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How much ativan used to make someone comotose

The Zion Traverse

May 172013

I’m not usually one for putting lots of quotes in my blogs, but I think the things I want to say have already been said, more elegantly, by others, so we’ll start there:

“Suffering is the sole origin of consciousness” said Dostoevsky. It seemed very noble when I read that from the comforts of my sofa, and I memorized it. But on the muddy trail all the suffering and hurting sometimes seems not worth it. I’m not in it for the pain. In fact, I don’t like pain and I want it to stop. But I do believe that through encountering pain, you can learn and really expand yourself. So I am willing to confront it, even if, in the moment, I really question why I am putting myself through the pain.

-Ben Horne

Why do thousands of people return year after year to some of the hardest footraces on the planet? The reason is simple: because people like to challenge themselves. We have chosen to do so through the venue of mountain running, and that venue has provided incredible rewards to its practitioners for as long as people have been doing it. Long-distance running makes us happy, so we want to do it as much as possible. Simple as that. We can be confident that we’re doing the right thing because we love what we’re doing. I don’t believe any other reason to be so powerful.

-Dakota Jones

5am, East Rim Trailhead

It’s not like my first ultra experiences didn’t involve suffering… I was totally under-prepared for Tahoe, my feet were riddled with blisters after the High Sierra Camps, and Evolution was… epic to say the least. But by TNF San Francisco last December, I had begun to get the 50k distance dialed and I was able to do the Skyline-to-the-Sea trail (about 25 miles) casually a couple weeks ago. In fact, the first 50k or so of the Zion Traverse was really not that bad.

The rest of the Zoom Loco crew hadn’t showed up at the East Rim Trailhead yet by 5am, but we were worried about trying to finish not in the dark, so we started at 5:01. Julie and I made great time on the first 12 miles on the East Rim Trail, avoiding taking any wrong turns and turning our headlamps off as we were cresting the top of the first climb. The descent to Weeping Rock via Echo Canyon was fun, steep, and technical. I’m definitely impressed by those who do the traverse the other direction (West to East) and have to go up this late in their day. The road between Weeping Rock and the Grotto sped by and we met up with Luke to refill water and set off up the West Rim Trail.

The crazy switchbacks up to the Angel’s Landing junction went by super fast and we were soon in new territory (we had all hiked Angel’s Landing on a previous trips). After Wilson’s Wiggles you get a brief respite of flat and downhill before beginning the second half of the climb to the true West Rim. We passed some backpackers (including a pretty young kid, maybe 8-10 years old?) going the other direction looking remarkably peppy and relaxed. This is the point at which you start to wonder who has the better idea – we get to carry less stuff, but they can stop and rest however much they want.

Coming down into Zion Canyon just after sunrise.

We stopped to refill water at the West Rim Spring and it was good we did because we never saw the Potato Hollow Spring and apparently the Sawmill Spring was dry. Luke handled the SteriPen while Julie and I just sat and ate food. He was an awesome pacer on the 15-mile section he ran with us – taking videos, keeping up the conversation, and generally not annoying us too much. I ran out of water (but still had some Roctane) a mile or so before our “aid station” at the West Rim Trailhead, so I was definitely psyched that we’d stashed a ton of water, food, and other resupply items there on Friday. It sounded like this aid station saved a lot of other people too, including our New York trail acquaintances, who hadn’t filled water at the West Rim Spring.

At this point we had 27-28 miles under our belts and two main sections left: 9 miles on the Wildcat Canyon and Connector Trails to the Hop Valley Trailhead, then 13 miles on the Hop Valley and La Verkin Creek Trails to the finish at Lee Pass. Those sounded pretty manageable to us at the time, but we were definitely dragging by the last mile to the Hop Valley Trailhead (and bathroom!). That section of trail seemed to stay largely within a basalt layer, resulting in trail littered with sharp, pokey volcanic rocks. Normally, this is not a big deal, but once your legs have started to get tired, it gets much harder to hop over or around all these obstacles. Well I showed them (I walked around all of the stupid, stupid rocks).

Tiny Julie and Lizzy hiking up part of the West Rim Trail

I had not been expecting to see Luke again, but everyone had made it through the aid station and he had just moved the water stash to the Hop Valley Trailhead when we got there. The bathroom and the bottle of Coke Luke gave me were awesome. As were the hugs when I cried a little about how tired I was. But Julie and I had some sort of conversation here that went something like: “Well, we’re not technically injured and we’re not literally dead, so we don’t really have a good reason to stop here. I guess we should go ahead and finish.” I may also have reminded myself of one of my mantras, which is that “anyone can do a half marathon.”

That last section may have been “just a half marathon” and included a lot of flat and downhill, but it was not easy. Most of the Hop Valley Trail was either deep sand or mud or a creek crossing. Running on sand is one of my weaknesses and I was not able to muster much speed once we got down into the flat valley and didn’t have gravity helping us out as much. Near the La Verkin Trail junction, I made a pit stop in the bushes and ran into a snake in the first spot I tried. I didn’t stick around long enough to see what kind of snake it was, but it reminded me of the rattlesnakes I’ve seen in California. Disaster (narrowly) averted.

Our awesome pacer and paparazzi crew on the middle 15 miles.

We finally reached the La Verkin trail and followed it up and down some more technical sections (poor little legs were not happy about this). We came to a sign that said 6.5 miles to Lee Pass and I groaned aloud “it’s so far”. These last 6.5 miles were not going to go by as easily as the first 6.5 in the morning. On fresher legs, this section of trail would be totally cruiser. There were 2ish more miles of gently downhill and flat along La Verkin Creek before the final climb, and even the final climb was not that steep (until the last mile…). At this point my body had gone into safe mode (like when your computer doesn’t start up right) and only had a few basic functionalities:

Move forward. Sometimes running, mostly walking. Part of your brain begs you to stop, but if you do you receive an error message and you start moving again.
Drink water (difficult).
Eat gel or apple sauce (more difficult).
Calculate how much longer it will take to go the x miles remaining. This becomes increasingly alarming when a distance I normally cover in about an hour (6 miles) on our local Rancho trails could feasibly take up to three hours. THREE HOURS! I can easily run twice this distance in less time than that! I need to learn how to turn this functionality off. It is not useful.
Play the “avoid looking at my watch for as long as possible” game so that more distance will have gone by in between glances.

Advanced functions like taking pictures or carrying on a conversation were not feasible. We degraded further the closer we got to the finish. Julie’s asthma acted up and she started sounding like when we were on the final climb to Bishop Pass on the Evolution Loop (~12,000 ft). A hotspot on my heal had become a blister and popped with about 2 miles to go, which exponentially increased the pain it caused (which I never understand, shouldn’t it help to release the pressure?). My mental math had been off and it was 0.75 miles farther to the parking lot than I had thought. To add insult to injury, you can see the parking lot from at least a mile away. Then you go up a steep hill you think MUST lead to the parking lot, but is in fact a false summit and you still have another steep hill (which I’m sure is tiny on fresh legs) to go. We were not happy. I cried. I told Luke I wanted to die. I sat down in the car and took my shoes off and propped my throbbing feet up on the dashboard. I did not want beer, I did not want pizza. I did not have space at the moment to celebrate my achievement, I was totally wrecked.

Awesome vistas from the West Rim.

However, as soon as the pain in my feet faded, it created room to appreciate all the successes, large and small, of this incredible day. Here are just a few:

We finished in 15 hours and 17 minutes. This is, in fact, almost TWO HOURS shorter than it took us to do the Evolution Loop, which was 14 less miles. This is an unqualified success. Our time works out to an average pace of 18:39/mile, including stoppage time and Garmin calculates our average moving pace was closer to 14:21/mile. We also finished in less than 16 hours, the time cutoff for Squamish 50. This is huge for me!
We finished in the light, without having to put our headlamps back on. We also made it back to Springdale in time to get burritos (even if we didn’t eat much of them that night).
I had fewer blisters than at the High Sierra Camps. I think if I had worn my trail gaiters, I might not have gotten any. I had a ton of sand in my shoes and socks that I think was probably directly related to the blistering.
My knees didn’t hurt! I’ve had huge issues with IT band and Runner’s Knee recently and to complete something like this and my major complaint at the end was that my feet ached is pretty huge.

I also learned a few more key things, which are that maybe I should try Hokas (could reduce foot pain for the latter part of Squamish 50) and that I should just not carry my camera in my front backpack pocket after the first 20 miles because I won’t use it anyways. That way I can have food up there instead.

The whole day was huge learning experience for me, but also an affirmation of my abilities. And as the moments of suffering fade into the past (even if it’s just a few days past), I realized that the suffering didn’t take away from the experience, but added to it. If we didn’t have to suffer to get to the end of our first 50 mile, would we feel like we had earned it? Would we have realized how much we are truly capable of, if we can do a tough, adventurous mountain 50 with non-ideal training?

It’s funny, because right after we finished, Julie and I both said that we would never, ever do a 100 or UTMB. They were just too hard and too far and too much suffering. But once I found some emotional distance, I realized that what I went through in Zion gives me more confidence that I could run 100 miles and even the UTMB. Some day. With much more training. Doing the Zion Traverse was a magnified version of my experience so far with the 50k distance. Yes, each step requires more time and experience to master, but I have not met my limit yet. I am not even close.

Zoom Loco Zion Traverse from Lizzy Stefurak on Vimeo.

Now that’s love. (Julie Jakoboski photo)

Klonopin interact with 5-htp

Route Beta: Free Climbing Scarface on Liberty Cap

Notes, Trip Reports No Responses »

May 152013

I couldn’t really believe it. On only the second trip of the season I had climbed half of the route clean. Sure I hadn’t lead all of those pitches yet, but I knew that I could. Getting over the mental barrier is the most important part of doing a First Ascent or First Free Ascent.

After the first day on this project I almost gave up. The 5th pitch was going to be too hard, too leaning, and not fun. I’m usually not one to give up so I simply delayed hiking up to the route the following day and enjoyed good company and bacon for breakfast. I got up to Liberty Cap by noon and mini-traxioned up the first three pitches. I’ve found that roped self-belay is a great way to work on routes and allows you climb partner-free. I managed to send each of the first three pitches, cleaning out dirt and moss as I went up. My “dirty direct” variation would be climbable, but I wondered if it would ever really be clean. At least the route was less dirty the higher you went and soon I was on Scarface proper.

Looking up at the first pitch.

I kept going up my fixed lines through the “crumbling empire” which had the worst rock on the route. Cool moves still existed and the vertical climbing was a nice relief after the endless laybacking on the bottom of the route. I made it to the pitch four belay, having climbed without falls and looked upon the leaning tips crack. I wasn’t even sure how to get established in the crack, but made progress by standing on the piton I had hammered in the previous day.

I saw a line of crimps on the face and figured the the climbing should be possible. A bolt would be needed so I pulled through and worked on the tips crack. A crazy idea had dawned on me the night before and I was excited to try out some magic beta. I laybacked up the offset crack for a few moves and then slotted a thin finger lock. From here I was able to mantel the offset crack and start laybacking it, walking on the two inch rail. This took me 20 feet higher and set me up for the crux off finger section. I was shocked that I was doing so well, having fallen only a few times so far on a pitch I knew to be 5.12. When the corner switched back around, I struggled with the nearly footless moves. The edge of the crack was sharp, which helped with the pseudo campusing and lead me to an awkward rest at a wide pod. I hung many more times in this upper section, desperately trying to work out where to put my feet. After I reached the anchor, I knew the pitch would go! I had found the perfect project and I had to keep trying.

The crux finger crack full of bushes.

Depending on how many consecutive weekends I could spend in the valley I would leave and strip my fixed lines, trying to keep my impact as low as possible. February and March are great months to spend in Yosemite and it was nice to enjoy the solitude.

After my first foray I came back with Steve, Jonathan and Casey on different weekends to push the high point further. I kept going ground up, but used fixed ropes to help mitigate the fact that I only had weekends to work with. By the end of March I had red-pointed the second through the seven pitches and had aided up the eighth pitch, which would be another 5.12 pitch. It was an incredible feeling to lead the crux tips crack on my first lead attempt. Lots of try hard effort went into the send and I almost fell off at the very end, pumped to the max.

