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| photo by Carlos |
I wanted to remember as much as I could, so I got myself a journal to write everything down at the end of the day. The thing is, I can't seem to find the journal in the apartment anymore. It's strange how that works. It doesn't matter though, because it feels like everything just happened yesterday.
It's going to a long post. More realistically, a series of posts. So read on if you have time... let the adventure begin!
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| photo by Keith |
Team Minivan consisted of the same characters as last year: Keith, Aaron, Kristian, Carrie, Max and I. Many of you may remember that our trip to the valley last year was an emotional disaster because Mother Nature wouldn't cooperate and it rained and even hailed while we were there. We cried and sobbed as we left the valley in search of dry rocks 8 hours away in Joshua Tree.
Undeterred by the mishap last year, we set our goal of going to the valley again this fall. After all, what are the chances of having bad luck two years in a row?
The sky was cloudy the first day that we arrived in the valley from San Francisco.
The entire time, we kept our spirits up and told ourselves that the overcast is just temporary. No one wanted to hear anything discouraging at the time. So we avoided the topic of weather our entire way into the valley. I put my headphones on and tried to just enjoy my music and get psyched about climbing.
It started drizzling in the afternoon.
Then rain.
Fuck, not again, I thought. But I didn't say anything.
It's okay, we knew that there is going to be 20% chance of rain. Aaron said to the group in a very calm voice. As the guy that booked the camp site and car, he felt responsible for keeping all of us in good spirit. Having 6 adults in the same minivan is tough.
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Team Biskrem must have arrived in the valley around the same time from San Francisco. Because this is one of the first photos that Adrian took of Carlos.
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| Who said it never rains in Yosemite???? - photo by Adrian |
* When Adrian and Carlos went to Bugaboos last year, one of the guys climbing asked Adrian (who is white) whether Carlos was his sherpa. Come on, people. So since then, Carlos is the sherpa.
For the rest of the trip, sherpa Carlos along with his master Adrian would send a lot of amazing 5-star classics in the valley. We were lucky to witness some of these ascents.
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Team Weneedananny also came and joined us in the valley. Yes you read it right, Brian and Nancy brought their baby and super-nanny Yvonne along. It was Yvonne's first time camping, along with baby Autumn. Thumbs up to Team Weneedananny! They would get up at 5AM so that they can climb early in the morning and come back for Autumn by around noon to spend time with her. It's tough being parents, but they make it work and still climb!
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| photo by Keith |
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As I mentioned in a previous post, Max and I had a few climbs on our tick list. The main climb that we really wanted to do was the East Buttress of Middle Cathedral. After talking to Carlos and Adrian, we found out that they were also interested in doing the same climb, so we planned to climb E. Buttress on the same day and reduce the number of ropes both parties need to bring. They also got us really psyched when they mentioned that we should also do the East Buttress of El Cap with them.
If we do both E. Butts and also Snake Dike, then we can say that we climbed three major peaks in the valley! Said Max with a lot of excitement. I was really looking forward to the long days of climbing as well. After all, that's what we are here for. Every day should be an epic day!
To warm-up on something a bit shorter, we hit the classic 5-star Nutcracker on the first day. It was a nice sunny day following the rainy one, so the climb was packed with at least 5 parties. It made me a bit nervous and not as relaxed to climb. Having so many people all around trying to summit the same peak on the same route can be stressful at times. I cannot imagine what it's like to summit Everest, where some parties are going to be slower and the faster parties trying to pass you. Nevertheless, it was a great crack climb. Max got to lead all the fun pitches, and I did one of the easier pitch.
Feeling a bit cheated by that deal, I wanted to make up for the lack of leading by going up After Six. Not paying real attention to the start of the climb (typical), I lead up After Seven instead. The crack just looked a lot more inviting than the dihedral, so I'm glad that I did After Seven instead. I'm not sure how After Seven is counted as 6 pitches, but we ended up doing it in 4 pitches. In fact, I was trying to do it in 3 pitches... I kept going after what I thought was the end of first pitch, and as I was continuing up on a more sustained section, I was suddenly stopped by my rope. Being the queen of drag from my experiences at the Gunks, I thought that was the problem initially. I tried to pull the rope up real hard.
YOU HAVE NO MORE ROPE! Max shouted.
Apparently he already tried to tell me earlier but I didn't hear him.
Whoops. Had to set up a hanging belay.
At the end of the first day, we actually did 11 pitches. So much for a warm up day!
The following day, we would plan to do the East Buttress of Middle Cathedral. Also 11 pitches, but more difficult than the 11 pitches we did the day before. Team Biskrem came by our campsite to plan out the meeting time so that we can start the climb together. We were going to be picked up at around 5:30AM for the adventure.
We went to bed early in preparation for the big day. Max was studying the topo like a bible.
I was not looking forward to the ascent and the descent, which is the same as the one we did last year for the Regular Route of Higher Cathedral Spire.
At least this time, I knew what to expect. I was ready.
to be continued...
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