean clothes in the trunk and cold water in the bathrooms... and celebratory margaritas.