The second half of March was booked but it was very exciting to have so much of the route figured out. I took time off, to go climb in Utah, and planned on finishing the route up in April when I returned.

Adding a bolt on P10 of Scarface.

Some final prep work still needed to be done to protect a few sections where pitons had be used for pro. I was in constant contact with Josh, on of the FAists, about any changes I wanted to make to the route. I wanted it to go free, but didn’t want to drastically alter the route. Even though it had been over 7 year since the first ascent, the route had not been repeated. I got everything in order the best I could and planned for a final weekend of work. The following weekend I would put in the last bolts and then go for the first free ascent. Look for a trip report soon!

Route Overview:

For the most part the climbing on Scarface is straightforward and strenuous. After a slab and cerebral opening pitch you have to climb about 70 meters of right facing dihedral. The crack is all sorts of sizes and angles and you are occasionally just laybacking a rounded edge.

Topo for the lower pitches of Scarface

The crux 5th pitch is a laser cut leaning finger crack that goes through all sizes from tips to rattly fingers and then back down. I replaced a 1/4″ rivet on the bottom of the pitch with a new 3/8″ bolt, and added on bolt up and to the left of the crack, due to hollow rock on the right. This also should not change the aid route at all. The rightwards lean requires a good amount of power and trickery to capitalize on the infrequent rests. There is a nice 5.10 offwidth on the sixth pitch with better rock on the second half of the pitch. One new bolt was added on this pitch, early on, to protect moves getting past a few loose blocks. The aid line follows a parallel crack in this section, so this bolt doesn’t change the original route.

On the seventh pitch I bolted a new variation to the left of the original bolt latter. 5.10 slab climbing past four new bolts leads back to the original bolt later and the rest of the pitch. I removed the last “bolt” from original ladder, a 1/4″ rivet, and put in a new bomber 3/8″ bolt. The first three bolts, on the free climbing variation, are closely spaced but there is mandatory 5.10 climbing to reach the forth bolt and to regain the final bolt on aid line. Aid climbers can stick with the original rivet ladder, or climb the new variation at 5.10 C0 or 5.8 C2 with some hooking between bolts.

The eight pitch is 5.12 with killer fingers and off fingers laybacking for about 75 feet before a boulder problem when the crack pinches out. Originally you would have placed peckers & tomahawks in the corner but I added two bolts to protect the free climbing. This was approved by the first ascentionists and allows the whole route to go clean on aid which is a plus! This section still might be one of the aid cruxes since you will need to do some hooking or trickery to get from the second bolt back to bomber gear in the corner.

The next pitch, the ninth, is pretty low angle and there are very few holds, which makes it challenging. One bolt was added on this pitch, above a fixed rurp. The climbing is very technical with fun stemming and slab climbing. Aiding this pitch requires lots of thin cams, nuts and maybe some cam hooks. The following pitch, the 10th, has the final bolt of the route which was added where the first ascentionist used more beaks for pro. The climbing is mellow but cams and nuts would not protect this section. The final two pitches are lower angle and follow discontinuous cracks to the summit. I followed a slightly different line than the first ascentionists in the last three pitches, but there is much overlap.

Upper Pitches Topo

Pitch by Pitch Beta:

Pitch 1 – 5.11a – 90 feet – 2 bolts

Full rack to #3 camalot

From the ground climb up a series of dirty ledges until you can get established on a good foot rail. Step left to a right leaning crack, get in some gear, and stem up until the crack starts to pinch out. Make a move left with your hands on a dike feature to get to the base of a thin crack. Layback up the thin crack, passing a bolt to get established in the slabby corner. Continue laybacking past occasional pods for gear. A few hard moves getting to, and working past another bolt lead to an exciting stemming sequence and an belay at a tree on the left.

This pitch is often dirty and can be wet in the early spring. Having a nut tool to clean out the crack is a plus. The stances are pretty good, so you could still climb this even if it is a little dirty.

Pitch 2 – 5.10c/d – 175 feet

Full rack

From the belay work up the varied corner to a wide section of crack. Layback up until progress becomes very difficult, a finger sized piece goes in here. Techy moves will allow you to move right to a finger lock or wide edge that seem just out of reach. Once established on this edge you will need to go another body length before getting any more gear. It is possible to sling a big horn on the left in the middle of this runout. Good holds on the left wall, and some more laybacking, allow passage through this run-out. Keep on laybacking past a slopey section and mantel up onto a dirty ledge. There is a pink rope here for rappelling, but you should keep climbing. Fight through the tree to the best corner so far.

This rock on this second corner has good friction and you get nice finger sized slots at the start. The corner crack has some interesting geometry, which makes placing gear harder, and it helps to have many finger sized pieces. The corner gets steeper as you go higher until a short chimney section that can be avoided by stepping right. A few face moves lead to another hand sized crack. Jam and layback with feet on the right passing some sweet knobs. In a continuing trend, the layback turns slopey and harder moves lead to a good stance right below a tree.

Belay at the tree with a green rappel sling.

Pitch 3 – 5.10d – 85 feet

Full rack minus all the green alien and smaller pieces

This is the cleanest of the first three pitches. Start off with a few tricky layback moves or stem up using the large dead tree as a foot hold. Crisp finger locks lead you out right to yet another section of slopey layback (hopefully you’ve got it dialed by now). Punch it until the edge of the crack gets better and figure out how to get your self standing on the chalkstone. A couple more tricky moves, with some stemming get you to a grove of trees. Sling something for pro and keep going. Do some easy (5.7/5.8) but unprotected face climbing on the wall to the right of the trees to get established on a big sunny ledge. Belay at two bolts.

Pitch 4 – 5.10b R – 110 feet

Full rack with including a small cam for the start.

The climbing is never particularly run out, but there are occasional places where there is loose rock and one spot with bad fall potential, thus the R rating. The climbing on the “R” section is not much harder than 5.8/5.9, just be careful with rock quality.

Start just to the right of the bolted belay with thin gear and a few mantels. Some tricky stemming gets you established on a wide ledge. Go right and up through some chossy rock to get established in a awesome left leaning hand crack. When the crack ends avoid the ledge covered in loose rock by stepping to the right. Some thin gear protects tricky moves to get into another hand crack. Fun crack and face moves get you up an over a series of ledges to a two bolt belay on a nice 3′ x 5′ ledge.

Pitch 5 – 5.12 – 110 feet – 3 bolts

My rack: 2 Red C3, 2 Green Alien, 3 Yellow Alien, 2 Grey Alien, 1 Red Alien, 2 #.5 camalot, Single Green C3, #1. camalot More thin gear if aiding (000 and 00 C3 useful).

The first of many stellar pitches. From the belay you can either face climb straight up past two bolts or use the ide crack out left. In both cases be careful to avoid the precarious stacked blocks above the wide crack. Traverse across the grainy rail until you reach a no-hands stance. Thin fingers gear (green alien/Red C3) goes in the crack to your left to protect the next hard section. Face climb/layback up an semi-expando flake, 5.11, up until you get established at a good stance on a small ledge to the left of the flake. Clip a bolt and check out the tricky traverse to the leaning tips and finger crack.

Bust out a short crimpy boulder problem, 5.11+, and make a few hard moves up the crack to get established on a huge foot rail. Recovery is key since the next ten feet are tips! Red C3/Blue Metolius seem to fit best since green aliens are too big. The crack is quite off-set so heel hooks and tricky foot work are possible. Once you pass the small bush, the crack changes corners again and gets steeper. It quickly goes to rattly fingers (.5 camalots) and the feet disappear. Luckily the crack is pretty sharp and you can get opposition with your thumb. Fight you way up the leaning crack until a hand jam pod, where you can catch a rest.

The crack thins back down to fingers, but by now you should be quite pumped and wishing a good foot would magically appear. After a few moves your prayer is answered in the way of a thin hand jam and the notion that you have almost done it. Grr your way up a few more fingerlocks and until you can reach a hand crack that takes you the rest of the way to the anchor. Belay at two bolts on a small ledge.

Pitch 6 – 5.10c/d – 165 feet – 1 bolt.

Full Rack with two each #3, #4 camalots (Very confident leaders can get away with a single #3 and #4)

Start off with enjoyable thin hands off the belay until you must switch to the left crack. The higher you go in the right crack, the longer of a reach you must make. A few steep moves lead to another thin hands to hands crack in grainy rock. Climb up until you are below some scary stacked blocks and clip a bolt on the left. Carefully mantel over the blocks, which seem pretty solid, and you will be greeted with a splitter wide crack. Fist jam up clean granite making sure to bump along your #4 camalot. Eventually you can get your right foot in the leaning crack and the difficulty eases and I leave the #4 behind. Continue up the wide crack, past a short slab. Another #4 camalot can go in here or you can run it out until you can place a finger sized piece in a thin crack on the left. Dual cracks lead up with plentiful gear options until you pass another wide section of crack. Laybacking seems to be the best option here and eventually the crack thins to nothing. Make a hero reach from the last finger lock to a perfect jug. A few easy moves leads to a two bolt anchor on a reasonable ledge.

Pitch 7 – 5.10d – 90 feet – 6 bolts

Bring the nuts, Purple and Green C3, and doubles of Green Alien to #1. Single #2,#3,#4 camalots.

Start climbing up the wide crack until you can see a line of three bolts with black hangers. The original line continues further up the wide crack before cutting left on a ladder with mix of rivets and 1/4 inch bolts. The free line joins the aid ladder at the last bolt (which was upgraded to 3/8″).

Climb a series of small ledges angling up and to the left past the three bolts. A combination of mantels and trickery will get you to the highest foot rail. Make a long reach to clip a bolt (the 4th) and get established on the slab. The holds get progressively better and you work back to the right to another bolt (which is the end of the aid ladder). From here follow the bottom of a flake to the left via underclings. Gear in a crack to the right can protect a hard reach to thin seams/crimps on the face. The flake you are climbing gets steeper and eventually a series of good fingerlocks leads to a two bolt belay at an ok stance.

Pitch 8 – 5.12 – 90 feet – 2 bolts

Triples of fingers sized gear are essential for this pitch. Make sure to bring a single #.75, #2 and #3 camalot.

Steep fingerlocks off the belay lead to a tricky bulge and a good stance. Continue layabacking up the stellar corner passing an occasional wider section. Make sure to milk the rests before the crack runs out and there is a bolt. Make a hard move to good hold on the face, or do some ninza stemming. Clip a second bolt, move the good hold and reach to the left for some more face holds. Once you get your feet situated you can reach left to a flake system which will take you back into the main corner. When the corner crack pinches out make use of the thin finger crack on the left and execute a final tricky sequence. Move carefully past a loose tooth and traverse right to a nice sloping ledge with two bolts.

Lizzy mini-traxions the balancey 9th pitch

Pitch 9 – 5.11a – 70 feet – 1 bolt

Bring the nuts and all the small cams. Nothing bigger than a .75 camalot is needed.

From the belay work up the thin corner until you can clip a bolt on the left wall. Balance/slab climb with difficulty, until you can make use of a thin crack on the left wall. Follow this as it becomes a finger crack and then pinches out. A few tricky moves are requires until the crack becomes usable again. Keep stemming up the golden rock until you can move left to ledgy terrain. Belay on a sloping ledge with two bolts.

Pitch 10 – 5.10a/b – 120 feet – 1 bolt

Full Rack

From the belay climb the dirty wide hands crack until you get to a lose block. Step left and climb up to the obvious left leaning roof. Climb this, extending all your pieces, and pull around past a small stump. Layback and jam up an easy crack until you can reach a dirty ledge. Reach high for a small flake and make a committing move on to the face. Follow the seam to an obvious wide pod, which takes a #3 camalot. Continue up the seam at 5.10, nuts useful, until you reach a ledge covered in manzanita. Continue straight up various low angle cracks and aim for a shiny bolt. Climb on the right side of the bolt via fun easy stemming up to a good rail. A few more easy moves lead to a ledge.

Belay to the right of a tree with red bark on a ledge with hand sized gear in a flake. This is about 20′ above the bolt and below a chimney like feature.

