Yosemite mit Clint
aus mowiki, der freien Wissensdatenbank
climbing weekend in Yosemite, March 9th-11th, 2007
The monday before I met Clint at the SAC Climbing DVD event. I asked him if he had any climbing trips planned for the near future and he said, yes, how about going to the Valley this weekend. So he picked me up at Friday 8pm and we started for the 4h drive to Yosemite. The plan was to bivy at some place near the Valley, just outside the park, where Clint knew a nice spot. We arrived there around midnight and we set up our bivy right besides some snow patches. However, it was not too chilly in the night. Mainly due to the fact that I had two sleeping bags. One Clint brought for me and one that I happened to find in our Office Trailer at Slac.
The next morning we got up not too early, like 10ish, and went to the Valley. We had breakfast on the benches at Church Bowl, which is pretty close to the Village - I didn't recognize that the last trip. We agreed to to some mellow multipitch crack climbing, to get me used to hand jamming and to get Cling back in shape. Soon after we started for our first climb.
- Bishop's Terrace, Church Bowl, 5.8*** (UIAA 5+/6-), 2 pitches, lead by Clint
This "classic test piece of 5.8 jamming" was quite a good start. I took no fall, nor did Clint (he shouldn't for the rest of the weekend), and my first handjams didn't feel too bad. Luckily Clint strongly recommended that I got my hands taped. At the top of Bishop's terrace I knew he was right and so I started to tease him by adressing him as "my master", which he returned by calling me his "apprentice". We shouldn't be watching too much Star Wars any more. The three stars of the rating indicate, that it's actually a bit harder than 5.8. I figured it may be 'harder' if one star, 'even harder' if two stars, and 'probably misrated' for three... After a short lunch we went for
- After Seven, Eagle Creek Area, 5.8 (UIAA 5+/6-), 5 pitches, lead by Clint
Again it worked pretty well for me, again no fall. When we made it to the top it soon was getting dark, and we finished the descent just in time. We needed our headlights to find the way back to the car. During all the time we've been climbing some really uninterested and not exactly shy deer was hanging out on the meadow. Now our headlights reflected in their eyes, which at least meant, that no bear was around. We went back to Church Bowl where we were supposed to meet up with Justin and Oskar (?) for dinner. Unfortunately both of them already had eaten by the time we arrived. So I got some delicious Beefaroni from Clint which we warmed up on a stove. When we were ready for the sac we drove to the base of El Cap, where Clint knew a secret spot to bivy. I soon fell asleep under a crystal clear sky with bright stars. In the morning the place was even nicer because El Cap looks even more impressive when the morning sun's directly on it. As we went back to the car we met some famous climbers, Beth and Tommy presumably, two of the few people who'd freed The Nose. After breakfast Clint and I went for Reed's Pinnacle via the
- Regular Route, Reed's Pinnacle Area, 5.9*** (UIAA 6+), 5 pitches, lead by Clint
The guide book tells "there are many first pitch variations", we chose the 5.9 handcrack. Here I fell a couple of times because I didn't figure how to jam my feet into the crack. I also had this "sewing machine problem" probably known to every climber, where my feet just didn't stop jittering. Doesn't feel too good when you're about to find some hold in a handcrack. The guide book also tells that there be an "adventuresome tunnel-through" which it indeed was. I had to exhale almost completely to make the last feet of the extremely thin part. I don't think I'm going for that one again very soon. Anyways, we made it to the summit. After a 60m rappel and a decent lunch we went for something at the base of El Cap,
- La Cosita Right, El Capitan, 5.9*** (UIAA 6+), 1 pitch, lead by Clint
I again struggled with the crack, but at least started feeling more and more, well, comfortable - if that's an adjective you actually wanna use for hand cracks. After descent we quickly got on the road again, grabbed some food at Mc Donald's. We've been home by 11pm Day Light Saving Time.
Thank you, Clint, for a great weekend!