Pitch 11 – 5.10a/b – 100 feet

Full Rack

Climb up past a few loose rocks until you can step left towards a “chimney”. From the ledge, next to the short chimney, you can see a thin flake on the right . Follow this, which becomes a fun hand crack until the flake pinches out. Step left to an obvious crack in a corner. Climb this crack until it too runs out past a tricky section of laybacking. Face climb up, past occasional cracks towards a clump of manzanita bushes. Climb past these on the right side, on a series of rails and edges until you can reach a large tree on the right. This pitch is pretty wandering so make sure to extend your gear!

Belay at the tree.

Pitch 12 – 5.10a – 200+ feet

Full Rack

From the belay trend left along a nice low angle crack system. After about 40 feet the crack pitches out and you will need to step left to a hidden flake, follow this up passing a short roof and head towards some small trees. Follow the past of least resistance as you head towards the summit. It seems best to follow the left leaning gulley/crack system towards a fairly large trees. This pitch is low angle and has some moss. Tread carefully.

Belay at a nice tree, that may or may not have tons of ants…

There is still about 200-300 feet of easy scrambling to the summit. Its best to un-rope at the big tree and work your way up the manzanita and slabs.

Scarface – Full Photo Topo

Semenax amazon

Two Weeks at Indian Creek

Trip Reports 4 Responses »

May 062013

Over the last five years Lizzy and I have gone on a number of very productive trips to Indian Creek. There are still new cliffs that we have yet to visit, but we have picked off most of the low-hanging fruit. With this analogy I mean that we have gone around and done the fun sizes and the easier sizes and are now starting to graduate to the less secure and harder climbs. This makes things more interesting when choosing where to go on any given day.

At Indian Creek you run into a whole lot of different types of routes, but the dichotomy for me splits the routes into difficulty based on endurance/pump versus a hard-to-jam size. On this trip I spent a good amount of time working on finger stacking, a weakness of mine. I get perfect finger stacks in a .75 camalot crack, with difficulty increasing as the crack shrinks to .5 camalots. The other thing that I learned on this trip was that I have no clue how to use my feet when the crack is smaller that a .75 (green) camalot.

I was lucky enough to get spend two weeks out in Indian Creek so far this year. The first week was with the UC Berkeley crew of Jonathan, Casey, Jessica, Alix, and Ben. The latter four drove out separately and I picked Jonathan up in Vegas before driving through the night to “the creek”. Perhaps it was Love Muffin breakfast burritos or the psyche to be back at the creek, but we started the trip with a bang.

The first three days (Saturday, Sunday, Monday) held the coldest temps of the trip. It was a big change, on the second half of the trip, when we had to seek shade in the 70+ degree weather. It was great time to be in the desert since there was another crew from Planet Granite along with a smattering of friends from San Diego and else were. Eileen, Terri, and Leo showed up mid week to fill up our “party site”. We had many late nights at the camp fire telling stories and remarking that the climbing community was so small. It seemed that I knew half of the other people in Creek Pasture during that first week.

Casey at the crux of King Cat. Photo by Jessica Wan

We started at the cold Pistol Whipped, where I was happy to send Sig Sauer on my birthday. Day One was a learning day as people got used to the sandy rock and tried hard in the cold weather. My hands were numb often and we decided on the warmer Cat Wall for Day Two. Weather improved and it was pleasant when the arctic winds were not blowing. Highlights included Johnny Cat, King Cat and Bad Cat.

Trying hard at the crux of Bad Cat. Photo by Jessica Wan

After the Cat Wall I was totally wrecked and decided on an “active” rest day. Scarface was the group choice and I was happy chill out somewhere I’d been many times before. I didn’t lead much, but did redpoint Big Guy, which had nearly induced vomiting on my first attempt five years prior. My favorite route of the day was Desert Vuarnet which Casey onsighted. I think it is an overlooked route and I was psyched to do it on TR.

Big Guy, Photo by Jessica Wan

Before the much needed rest day I was determined to do a first ascent. Jonathan and I loaded bags with heavy hardware and trudged up the long approach to Sacred Cow. The route I had seen two years before was still sans anchor and I set about climbing it, ground up. Sandstone face climbing makes for a dicey experience, but I was able to get a few bolts in and finally make it up to laser cut splitter. I put in the anchor, fixed a rope and we made our way to Moab.

In some ways it was a release to finally bolt the line that had been calling to me for the last few years. The upper crack, as I suspected was of 5 star quality and quite difficult. The opening face climbing was very doable and much more technical than I expected. I would come back to it later but for now the focus was on our upcoming day at Optimator.

At Indian Creek size matters, and we learned that Jonathan was quite good at the .5 -> .75 Camalot size. I’m a fan of yellow alien/.4 camalot cracks and was really excited for Jonathan to play rope gun and lead Optimator, 5.13-. He made a valiant attempt, with numerous falls on the sustained .75 camalot crack. Placing gear added significant difficulty since stances were few and far between. In one of my better performances, I gave everything I had on top rope, and flashed Optimator for my first of the grade.

Casey cruxing on Double Bock at the Optimator Wall

The hot weather had really taken it out of me, but we decided to go to Battle of the Bulge the following day. I correctly remembered that it had morning shade, but had forgotten how fast the sun comes around the corner. This was our first day seeing a bunch of other parties, but we still managed to get on all of our goal routes. For me the day was all about Ruby’s Cafe. I wasn’t sure that I had the guns to send, but I wanted to give it another effort. I played the game of telling everyone it was my project, so that I had an extra bit of encouragement to try it. I was pretty nervous and was unsure if I would even get as high as my previous attempt.

Jonathan enjoys the Big Baby at Battle of the Bulge Buttress.

By the time I was warmed up the sun was already on the Ruby’s Cafe, but now I was brimming with psyche and set off, sprinting up the crack. I took an overabundant supply of yellow aliens making sure I wouldn’t run out like last time. The changing corners went by quickly, as I climbed confidently above my gear and soon enough made it to the midway rest.

I executed the shuffle across the first roof, pasting my feet high and managed to snag the jug, flag through, and slam in the kneebar. Looking up I could see the anchor above the final roof. Two more pieces went in as my calf grew more and more pumped. It was go time and Casey and Ben provided much needed encouragement. I passed the roof and got into the green aliens. I stalled, thinking about placing a piece, but knew I had to keep climbing. A few more moves and somehow I was clipping the anchor. I had climbed Ruby’s Cafe!

In some ways, my trip ended when I sent Ruby’s Cafe. I’m not sure it is the hardest route I’ve climbed, and it certainly didn’t take very many tries, but it was oh so significant. In the way that I finally climbed Equinox, so many years ago, I had succeeded in reaching a lofty goal that I was not even sure was achievable. Landmark climbs, like Ruby’s Cafe, are few and far between but count in ways that are hard to describe.

Sacred Cow Wall Project.

At this point in the trip I was ready for another rest day so when the crew went to Reservoir Wall, I slept in. I hiked out alone to Sacred Cow at noon and put in some burns on my new project. It was nails hard and I could barely even do the moves. After about five or six attempts on the mini-traxion I managed a one hang, shocked that I didn’t fall off my nemesis size. I added another bolt, pulled the rope, and red tagged the route, for my return with Lizzy.

The final day, before the Planet Granite and Berkley groups had to leave, I was still completely exhausted. I had climbed each of the past seven days, but was curious to join Eliot and Doug out at The Wall. They had been projecting Learning To Fly and I was curious to try one of the hardest finger cracks at the creek. I climbed with Brian, a friend of Alix and we had a blast doing new to us routes at The Wall. I tried Learning to Fly briefly, but my body was in no condition for the brutal one arm lock offs required for the route. The climb was almost all yellow alien/.4 camalots but the crack was overhung and had zero feet in the crux section.

Rainy Arizona

On the last day of March I took a much needed rest day and drove to Vegas to meet up with Steve for the next leg of my trip. I’ve already detailed my trip to Red Rocks and will soon have a trip report about climbing Shune’s Buttress and Monkeyfinger in Zion. After a fun run on my last day in Zion, I headed back to Vegas to pick Lizzy up from the airport. The weather had been quite stormy and I hit a pretty wild rain storm driving through the VRG. In no time Lizzy had arrived and we were en route to Utah. With midnight quickly approaching and snow in the forecast, we decided to spend the night in Zion where Steve still had a campsite.

The final five days at Indian Creek seemed to go by quickly with a mix of bad weather and tired muscles. At this point I had recovered physical energy from two consecutive rest days, but my lead head was shot. I put in five lead burns on Surf and Turf, my new route at Sacred Cow, but couldn’t commit to the insecure moves. It is problematic for me to climb high above my gear with no concept of when I’ll be able to place again.

New Route in the making!

Lizzy and I checked out a few new crags with trips to the Fin and the Cliffs of Insanity. I also went back to Scarface to redpoint Desert Vuarnet, which is WAY harder on lead. We had much less of an agenda than my first week and got to spend more time relaxing.

The final day Lizzy and I worked on the stellar Broken Brain. This climb is mostly hands until a very tricky finale. The headwall, shown below, goes from #2 camalots to .75′s and is quite offset. This means a good left hand at the end but a horrible right finger stack. I fell twice from the very top, just before the thank god hand jam at the lip. Like in most years it was nearly impossible to give a solid effort since my body was so run-down and my mind unwilling to keep trying hard. I am quick to forget how much psyche maters and that time needs to be put into mental recovery as well as physical.

Lizzy on the steep headwall of Broken Brain.

I really enjoyed my time at the creek, but as always tried to do too much in a short amount of time. More FULL rest days, and perhaps a few mellow days of easier fun routes would be the better way to spend the trip. I was very cool to spend more time trying my nemesis size (Surf and Turf). The best part was getting to spend time with all of the different people. Too many names to list, but I really had a blast!

I’ve added route lists to many Indian Creek posts since grading is so subjective. A snapshot of the routes from this trip. Funny that this time I felt Johnny Cat was harder than King Cat, the opposite of the last time I tried them.

Routes from the trip in order of my perceived difficulty (regardless of grade):

Learning to Fly – 5.13 Hangs
Optimator – 5.13- TR Flash
Surf and Turf – 5.12+ Hangs
Ruby’s Cafe – 5.13- Redpoint
Bad Cat – 5.12 Hangs
Broken Brain – 5.12 1 Hang
Nukanator – 5.12- Hangs
Baroque - 5.12 Onsight
Desert Varnet – 5.12- Redpoint
Double Bock – 5.12 Flash W/ Preplaced Gear
Sig Sauer – 5.12- Flash
Heat Searcher – 5.11+ Onsight
Johnny Cat – 5.11+ TR Send
King Cat – 5.11+ TR Send
Goodby Cruel World – 5.12- Onsight
Rump Roast II – 5.11 – Redpoint
Pigs on a Wing – 5.11 TR Flash
Double Trouble – 5.11 – Onsight
Big Guy – 5.11- Redpoint
Karin’s Corner 5.11- Flash W/ Preplaced Gear
The Feltcher 5.11- Onsight
Brown on Butter 5.11- Redpoint
Sorrow 5.11- Onsight

Viagra kaufen

Adventure Punks and Drifting in Red Rocks

Trip Reports 1 Response »

Apr 302013

Despite many trips to Red Rocks over the last five years I have yet to do many of the shady spring-time routes. One reason is that I haven’t felt ready to test my mental limits while maxing out my physical abilities. So in the past I have stayed away from a number of routes in Red Rocks that were established in an a more exciting style that required mental fitness in addition to physical strength.

One stronghold of “adventure” routes is the Challenger Wall in Pine Creek Canyon. The climbs on this wall were established more than two decades ago by a group of hard men who took boldness seriously. In modern terms this means running it out and avoiding bolts by any means necessary.

Jet Stream and Challenger Wall Overview. From MountainProject.com

My introduction to this area was Adventure Punks, a five pitch 5.10d with an implied R rating. Having come off a solid week of climbing in Indian Creek I knew that my fitness was solid and I would just have to kept the mental demons under wraps. I often joke that I’m no mental warrior, but my greatest strength is doing moves, even when runout, that I have utter confidence in. Once I’m convinced I know what to do, I have the ability to execute. In these situations I rarely, if ever, fall off.

With this in mind I set off up Adventure Punks, moving with calculated confidence on the un-protected 5.9 slab at the start. The rest of the pitch fell in to place with a smattering of marginal to bomber gear. For the most part it was a do-not-fall pitch, but 5.10b is well within my ability.

Next up was perhaps the sportiest section, above the pitch one belay. The climbing was stimulating and the gear occasional but solid. You would be taking long falls, but perhaps the climbing was not as serious as the first pitch. The route continued in this fashion for the first four pitches, with a mix of face and crack climbing on excellent varnished sandstone. The fourth pitch, with a steep feeling finger crack, deposited you at the base of a long off-width.

The fifth and final pitch is the crux of the route and was climbed hard-man style before there were any big cams. It was the definitive crux of the route for me, with a hard section of squeeze chimney about halfway up. Pushing a #6 camalot made this part safe, but I almost slid out, having climbed that section with the “wrong” side in. I can’t imagine doing the pitch without any wide gear, big props to the first ascentionists!

We rapped the route, replacing some old slings at the top anchor with ASCA rap rings. It was really nice that the route had recently been cleaned up courtesy of some Las Vegas locals and the ASCA. Having two solid bolts at each belay was a nice way to relax after pushing my mental limits while climbing each pitch.

Adventure Punks was a great mental warm-up that reacquainted me with the Red Rock sandstone. The next day we decided to kick it up an notch and climb Drifting on the Jet Stream Wall, another place I’d yet to visit.

Scenic approach to the Jet Stream Wall

When I was getting ready for Drifting, I was slightly nervous. 5.11c could be challenging and a friend, who is a Vegas local, had told me the route might be more like 5.12 and bold! All of these things embodied the experience I was looking for. Drifting would be a solid challenge and a good way to test both my fitness and mental strength. We took the strenuous approach up the Olive Oil descent, but the second half of the hike was beautiful. An exposed ridge brought us above the Jet Stream Wall and the “trail” dropped down through a scrappy forest of pine and manzanita. The wall itself was a blank and endless expanse of varnish. It was tricky to try to figure out the line of the route, an opposite experience to the natural weakness we climbed on Adventure Punks.

Drifting goes up the center of the wall through the red rock roof.

I knew Drifting, which has a healthy number of bolts would have more face climbing than I had done in a while. I was happy to have gotten some beta from Mountain Project that allowed me to take a selective rack on each pitch. Even the full rack, a touch more than a single set of cams, was nice and light. I needed every advantage I could get since the route would put up quite a fight for this wanna-be onsighter.

Right away the route was interesting, with the first pitch starting 80 feet up under a small roof. Some third class ledges lead you there and the route did not wait to deliver inobvious cruxy climbing. I was only at the second bolt and I’d been stalling for over five minutes. I tried to figure out what constitutes a “hold” and where I need to go. As I commited to upward progress, each bolt I clipped was a small victory. I stalled out again below a challenging sequence, psyched to have figured out a nearly hands free rest. I needed to have power to waste and I went for it, full on 5.11 crimping with the bolt below my feet. Magically, the holds, which seemed to point the wrong way, worked perfectly as I got my feet high on perfect sandstone edges. I kept up the dancing routine, savoring the hidden jugs and amazing varnished crimps and make it to the belay.

Steve on the first pitch of Drifting

Starting off the second pitch, I had confidence. I ran it out to the second bolt, finding great edges and stances. The next 15 feet followed a varnished edge that undulates up the face, forming a type of flake against the softer white sandstone. There were just enough slots and crimps along the edge allow for passage upwards. Having clipped the final bolt on this section, my forearms wanted to explode. I climbed and down climbed twice, trying to figure out the right sequence. Finally I committed and pushed my feet hard against the soft white rock, praying for them not to slip. Luckily I got the sequence right and reach the big crimp I had been staring at longingly. As the climbing ease,s you run it out a touch on good holds until you make it to a nice varnished crack. I learned on Adventure Punks that it is important to put in gear when you can and I fired in a couple of pieces. I followed this routine for the next thirty feet, getting in gear when the crack opened up, and face climbing quickly between the stances.

Another party at the end of the tips laybacking on Pitch 2. Photo from MountainProject.com

The next section of pitch two was perhaps the mental crux of the route. The climbing was never hard, but you go for a little journey away from your gear. In many ways, I’m glad there is not a bolt in this section. If you have sent the route to this point you are physically capable of doing the moves. As I ventured 5, 10, and then 15 feet away from my last piece, I made sure to test all of the sandstone crimps before committing fully. Eventually, I wiggled in some gear and made it to the lone bolt that protects the final crux, a short thin 5.11 traverse.

Having gotten fully pumped on the first two pitches, I was properly warmed-up for the next pitches. The third and fourth pitches flowed well with lots of thin balance moves and exciting positions. Some airy laybacking on pitch four brought us to a small stance under the large roof. In some ways this bit of climbing makes you feel like a hero as you pull over the massive roof on solid holds with heaps of exposure. Above the roof we were greeted with slabby crimping up softer red rock with a smattering of varnish. This pitch really backs off in difficulty, after the roof, until the final moves to the belay, where you climb into black varnished rock that last until the end of the climb.

Post crux on the second pitch.

The final pitch of Drifting is full value and perhaps easier for taller people. Unlike the larger holds on the previous pitches, the crux on this pitch is finding which holds are usable and figuring out where to go next. It was a good fight for me as the pump level went back up through the delicate yet powerful crimp sequences. The pitch was sustained the whole way and only after I finally clipped the anchor could I relax.

Climbing Drifting was one of the best days I have had in recent years on a multi-pitch. It is rare for me to get to onsight a long route at my limit and this route pushed me both mentally and physically. The climbing provided a perfect challenge and I really enjoyed leading all the pitches. What a good time! You can easily rappel the route with a single 70m rope. The rappels are close so do watch your ends. We replaced tat on one of the anchors with rappel rings courtesy of the ASCA. The Pitch 5 anchor could still use some ASCA or rebolting love. See mountainproject.com for details.

Now that I’ve seen the Jet Stream Wall I’m psyched to return to try the namesake route next time I am in Vegas! There are also tons of other routes on the Challenger wall to test me and push me to grow my mental strength.

Enjoy,

Luke

Searching for direction in Yosemite

Notes, Trip Reports No Responses »

Feb 282013

One goal from 2012 was to spend the glorious Rocktober in Yosemite. So when Fall came around I refused to do anything else and managed to get four weekends in a row of time in the Valley. Yet with all this time I lacked a direction for my season. 2011 was focused on climbing Astro-Man and that singular goal allowed me to focus my energy and climb an amazing route. In 2012 it seemed that I was just shopping around. I was unwilling to commit to any new single pitch projects, saving them for potential onsights, and unsure my fitness was adequate to start putting any serious effort into the Phoenix.

Ron Kauk on Hotline, Elephant Rock via Patagonia.com

Luckily there is an overwhelming number of routes on my “to-do” list and I spent the end of 2012 checking out new places and climbs. The middle of September was my first time back in the Valley when Gordon, a friend from college, visited for a weekend. Despite some warm temps we made the death march up the cathedrals gulley and climbed the Higher Cathedral Spire via the Regular Route. This route was the first of many to offer killer views of Yosemite from slightly more off the beaten path.

I have spent a good number of days, at the Cookie Cliff, staring across at Elephant Rock. It was time to stop waiting to check out Hotline and Fatal Mistake (the white splitter to the right of the climber in the photo above). Fatal Mistake was first up and the most common method is to climb Pink Dream, which is around the corner, and rappel in. I assumed that Pink Dream would be just another forgettable climb but it had super quality cracks!! The two pitches have a variety of jamming and the second pitch is a tricky off-width, sandbagged at 5.10a. I really enjoyed the Pink Dream and Fatal Mistake was excellent as well. Between the two climbs you will do over 100 feet of #3 camalots, so you better be dialed on that size!

Leading the second Pitch OW on Pink Dream

For Hotline I partnered up with Jonathan Guy and we swapped leads up yet another splitter route. The cracks on Elephant rock offer high quality jamming and Hotline demands proficiency at off-fingers and thin hands. I was yet again impressed by the route and even though the cruxes spit me off, I will be back for another attempt.

Later in the season during a warm November weekend I managed to climb Hardd and Crack A-Go-Go at the ever popular Cookie Cliff to nearly finish off the cliff’s 5.11 trad routes. It has been fun to get to know the Cookie Cliff and climb many of it’s fabulous routes. There are cracks of all sizes and I also got to try a hidden treasure called Vendetta. This overlooked climb has a phenomenal second pitch which is mostly 5″ hand and fist stacking. The off-width aficionado in our group, Sonia, lead this climb and I happily followed it. I’ll be back to lead this and the most famous off-width at the Cookie, Twilight Zone, in 2013!

Looking up at the crazy chimney pitch on the Gold Wall

The grand finale for the 2012 Fall season was a trip up the first seven pitches of Silent Line on the Gold Wall. This towering route is in the Ribbon Falls amphitheater and grants a spectacular perspective on Yosemite. Steve and I climbed this route in December and were rewarded with t-shirt weather on the south facing wall. The first two pitches are slow with a bolt ladder and some awkward wide free climbing or aiding. The rest of the route follows fun wide hands crack with an exciting tunnel through chimney pitch. The route goes into the sun early and bakes on the typical California day, making it perfect for “winter” ascents.

Looking out from the window of the chimney crawl.

Hopfully everyone had a great fall. It was great to climb a wide variety of routes and I learned that it helps to set specific goals to help me find direction for the climbing season.

- Luke

Striking Gold in the Shadow of Basket Dome

Trip Reports 2 Responses »

Feb 202013

The beautiful East face of Basket Dome

It all started with a tale of a grand route on Basket Dome. I went on a run, to check it out, and see what gems were hidden in the Yosemite backcountry. I found the mega-route, Milestone, and explored the surrounds for other potential lines. I ended getting a bit lost, and took something like the blue line in the photo below, which is not recommended. On the plus side my run took me past the small dome on the right, that I have come to call Acorn Dome. Acorn Dome had a few cool looking lines so I knew I would be back to investigate later in the summer.

Basket Dome Overview

It’s hard to describe all of the reasons I seek out First Ascents. Perhaps it is the dream of establishing the perfect multipitch route with tricky cruxes and spacious belay ledges. I have only done a small number new routes and I am still learning what makes them exciting and meaningful. The draw of natural features is obvious and I saw a soaring dihedral on the right side of Acorn Dome. It begged to be climbed! Unfortunately further inspection showed that inside of the dihedral was sealed and would not take any gear. On the left side of the dome I had seen a long dike feature on xRez which appeared to be continuous and potentially climbable. Over the following weeks, and months I took many trips back to Acorn Dome and established a total of seven pitches between two routes.

The beautiful golden dike on pitch two of the Miwok Dike

Looking back down from midway up the second pitch.

The most obvious line, and first to be climbed was the five pitch Miwok Dike. This route follows an obvious golden dike for two mega pitches, surrounded by easier slabby climbing. The route is steeper than it appears in photos and you often end up laybacking and pinching the dike to make progress. The majority of the climbing on pitches two through four is bolt protected with a few gear placements on the third pitch. The third pitch requires a full sixty meters of rope and has a gamut of movement from easy friction and an exciting mantel to dike hiking. Pitch by pitch beta is at the end of the post.

Casey on the Miwok Dike with Half Dome lurking in the background.

During my time equipping the Miwok Dike, I noticed a line of large knobs leading up to the pitch two belay. I followed these down and found an exciting series of scoops, flakes and crystal features that continued for 70 meters back to the base. This stretch of climbing was much harder than the Miwok Dike. With occasional gear placements, this crystal streak turned into a two pitch direct start for the Miwok Dike, called the Staircase of Frozen Tears.

Casey sets up for a cruxy mantel on Pitch Three

Perhaps the best thing about climbing on Acorn Dome is the scenery. You are surrounded by huge cliffs and the vertical relieve down into Tenaya Canyon is massive. I think you can occasionally make out people on the cables of Half Dome, but don’t expect to see any other people in the area or on the route. It was a sweet adventure exploring the unknown and spending time figuring out these two lines.

Casey at the crux on Pitch One of Staircase of Frozen Tears

Neither of these routes are perfect but they helped me understand the life-cycle of how bigger routes get established. Without a crack-line to follow, some of the route direction is up to the developer. In some places the sequence is obvious and too cool to skip, like the mantel in a photo above. Other times it is tricky to find the line of least resistance when faced with blank slab. There are divided schools of thought in regard to adventure routes, versus mellow ones and bolting these climbs made me think a lot about climbing style.

Casey starts of on the second pitch of Frozen Tears

Casey starts off on the second pitch of Frozen Tears

Perhaps my next routes will have a bit more spice, but for now I’m happy that I can recommend these routes without hesitation. Both routes are perfect for people trying to break into slab climbing, and are not yet comfortable with huge runouts found on many Yosemite and Tuolumne slabs. Getting to Acorn Dome or Basket Dome is an adventurous and well off the beaten path. Once you start climbing you will find that both of these routes are well protected and do not require bold-school talent.

Casey tops out on the Miwork Dike with Cloud's Rest in the background.

Casey tops out on the Miwok Dike with Cloud’s Rest in the background.

Go have a look, I doubt you will be disappointed!

- Luke

Route Beta:

Acorn dome is a slabby apron of rock that resides between Basket Dome and Mount Watkins. It is close to the East Face of Basket dome and best approached via the North Dome Trail from Porcupine Flat.

It should take 1.5 to 2 hours to approach the top of Acorn Dome. The first three miles are on the well maintained North Dome trail. The final .75 miles are cross country travel downhill to the top of Acorn Dome.

From the three mile mark, which is the first uphill after the split for Indian rock, head left across a sandy meadow. Continue into tall trees and walk parallel to a marsh/creek. In Late Spring/Summer/Fall the stream bed is dry and offers direct and fairly easy passage downhill towards Acorn and Basket Dome. You can also try to link up the various clearings, but I found the creek bed to be the fastest route.

After 20 or so minutes following the creek bed, at steep section, cut left directly towards the NW Face of Half dome (which is occasionally visible through the trees). This point is hard to find and perhaps needs a cairn. If you are unsure, the best solution is to hike further since the creek bed eventually becomes impassable. Follow the path of least resistance, directly towards Half Dome, through occasional manzanita, until you reach a nice sandy meadow with a very large fallen tree, and some sawed off tree stumps. You should have a spectacular view of Half Dome and the East Face of Basket Dome should be on your right.

Go towards Basket Dome and descend a steep section of logs and manzanita, dropping about 100 feet. From here you can see the top of Acorn Dome. There are a few trees on the summit of Acorn dome and some grainy white rock.

There are two options to get to the base of Acorn Dome.

Recommended Option: With two ropes you can rappel the Miwok Dike (4 Raps). Two anchors will need to be built so you will need, a cordelette, some slings and a few extra cams (1-2 finger sized plus #.75, #1 camalots). These anchors will be retrieved on your way back up.

Walk/scramble down about 200 feet from the top of the dome until you can sling a large boulder (seen just to the left of Casey in the photo above and described in the photo below).

1. Rappel ~40 meters to a fixed nut on the skiers left (i.e. towards Mt. Watkins). Build a gear anchor.

2. Rappel 40-50 meters to the skiers right to a bolted anchor atop P3 of the Miwok dike.

3. Rappel a FULL 60m to the P2 anchor (still trending to the right).

4. Rappel a FULL 60 meters and swing right to a small stance. 20-40 feet of easy 5th class down-climbing leads to the base. A full 70 meter rappel will put you on the ground. This rappel skips the P1 anchor of the Miwok dike since it is far off to the side, and not equipped for rappelling.

Second option: Skirt around the east side of Acorn dome (towards Mt. Watkins). This gulley is fully of manzanita without a clear or continuous trail but requires only one rope. Once you reach the toe of Acorn dome, traverse 500′ further along the base. Eventually you will need to go up about 50-100 feet to a higher tier where you can start the Miwok Dike or the Staircase of Frozen Tears.

GPS Approach Beta:

Miwok Dike:

Rack: Single set of cams from yellow alien to #2 Camalot. 18 draws/slings

P1. 5.8 – 25m – 0 bolts

From the ground climb a left facing corner past the start of the Staircase of Frozen Tears, a bolted crystal dike. Traverse left until you reach a short chimney/slot with a few tricky moves. Mantel up onto a small ledge with a two bolt anchor. This pitch has no bolts unless you clip the first bolt of SoFT before traversing left.

P2. 5.10c – 50m – 18 bolts.

Slab and dike climb up from the anchor following the obvious dike feature, 5.9. When the wall gets steep you can continue up the dike at 5.10c or you can step right, past a shiny bolt to climb an easier flake. This keeps the grade at 5.10a and protects with a finger sized piece.

Pitch Two Beta

Keep climbing up the dike past one more hard sequence before the angle lessens. Scamper up the corner past ample protection until you must step right across the face to a small ledge with a two bolt belay.

P3. 5.10b – 60m – 13 bolts

Easy moves off the belay past a few bolts lead to a gear placement and a steep wall. Clip a high bolt and do a cruxy mantel to gain the dike. Walk the dike to the right, past a flake for gear, until you have to make another tricky bolt protected move. The climbing quickly eases in difficulty as you gain a huge horizontal dike that you traverse to the right. Leave the dike and slab climb another 30 feet to a sloping ledge and a two bolt belay.

P4. 5.7 – 40 m – 9 bolts

Easy slab moves off the belay lead to a short crux on steeper terrain. Push on up the slab past increasingly spaced bolts until it is best to traverse right across to a corner and a gear belay at a fixed nut.

P5. 5.8 – 40 m – 0 bolts

Climb the easy corner and then a slab up to a 6 foot stretch of manzanita, 5.4. Fight your way through the “jungle” and walk up until you hit a steep face. Chimney up a crack on the right side. Eventually you will be stemming and need to step right to a very short handcrack. A awkward mantle, protected by a #2 camalot, leads to easier ground and a belay with a cordelette around a large boulder.

Staircase of Frozen Tears:

Rack: Two each Blue and Green Alien plus single set of cams from Yellow Alien to #2 Camalot. 15 draws/slings

This is a two pitch direct start to the Miwok Dike. It shares the first 10 feet with Miwok dike before shooting straight up the face for ~70 meters in two pitches.

P1. 5.10c – 40m – 15 bolts Easy crack climbing leads to a tricky sequence to get established on the face. Its best to climb up to the left and then traverse across at the first bolt. Crimp and slab your way up the crystal covered dike until the holds run out below the arch. Move right initially past a bolt before cracks open up for thin finger sized gear (you can place between 1-4 cams). Continue traversing right with difficulty, 5.10c, until you reach another streak of crystals that allows you to gain elevation. A sequence of easier moves past bolts leads to a slab crux, 5.10-. The pitch ends at a poor stance with a two bolt anchor.

P2. 5.10c – 30m – 15 bolts Very closely spaced bolts lead off the belay and protect the crux of this pitch. Pulling through on the bolts is possible if you can’t work out the tricky slab moves. Follow a rising traverse to the right past small knobs and divots. Once past the slick water streak climb up and link the various large knobs on the face, sometimes climbing off to the side and then back to the bolt line. Once the knobs disappear work back to the left and up the slab and occasional edges to the P2 anchor of Miwok Dike. Rappel the route or continue up Miwok Dike to the summit.

If descending with one rope a 70m is mandatory and you will need to swing left at the bottom and down climb 5.2. Both anchors are equipped for rappelling, unlike the P1 anchor for the Miwok Dike.

New routes on Acorn Dome

Lost in the Sun, First Continuous Ascent

Trip Reports 7 Responses »

Dec 262012

Often times people ask about a favorite climb or place you love to go. The Incredible Hulk is that special, favorite place for me. When I moved to the Bay Area I was stoked that the Hulk would be a couple hours closer. The Hulk granite has a special character and I’ve been learning how to climb best on the white alpine rock. The cracks have rounded edges and the angle requires balance and precision. After a multitude of trips, sends, and attempts, I wanted to become part of the history of the Hulk. I had been told the Hulk was tapped out, but I had already seen evidence of unclimbed cracks, variations and pitches. Sure the “King Lines” were climbed, but there was still fun new climbing to be had.

I have written the tale of Lost in the Sun before. The first ascent was done, many of the pitches lead clean but there was still an asterisk on my ascent. I needed to put in the time before the summer came to a close. With running adventures of July and August complete, Labor Day presented a final chance to climb the route in one go, finally leading the crux third pitch. Luckily my climbing fitness seemed solid and I had a partner who was as psyched on the route as I was. In fact, Jonathan Guy was my secret weapon. I had a lot of confidence in his try-hard ability and knew that he would either push me to send the crux or lead it himself. If everything went right, the route would not stand a chance.

Photo topo of Lost in the Sun

I had an extra day off before Labor Day and so I hiked into the Hulk alone. The familiar sights of the five mile hike were both refreshing and relaxing. The solitude brought me back to the days spent solo brushing, bolting, and climbing in 2011. This time I was ready for the final act in my own personal drama. I spent the day of re-scrubbing and sequencing the route so we could free the third pitch. It seemed that my fitness was up to the task and I was psyched for the gang to arrive the next day.

I was still solo until mid afternoon so I took another lap up the first three pitches of Lost in the Sun. By fixing a single 80m rope to the top anchor you can mini-traxion these pitches. With a solid warmup and another confidence building lap on the crux pitch I returned to basecamp and napped until my compatriots arrived. It was a beautiful weekend and the sunny California weather didn’t seem to fit with the idea that the alpine season was ending.

Casey, Alaina, and Jonathan rolled in, psyched to the max and ready to hit the Sierra granite. The teams broke apart with Casey and Alaina heading off for Sunspot while Jonathan and I went up on Lost in the Sun. The first two pitches are a good warm up and I waited at the base of the crux pitch for Jonathan to mini-trax up. With sequences exploding from my brain, I sprayed beta at Jonathan as he climbed past onto the crux pitch. Giving a solid effort, he managed the TR flash and came back down and declared his intent to lead it.

Jonathan putting in a burn on the crux corner.

This was the type of enthusiasm I was looking for! The plan had been to climb the route the following day so I could lead the first ascent of the crux pitch and do the first continuous ascent of the route. With both of us wanting a lead burn Jonathan put me on the spot and said the pitch should be lead, NOW! With all the ground work in place I knew I had to go for it.

My fingers curled around the crisp edge of the crack and my feet sent small chips of granite swirling to the ground. Rubber dug into the wall and I hoped the foothold would stay attached. My tips felt slippery against the granite as I crimped on the arete. Gravity stopped for a second as my body tensed and I moved my hand up the crack and stabbed it into a small slot. Quickly I was past the hardest move, but everything stayed tense since the pitch was not even halfway over. I sucked in the thin alpine air as fast as I could. Pumpy slaps lead up the corner until I could take a moment to rest. I was drawing closer to success, and the remaining sequence was mapped in my mind. My body performed in sequential elegance, all motions rehearsed and choreographed. I executed the last pull and the final jug greeted me with gritty congratulations. I mantled out of the corner and tip toed across to the belay. The dream was complete, the final piece of the puzzle was solved. Lost in the Sun goes free!

Jonathan followed the pitch, figuring out the gear beta and we rapped off for the full ascent the following day. Evening light shone across the Hulk and we got to enjoy some rest before we had to put it all together.

Jonathan leads the first pitch on Lost in the Sun (climber on left is at the base of the Red Dihedral)

The next morning was cooler and we slept in to let the air warm up. Jonathan took the first lead and calmly executed the crux face climbing at the end of the pitch. I swung through and led the tricky second pitch. The holds are there but the climbing is devious and I was psyched for another send. Jonathan got it clean on follow and it was now business time. Jon racked up for the lead and fired the bolted section to the no hands rest. Up the thin corner Jonathan went, getting in gear when possible and he was sending. Past another rest, the final thin corner, and then he was at the belay. It was up to me.

I knew the moves and climbed confidently up the pitch and into the corner. A slight hesitation bought shouts of encouragement come from the belay. I crimped hard and made it to the athletic laybacking and then to the good rest. It was almost in the bag and I got to savor the final sequence to the top of the corner. No falls so far!

Leading pitch two with JGuy on belay, back in 2011

Jonathan kept leading and flashed the next pitch of varied 5.11 climbing. The spray of beta got him to the anchor but the final moves to the belay still offered a challenge. I followed the pitch, psyched for quality climbing and swing through to lead the fifth and final pitch. The 5.10 climbing is like the cherry on top with abundant jugs and a thin finish. At the final bolted anchor we decided to rap and climb some more, leaving a base to summit ascent for a future team. We only took a moment to let the success soak in before heading down.

Rapping off went quickly with an 80m rope and soon enough I was racking up at the base of Eye of the Storm. With a second rope and a quick lunch, we were exploring again. I had tried the first pitch a year prior, but I had spent more time cleaning the crack and removing bushes than climbing. This time I managed to send the 50-ish meter pitch, and was psyched to continue up the route. Jonathan swung through and climbed off onto a tricky slab.

From the belay you go about 15 feet to the right following a sequence of up and downclimbing with barely any holds. A single bolt off the belay guarantees that a fall would be quite a swing. The follower gets the same treatment since the second bolt is 10+ feet over but barely any higher. The crux after the second bolt was much harder and both Jonathan and I were amazed we didn’t peel off the flakey granite. The pitch ends with a short section of 5.11- laybacking that felt significantly “easier” than the slab below. We opted for the higher optional belay which used nuts and small gear.

The beautiful 3rd pitch splitter on Eye of the Storm. Photo from Alpinist.com

From the belay you can see a beautiful splitter on the left wall (photo above), which was the main motivator for trying the climb. Jonathan kept the sharp end and launched up the steep clean crack. This pitch is tricky since the crack was often shallow or flaring and ran the full range of sizes from hands to fingers. Few rest positions are possible and Jonathan made great progress until the crack thinned down to tips.

Almost out of gear and unsure of where to go Jonathan hung and leap frogged a few microcams up a few feet. With nothing left to use he stemmed out to the arete and made tricky face moves well above his gear. Totally commited, he pulled through the scary section to a now blustery belay. With the sun quickly setting I did my best to follow as quickly as possible.

The pumpy splitter sapped all my energy and by the time I got to the face climbing I was gassed. A hang on the rope gave my forearms a much needed reprieve and I was able to keep climbing to the bolted belay. With the sun behind the mountains the temps were dropping fast and prompted a quick return to terra firma (which was easy with two ropes).

I was happy to get a look at a few more of the pitches on Eye of the Storm and hope to go back in 2013 for another attempt. The final day was spent goofing around on the popular Red Dihedral, which ended with us rapping off after the namesake pitch. Sadly this was my only weekend at the Hulk in 2012 but I’m psyched to have finished Lost in the Sun.

Casey midway up the first pitch of Lost in the Sun

Casey cruxing at the end of pitch one.

Hopefully more people will try out Lost in the Sun since its an easy way to add some pitches to the beginning or end of a Hulk trip. More beta is listed on MountainProject.com

Enjoy,

- Luke

24 Hours of Horseshoe Hell – Guest Post by Dr. Williams

Guest Blogs, Trip Reports 3 Responses »

Nov 282012

“When was the last time you were up all night?” I ask. It is the morning of the competition. I expect that for Luke it had been since college, or at least 5-6 years in his case. This is our first 24 Hours of Horseshoe Hell (individually or as a team), and for the past few weeks I’d gotten the sense that he seemed nervous; I’d figured that this was the reason why.

Done with the 1st Hour!

I’m a doctor-in-training (resident), and a radiologist on top of that; I spend hours upon hours in the dark, and have taken a pleasure on being at the top of my game in the wee hours of the night. If you land in the hospital at 4am, you want a physician who could cut out their own appendix with one hand and sip coffee with the other, all while half awake– that is, someone who is well-attuned to running on adrenaline at that hour, and maximally effective at their job. I was hoping that several years of training in this realm would be to some kind of advantage… an advantage that I would need. I’d wanted to do Hell for the prior 4 years, but work had gotten in the way every time, not to mention in the way of any kind of serious training over that time. I’d been psyched to climb 15 routes at the gym in an evening two weeks before the comp. It was as ready as I’d ever get.

“Last May I climbed through the night for 20 hours on El Capitan,” he replies, a little bit more casually than I expected. I had forgotten that Luke was an expert at Suffering (not to mention one of the better trad climbers I’d roped up with, routinely putting down Valley 5.11s). We’d climbed well together on Steck-Salathe in Yosemite, a physical route notorious for its off-width physicality, and Luke revealed himself as one who got going when the going got tough. I’m not nearly as good at suffering, but I don’t quit; we were going to be a solid team.

3 hours done. So totally PSYCHED!

Truth was, despite how much I’d looked forward to Hell, by Friday morning things were off to a rough start. I’d barely even made it to the ranch. My Thursday morning flight from California into Bentonville, Arkansas had been cancelled, after which my new afternoon flight to Dallas had been delayed, causing me to miss the last flight into Arkansas. I was on the verge of driving from Dallas at 11pm, before I “lucked out” and caught the last flight to Tulsa, and coerced my long-time friend Kelly to drive from Fayetteville to pick me up. When we arrived at the ranch on Friday morning, I’d only gotten a little more than two hours of sleep, and was looking at zero hours in the night ahead.

Climbing-wise, things start off well when the shotgun goes off (and after the Partnership Pledge, shown in the video above, which includes memorable lines as: “Partner, Don’t Friggin’ Drop Me. I’m Fragile.” ) Our initial plans to start at the Titanic boulder quickly reset when a wall of people go off that way. We skip up to the Prophecy Wall instead, where we are one of only three teams, including the legendary team Dower Power (having participated in every 24-HHH to date). It is clear that they are miles (years?) ahead of us in strategy (our goal was to climb continuously and try to get to 100 routes apiece, if possible), so we ask a lot of questions and soak up their experience. We’re not trying to win anything, only to survive. We’d run into them again and again throughout the competition– they’re truly a class act, and we were lucky to be in the right place at the right time.

Hell yeah HOUR FOUR. We just climbed some SICK 5.11!

One hour flies by. Then two. (Besides soaking in Dower, we are already soaked in our own sweat. The morning humidity is in the 90s.) We are off to the Ren and Stimpy wall, where I surprisingly cruise up a 12a– not my initial intention, but I’d climbed “Space Madness” several years before, and remembered it being relatively casual for my 6’1″ wingspan. Then three hours are gone. Time flies, and so do we. We are already behind our “goal” of 4 routes an hour (apiece), but it doesn’t matter, we’re having a blast. We run off to the West Side, which is blissfully quiet, and where we get coerced into climbing “Balrog” (a spiteful 11c slab) by a pair of attractive Texan lasses (team “Tejas Chicas”), who had danced up the thing and tell us that it’s “merely technical.” A few more routes, and we are onto the North Forty (where the crowds are, and the party is).
Luck is again on our side when the rains come, as we happen to be below the Lavendar Eye roof near the Circus Wall– one of the few places where there is a half dozen routes between 5.8 and 11b under a huge roof, largely dry. When the cloudbursts come, we charge on towards the heavens and keep scoring routes.

Six hours down. On to the North 40!

I don’t know what the general mood was in the other parties, but for my teammate, with the rain, comes The Psyche. The mid-afternoon had proved a little bit frustrating for him, as we landed on some more height-dependent 5.11s that had given him some difficulty. The rain (and subsequent darkness) is the great equalizer, however, and the grin on his face gets bigger as we plow into the darkness, and into the beginning of 5.9 madness.

Getting goofy at hour 9. Darkness has fallen!

I wish that I had more insightful thoughts about the night, but the truth is, we put our heads down, Keep Calm, and Climb On. A rhythm develops: “climbing… clipping… take Luke… dirt Luke…” Repeat. And repeat. And repeat. And repeat. A few thoughts penetrate the repetition. Drink more cold press coffee. Eat a banana. Pound a Rockstar. Drink more water. Which routes are free? Damn, Sonnie Trotter’s nice. Keep climbing, climb faster. How many draws do we need? Oh, look, it’s the guys in the green shirt again. Where the hell is my scorecard? Can’t stop won’t stop. Are we even close to our pace? I bet my girlfriend is asleep. Wait, it’s only 9pm in California? Who thought of glowsticks? Is that fog? Where’s the next bolt, is it below me? Am I tired?

One guy next to us quits on his partner at midnight. It floors me, how quickly it happens. “I’m done. I can’t say awake,” he says. His partner is a bit stunned, too, and clearly disappointed, as his night is suddenly finished. I’m surprised to see this happen at the bottom of a 5.8; I watched the two of them cruising 5.12s this morning. I’m reminded of the Tortoise and the Hare, and realize that my Tortoise will collapse before giving up. I always knew I’d finish, but now I Know. I’d have to break a leg before quitting on my partner.

It’s 10pm, Halfway done! Boo-Yah!

Crimp Scampi, however, nearly ends me. I climb it, onsight, at 3 am, mostly because I think I can, and because it has a reputation for Having A Reputation as the best Ranch 5.10. In the dark, and in my mental state, I can barely process the movements well enough to stay on the wall, not to mention climb it efficiently– I climb it like shit, but reach high, crimp hard, and pull, and somehow reach the chains. Two successful leads puts me in The Hurt Bag for the next hour, before I can regain my wind. Even the coffee stops helping. Luke’s pscyhe carries the two of us.

2 am? Only 8 Hours to go… We need some music.

Around 5 am, we run from the crowds back to the Front Corridor, where a row of popular 5.8s and 5.9s sit empty in the darkness. Luke and I are mentally and physically sagging, and we turn to Nirvana’s “Nevermind” on his small stereo, for inspiration. We rock out, and feel like heroes as we crush these sub-5.10s. I look over to our left, as I’ve always wanted to climb Horny Goatweed, the classic 5.11a, but the thought makes me laugh out loud. I don’t even walk over to check out he start. We’re wasted.

We’re definitely behind our goal of getting to 100, but I have a plan. As the sunlight rises, we lower off the spectacular pockets and roof of Sour Girl, and hike to the Titanic boulder, where a few poor souls are trying to sleep. Somebody brews a fresh pot of coffee, and the smell is an adrenaline jolt as we start pounding up the short, bouldery routes. I somehow manage Cracked Rib, 10c, which looks improbable, but do myself a favor by skipping Port Side, the challenging 10d. By 9:10 am, I’ve gotten to 101, and turn into a belay slave as Luke blitzes up every route he can conceivably send. I’m absolutely amazed. As soon as he realizes that 100 is within range, he becomes A Man Possessed, and sends 16 (short) routes in the last 90 minutes, to get to 100. We’ve both done it. Luke’s last send comes at 9:58 am and we run down to the Trading Post. Our white shirts are caked in dirt.

The mad dash to finish filling out our scorecards before time expired.

We have to leave before the awards ceremony; we have wonderful hosts taking care of us in Fayetteville, and need to do our jobs as guests. Andy, the event organizer and consummate host, grabs me two beers, which I promptly drink. I’m asleep within 15 minutes in the passenger seat. We have no idea we’d win our team category.

Hour 24! Back at HCR and we are done!

It’d take me over a week to catch up on sleep.

I’d like to say that I’d never been that tired before, but sadly, it’s been true all too often. But now when I go into the hospital on-call and work all night, I say, “This is no big deal. I’ve been through Hell, and climbed 4800 feet through the night, through the rain…”

Dr. Jonathan, as I often call him, is a Stanford Radiology resident and psyched climbing partner. We are both proud members of the High Sierra Kitten Rescue Squad (our 24Hell team name) and thank Moto and Monty( our kittens) for bringing joy and fun to our lives. We climbed a total of 201 pitches and won the Men’s Advanced Team category.

Thanks for reading,

Luke

Finding Adventure on Merriam Peak

Trip Reports 2 Responses »

Nov 132012

What is so cool about first ascents?!?

I’ve been pondering this question as I put words to my Forth of July climbing trip. Adventure, first ascents and the going into unknown all require work, frustration and a willingness to fail. It is easy to go to the gym every week or to look at a guidebook and go cragging. Instead I read stories about far away rocks, look at pictures, and hope that the features all connect. In some ways trying for a first ascent is a release, a way for me to get away from the numbers of climbing, the need for progress and success. Going on an adventure puts climbing back in my terms and I am able to set reasonable expectations and push myself in new ways.

The most obvious reason I think most people shy away from first ascents is that you aren’t always rock climbing. Pure climbing time is sacrificed for hiking, cleaning and some times bolting. One only has an idea of where to go but nothing is certain and time is spent figuring out the best way up.

Merriam Peak from the approach.

This year Forth of July weekend gave me the rare opportunity to take a five day trip. Extra time means going to the east side of the Sierra and taking a nice hike into the back country. Casey and I shouldered super heavy packs with a full compliment of brushes, hammer, drill and food for many nights in the Royce Lakes Basin. Luckily we were met with overcast skies as we trudged up the murderous grade from Pine Creek Canyon. Four thousand feet of gain in less than 10 miles was a serious undertaking and it was great that we had nothing planned for the first day. Basecamp was at 11,700 feet and insured that we would have a restless night of sleep.

We approached Merriam Peak from the Pine Creek Canyon Trail head

The planning for this trip had been motivated by a few trip reports on Supertopo and a sweet photo of the upper headwall/west face of Merriam Peak. At a minimum we would go and climb the two Croft-Rands routes, The Flying Buttress and Gargoyle. The real goals was to do one or two new lines on the right side of Merriam. It looked like there were a few continuous crack lines and I was hopeful that the route finding would be pretty straight forward…

The Flying Buttress aka Croft-Rands Left and the West Face of Merriam Peak

Setting up camp was easy and in no time we were boulder hopping with a camera and binoculars to scout out a new line. From a distance it was hard to tell which features were cracks versus a shadow or a lichen filled groove. We decided on “the mama crack” on the far left side of the head wall since it looked to be the most accessible from the ground. With the plans set Casey and I returned to camp and racked up for the next day. Despite the early hour I was psyched to get to sleep and try to rest up for the long day ahead. It had been a hectic week and my sleep debt was high, the 8pm bedtime was well received.

The morning started at our own pace and the crowds we had seen on the hike in were long forgotten. A stiff breeze kept things chilly as we worked our way towards the shady face. Altitude was our top priority, so we 4th classed up a gulley as high as possible before cutting across towards the “headwall”. I lead a long pitch of loose and dirty rock with a few points of aid to get us established on the large broken ledge below the headwall. Despite some energizing climbing the cold had stayed with us and it was nice to have plenty of jackets.

Looking up at the 2nd pitch of the Dr. Bearlove Project

Casey set off into the unknown with hope that the thin seam (seen above) was a wide enough to allow passage to the large crack system above. Initially Casey has been free climbing but switched to full aid mode once the fingertip crack steepened. The passage of time was no longer measured in feet but by the rays of the approaching sun.

By the time I started climbing the the bright California sun was warming the rock, a pleasant change from the morning. (Sun hit the wall around 1pm on 7/5/2012) The initial section of thin crack was exciting and I was able to free climb while following. Eventually the angle steepened and the foot holds started to disappear. The final six feet of the crack required me to pull on gear before the crack opened back up to fingers. Switching from aid mode I employed creative stemming to reach Casey’s belay at the base of a very flared corner.

Casey aids the crux overhang of the second pitch.

The next pitch was the dirtiest of the route and much time was spent scraping small rock chips and lichen from the crack. Aid was my primary means of progress. About 75 feet above the belay I was able to free climb, which allowed for much faster progress to the next alcove and another belay.

The first 30 feet are the obvious crux of the third pitch since the crack is barely big enough for fingertips. Casey took the strong man approach and tried to layback up the flaring crack. This seemed to work for five to six foot sections before a foot slip would cause a sudden fall. Higher up the difficulty eased and Casey was able to free the second half of the pitch at ~ 5.10.

Looking down on the 3rd pitch

The quality of the granite had been good but usually covered in lots of small potato chip flakes. As we got higher the crack started to become a much better size for free climbing and the last pitch appeared to be the best yet. Casey took the lead and started jamming up the hand crack. Small flakes were raining down constantly as he went higher and higher. The pitch ended just shy of the summit ridge on a spacious ledge. Casey had climbed the pitch completely free! Nothing quite like an onsight FA at nearly 13,000 feet!

The crack was hand sized and I motored up the crack as fast as my lungs would allow. The pitch was phenomenal and will be even better with traffic. After a clean section of perfect hands was the crux of the pitch, a bulge with flared hand and finger jams. Reaching Casey’s belay was slightly bittersweet. I was psyched for the exploration and ascent of our new route, the Dr. Bear Love Project, but sad that it seemed to be out of reach of our free-climbing ability. The route was named in honor of Dr. Clinton Hart Merriam and The Oatmeal.

Casey near the summit after a proud onsight lead!

Before we could go down I was determined to do some recognizance on the far right side of the wall. From the ground it appeared that three amazing cracks split the upper headwall. From Casey’s belay I traversed, set a few pieces and then had him lower me sixty meters down the face. I swung around and then started climbing the killer hand crack (blue line in the photo below). It was dirty and covered in both lichen and small chips of granite, but I was able to make about 60 feet of progress before the size and steepness of the crack shut me down. After a few attempts at cleaning and climbing the right crack I swung left to the parallel crack (yellow line below). I was able to take this up back up to the top at a more reasonable grade 5.10/11.

My attempts at the Triple Cracks

Back on the summit ridge we had to get moving since there was still a couple hundred feet of traversing and climbing to go. The sun had started sinking to the horizon and I expected we would be finishing the descent in the dark. With little fanfare we made it to the summit and figured out the route back to our home base near the lake.

As soon as we reached camp sleep came fast. Despite the short number of pitches, it had been a long day with two plus hour leads for both Casey and I. The reward was a new line, maybe free climbable, but definitely at the extreme limits of our ability. I wager the crux second pitch is 12c at a minimum and most likely somewhere around 5.13a, with a 10-20 foot crux section. The next pitch should go at hard 5.11 or easy 5.12 and the last pitch went free at 5.11a.

Looking up at the start of The Flying Buttress.

With a large amount of doubt around the immediate feasibility of the Dr. Bear Love Project we decided to climb the The Flying Buttress. This route features a steep roof hand crack on the 3rd pitch, which had been described as one of the best in the Sierra. With topo in hand and less unknown variables we worked our way back up Merriam. I would lead the first two 5.11 pitches and Casey would get the second two. Tip toeing through the occasional broken rock and shattered granite it was clear that this route was newly climbed. We trundled what we could since there was no one else climbing in the area.

Casey is ready for glory hands!

Pausing with my feet next to a piton, that provided the sole protection for this section, I punched it to a series of sharp fingerlocks and abundant gear. Still pumped I continued up sweet thin hands over a bulge that lead to super clean granite and the anchor below a small roof. Casey followed without issue, cleaning some large hanging teeth, and I was climbing again in no time.

A splitter 4″ crack gave way to perfect hands and an awesome stance before the business. The crack jogged horizontally for 10 feet and again I put on my try hard face and gunned the rest to a stance at the end of the roof crack(seen above). Little did I know that there was more hard climbing yet to come. Glory hands gave way to a tricky face traverse (video below) and another small roof. Bits of lichen and granite rained on me as I tried to get my jams to stick. Pumped to the max I went into survival mode and heaved myself over the baby roof. An explosion of grunts kept the send in the bag as I made my way to a ok stance and a belay.

Sweet Face Traverse. (Video contains adult language)

With the supposed crux pitches behind us Casey set off on another pitch of stellar steep climbing. The cracks were getting cleaner and this pitch climaxed with dueling finger cracks, face holds and amazing movement. We had made it back into the sun and on a nice sloping ledge. A 40 foot wall of golden granite was the next course in the already phenomenal set of pitches. As said by Croft:

“A pitch higher we ran into another discontinuity: a 40 foot vertical headwall of orange ripples above a big ledge. Fortunately for my nervous ankles, a few decent gear pods showed up, but I still overgripped the twisty-turny holds and huffed and puffed.”

Casey post crux on the golden headwall!

I thought that this short section was the mental and technical crux of the route. Perfect choreography was necessary as Casey arranged tricky protection while fighting the pull of gravity in the thin alpine air. This short section of rock was the stage and Casey danced his way up. Gear was sparse and I was hopeful that the protection he placed was sufficient to keep him off the ledge. As finger pods opened up, hope grew and the final sequence revealed a glory jug at the top of the wall. I followed with difficulty, crimping the small undulations in the wall and made one step closer to the summit. Before the belay (seen below) was a final challenge of walking the plank. There was a 10 foot gap between me and casey that was filled with various sized chalkstone, stacked precariously like the tower in Jenga. Care was essential to our passage up the route.

Casey is psyched for the glory pitch to the summit.

Our excitement was bubbling over as I swung through and charged. Time spent at the Yosemite School of Wide helped me quickly dispatch the offwidth on the final pitch and soon I was running across the traverse to the ridge-line. It had been an amazing no-falls day on a superb route. It seems that we had made the 3rd ascent and I couldn’t wait to share the tale. The route was just soo good and presented a perfect amount of spice and difficulty.

Behind Casey is the huge capstone that you must traverse underneath.

The next day my energy was tapped, I was missing my sweetheart, and no longer had the drive to push my limits. The right Croft-Rands route, Gargoyle, would have to wait and I convinced Casey that we should do a quick lap up the North Buttress. The weather had been improving each day and we had been taking less and less cold weather gear. Racking up in the sun at the base I didn’t put enough thought into the shady aspect of our chosen route. As the pitches passed by we were chilled to the bone on the North Buttress.

For the first time all weekend we had company at Merriam and two other climbers had rallied to climb the North Buttress. As the day passed by the four of us inch wormed up the stellar route. The rock was often loose, and the climbing not as clean as the Croft route, but the position was astounding. Most impressive was the steepness of the majority of the pitches. It was crazy to climb overhanging cracks at 5.8 and 5.9. As well, many pitches looked intimidating from below, only to become stellar cracks once you started climbing them. The North Buttress is a classic route with an alpine feel and a need to take care with the loose rock.

This route was also a great finale to our Fourth of July adventure “weekend”. I was psyched to have done a new route, despite our inability to free-climb the pitches. It seemed that there was more potential around, but the rock required much more cleaning than I expected. I highly recommend the The Flying Buttress , more info and beta can be found on Mountain Project.

Thanks for reading,

Luke

Three Amigos on the Triple Direct

Trip Reports 2 Responses »

Oct 302012

It was dark and I had not moved in over an hour. The air was still warm from a beautiful spring day in Yosemite. Below I could hear the occasional signs of movement, a flash of light from a headlamp and perhaps a curse aimed at the rock. In spite of the ropes tethering me to my comrades, I was alone.

I had gotten myself into this situation. Was it a mess, a disaster, or just slow? I had to keep a positive attitude. We had to keep going. Every day on El Capitan is a good day!

Ambition mixed with obsession and two willing friends had gotten me eighteen pitches up the Triple Direct. I had spent way too long on the crux of the route before we veered off towards the Nose. Night had fallen as I waited at the belay for Jonathan and Casey. The darkness had come quickly, reducing the world to the eight foot bubble of my headlamp. At least the darkness had taken away the exposure.

Luke and Lizzy jugging up the fixed lines to the Heart ledges

After climbing the Nose, I was anxious to get back on the route to have another crack at the amazing upper pitches. I thought it would be fun to try and free climb more above the Great Roof. Jonathan and Casey are two of the most psyched climbers I know and they are always up for a challenge even when its something of a whole new level. Aid prep included a mere week and a half of notice. Techniques were described by email and I spammed them heavily with diagrams, links and photos.

Casey jugs the fixed lines as we hauled our luggage to Mammoth

Casey, Lizzy and, I spent our first day jugging up to the Mammoth Terraces and hauling the bags. We also fixed a rope on the “first” aid pitch of the Muir to give us a head start the following day. The next morning Casey and I climbed the Freeblast while Jonathan, having just drove in from the bay, jugged the fixed ropes to meet us at Mammoth. I pulled on gear as needed so the Freeblast was not very free, nor much of a blast, but we got back to up to Mammoth by mid day. Jonathan was eagerly waiting for us and thus began the three man shuffle.

Team Stefurak doing some baggage handling on the Heart Ledges.

I’ve climbed a few walls before but this would be my first time with three people. One plus was that I have done a good amount of short fixing, so I was confident that I could self belay as long as the aid wasn’t too hard. Another plus was that I had already climbed both the Freeblast and the Nose. This made me look past the fact that my partners had no aid experience beyond jugging up the fixed lines. I consoled myself with the notion that solid fitness and enthusiasm can overcome most things.

Casey is psyched as we moved up the Muir

Over my years of multi-pitch and aid climbing experience, I’ve learned that you are never as fast as you want to be. Once we got the three man machine in motion, we made good time up to the Grey Ledges. Unfortunately, our momentum had to stop for lunch and it took time to discuss and figure out the next pitch, which involved free-climbing, traversing, and getting the bags safely to the next belay. Logistics are more complicated when the hauling monkey has to be lowered out onto a free-hanging haul line. You don’t want to send your friend on a 50 foot swing of doom!

I lead off towards the Grand Dihedral of the Muir Wall and became the slowest link in the chain. Jonathan was our hauling monkey and would zip up the haul line once I fixed it. Casey would wait for Jon to start hauling before he could ascend the lead line. In the meantime, I would keep on leading by belaying myself. When everyone was moving this system was perfect!

Luke leads the Grand Dihedral while Jonathan hauls.

This brings us back to the darkness, the isolation, and the pondering. How much is too much? How far out of my comfort zone do I want to be? I can imagine that these are things you ponder when soloing big walls. At least when I was short fixing there was not much time to think. The day flew by with constant problem solving and perpetual upward motion.

Eventually the team reunited and I lowered off into the darkness to start the first horizontal pitch. Swinging towards the Nose, I found myself inside a veritable geode. Quartz exploded from the wall in a variety of shapes and angles. Free climbing was a nice change as I scampered up the 5.7 pitch until I found an anchor. The shining lights from Casey and Jonathan were barely ten feet above me but 100 feet removed. We hauled horizontally with the bags attached to both sides. We pulled off the complex engineering as the clock ticked closer to midnight.

The horizontal jugging and been a hassle and my anchor was 50 feet above our sleeping ledge. More headlamp powered shenanigans were had before we could settle in for a short night of sleep. The ledge was large but neither flat nor “awesome” (as quoted by the SuperTopo). A portaledge would have been divine!

Jonathan free climbs up to Camp 4

Casey enjoys Camp 4 on the Nose and the small trees below.

With the morning unpleasantries sealed up in our OpSack (smell-proof industrial ziplock), it was time for rock climbing. Casey free climbed and lead us to the Nose where our pace was sure to quicken. The bomber cracks of a trade route were a nice change from the less (much much less??) climbed Muir. We speed up to the great roof, where I made a mistake with pitch lengths and basically ran out of rope (supertopo shows you using a higher belay that currently has only one bolt) . Some shenanigans later, we were all moving again and the short fixing machine was well oiled. The climbing was so much easier than the day before and my recent ascent of the Nose was paying dividends.

Casey free climbs on the pitch after Camp 4

Luke leading the Pancake Flake Photo by Tom Evans

I was really getting better at french free and we were at Camp Six in no time. There are some hard moves to get to the glowering spot, but I was flying up the easier cracks, happy to cam jug and back clean as frequently as possible. Despite our forward momentum, I didn’t want to hoard the experience. For a complete El Cap experience, Casey and Jonathan “needed” to lead some aid.

Jonathan just above the Great Roof (with Casey cleaning the previous pitch)

I was relieved that the changing corners were no longer a faucet of water and green slime (as it often is in the early spring). The ascent had come full circle as I lay upon the smooth granite of Camp 6. A bubble of light turned on as Jonathan arrived at the belay after the changing corners, his first aid lead. Casey’s light moved upwards, leaving me momentarily alone. Our forward progress had slowed down as the three man machine stopped at each anchor, lingering and regrouping before heading up into the darkness.

Enjoying some R&R at Camp 6

Jonathan leads the famous Changing Corners pitch.

Before long, chaos broke as a NIAD team came upon us. New voices added excitement and frustration to the final steep pitches. It was amusing to see the bag-less team shuffle past us hoping to make the summit before their 24 hour curfew expired. The five of us were a mess of ropes and headlamps working to regain level ground.

As Casey lead the final pitch the unmoving bodies of his followers were subjected to the wind and cold of night. The reek of urine filled my nose as I shivered at the last belay. Lost in the darkness, Casey couldn’t find the anchors on the summit. As the first rays of twilight filtered across the valley, the ropes pulled tight. Hours had passed without communication and we were hopeful that the ropes were properly fixed and Casey was safe on the summit. Jonathan’s silhouette bounced slowly skyward on the free hanging line. It was almost over.

Morning light gave us a second wind on the summit. We were now many hours overdue and my wife was surely worried. I had planned on going into work, but it seemed that El Capitan had other plans for me.

The march down was easy in the daylight with gear distributed among the three amigos. We had topped out a little less than 48 hours after leaving the ground. Sleep was sacrificed for the experience and we got a full helping!

Always remember that every day that you spend on El Capitan is a good one!

- Luke

Epicness in the Evolution Range

Trip Reports 7 Responses »

Oct 022012

Gaining endless elevation in the High Sierra (All photos taken by Julie!)

The more I reflect on our epic 17-hour journey through High Sierra passes and meadows, the more appropriate the name of this area: the Evolution Group. The mountains that served as the backdrop for our adventure are named after famous evolutionary scientists, but for me, this was about more than just Darwin.

I am still a very new ultrarunner-wannabe. I have many things to learn and fortunately/unfortunately, I always learn more from an epic experience than from a perfectly executed run. This particular run was a perfect representation of my evolution as a mountain runner, where my acquired skills were key, but I still struggled with issues I haven’t worked out yet. Moving forward, the theme remains the same – I hit a new wall during this run and I will need to adapt to move past it. But enough with vague generalizations. If you came looking for photos and nitty gritty details, here they are:

Run statistics:

Distance – 36.2 miles

Elapsed time – 17:03:01

Moving time – 13:20:54

Elevation gain – 9209 ft

Sunrise – check.

Sunset – check.

Distance traveled while above 10,000ft: ~30 miles.

Starting off with moonlight aplenty

Sunrise!

On Saturday afternoon we (Julie, Brittany, and I) went up the Lamarck Lakes trail to locate where the use trail started. We found it easily and turned around a little after 3 miles up, making for a fairly relaxing acclimatization hike/run and giving us some familiarity with terrain we’d be covering in the dark on Sunday morning. Back at camp, we got our running stuff together, ate pasta, and got a relatively early bedtime, alarms set for 4am.

On the way up to Lamarck Col

The moon was still nearly full, so it was pretty bright out at 4am while we forced down some oatmeal and put on sunscreen. Matt was kind enough to drop us off at the trailhead in the North Lake campground (this saves you half a mile, plus you don’t have to go back up the North Lake road to retrieve the car at the end of the day), so before we knew it we were shivering in the dark, getting blinded by the camera flash, only about 15 minutes after our goal start time of 5am.

Golden rays on a cold morning.

On the use trail to Lamarck Col

The climb to Lamarck Lakes went by quickly by headlamp and we were soon on the use trail to Lamarck Col, which is such a good trail it kind of seems a travesty to call it just a “use trail”. Sunrise was beautiful, temps were perfect, and our mood was excellent. On the final scramble up to the Col, we ended up taking a direct line scrambling through the talus. Having just climbed North Peak the weekend before, the talus scrambling was pretty fun for me – I even got to crawl through a little tunnel. Apparently Julie got a bit off-route and ended up doing some sketchy 5th class moves, prompting our first motto of the day: “If it’s 5th class, you’re going the wrong way.” Lamarck Col, at almost 13,000ft, was the highest I’d ever been, but I felt great. We paused to take a couple photos and headed down into Darwin Canyon.

The Evolution Trio!

The trails on the other side of Lamarck Col were the total opposite of the trail coming up from the east. There are about a zillion discontinuous social trails heading down the steep hillside to the lakes and we could never run more than a couple strides without slowing down to scramble over some boulders. Once we got to the lakes, the going didn’t get much easier – there is a continuous trail along the north edge of the lakes, but it still involved more rock hopping and scrambling than running. The terrain got easier once we got out onto Darwin Bench, but we lost the trail. A lot. This prompted the next two mottos: “Is it still trail running if you’re not on a trail?” and “Is that a cairn?”.

Onwards to the MOON!

Coming down into Darwin Canyon

Needless to say, I was pretty psyched to finally reach the JMT. It’s pretty darn easy to follow the JMT. The trail slowly climbs about 1000ft up to Muir Pass over about 7 miles, going past really beautiful alpine lakes and with the Evolution peaks to your left. I had definitely started to feel the elevation, but still felt fine, if out of breath, until the last climb to Muir Pass. By the time we were sitting in the Muir Hut, my stomach was starting to voice dissatisfaction and I was feeling totally out of energy. I tried to take in as much food as I could before we set off on the next 8.5 mile segment down to the low point of the day at the junction with the Bishop Pass trail.

One of the beautiful Darwin Lakes

Plenty of boulder hopping.

Normally I can relax on mellow, semi-technical downhill, but the Lamarck Col route and the elevation were taking a toll on my body. Julie and Brittany were incredibly patient, though, repeatedly telling me they didn’t mind my seemingly excruciatingly slow pace. At some point I couldn’t really run the downhill anymore, even though my legs felt fine. I just had no energy and the massive final climb up to Bishop Pass (~3000ft of elevation gain) was weighing heavily on my mind.

“Is this a cairn?”

Pretty peaks

I still was not feeling much better when we started climbing to Bishop Pass. We stopped a couple times to refill water and try to consume more food. At some point Brittany just started telling me to eat something every 15 minutes, which did seem to help a little, even though I was only really eating one shot blok each time. The sun set on the final climb to Bishop Pass, which was beautiful but demoralizing. We paused on the pass to send the boys one last inReach message and consume more food, before starting the final 6 mile march down to the South Lake trailhead.

The sun sets on the climb to Bishop Pass

My legs still didn’t feel that bad, but darkness, stomach, and lack of energy were still preventing running. We were speed-hiking ~20 minute miles, which seemed to take longer the closer we got to the end. I almost couldn’t believe I was really seeing the silvery glow of South Lake off to our left, but I knew that it had to be. We stumbled out into the parking lot, where the boys were waiting with warm cars and a giant pot of macaroni and cheese.

So it’s obvious that nutrition/stomach management and altitude are two major factors that I’m still trying to figure out. But on the upside, my feet, which got destroyed by blisters on the High Sierra Camp loop, were perfect with some pre-taping advice from Fixing Your Feet and my knee, which had a pretty bad case of patellar tendinitis after HSC, felt great after 3 weeks of resting and rehab. But if I want to keep doing runs like this, these are important lessons to learn. The body is a complicated system and it’s hard to manage everything at the same time. What works for one person won’t necessarily work for another. For now, I’m taking a break from super ridiculous mountain runs to focus more on getting back to climbing and training for TNF EC 50k, which will probably take me less than half the time to go only a few miles less far. But I have survived and learned – my body and mind are smarter and stronger. I will adapt.

Older Entries

The Zion Traverse

Route Beta: Free Climbing Scarface on Liberty Cap

Route Overview:

Pitch by Pitch Beta:

Two Weeks at Indian Creek

Adventure Punks and Drifting in Red Rocks

Striking Gold in the Shadow of Basket Dome

Route Beta:

GPS Approach Beta:

Miwok Dike:

Staircase of Frozen Tears:

Lost in the Sun, First Continuous Ascent

24 Hours of Horseshoe Hell – Guest Post by Dr. Williams

Finding Adventure on Merriam Peak

Three Amigos on the Triple Direct

Epicness in the Evolution Range

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