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I woke up the next day with really sore quads. For some reasons, that is always the first part to go on my body. It's either the descent or the ascent. Definitely not from climbing, but climbing 1100 ft. in vertical distance was definitely the longest route that I have ever done. The other climb that was close to that was Moby Grape on Cannon.
Max was not affected by the previous day like I was. He was ready for more adventures. After some negotiation, I told him that I can climb at most 5 pitches on my rest day, although I did not feel like leading. Fine by him, since he LOVES to lead all the time anyways. It's amazing how climbing 5 pitches can be a rest day out here in Yosemite, because everything is so much larger in scale. That would be like going all the way up to the top of Cathedral in N. Conway!
Nothing too strenuous, easy day with 5 pitches. Right?
Let's go do Central Pillar of Frenzy, it's 5.9 and only 5 pitches. Said Max.
I knew that was a 5-star climb, and that Mark Synnott had also recommended that climb when I took the self rescue class.
It was not a rest day climb for me. Frenzy was probably one of the most strenuous 5.9 I have ever climbed. Totally Yosemite style, and totally sandbag. Ask anyone that has tried it. Especially climbers that are climbing close to their limit at that grade.
What makes it special, is the first pitch. It sets the tone for the rest of the climb. At least two other people that climbed the route has told me that they could not wait to get off the climb. As much as I enjoyed following it, I also felt somewhat that way.
So, back to the first pitch...
It's an awkward, somewhat polished dihedral that turns into a bit of a chimney of some sort. Max went up the climb and got stuck at the crux for a while before figuring out the beta (very unusual for him). It was just not that fun.
Then I followed up. There were already several parties waiting for us to go up, but we got lucky and were party #2. As I mentioned before, whenever there are parties right behind me, I get somewhat stressed and feel like I need to climb faster. Either that or I just didn't wake up from my morning coffee yet.
As I got to the middle portion of the dihedral where there is some semi-chimney, I struggled my way up and tried to wedge my ass on part of the corner. When I did that, something slipped out of my harness and started tumbling down the climb.
ROCK! Someone yelled. But it was not the rock. It was Max's camera that I forgot to sling onto my harness. It bounced off he rock and the lens broke into a million pieces. Max was pissed at my inability to take care of the camera and I was also pretty annoyed that I was not as attentive. Needless to say, I do not have any photos to put on this entry. Luckily, Aaron had an extra camera, so Max was able to take more photos after the mass camera destruction.
Don't worry, I bought insurance from Best Buy, so we're good. He later told me. It made me feel much better because that camera was relatively new. I guess he knew that one day, I was going to be that person that drops his camera 50 feet down the cliff.
I'm not finished yet. With the dropping, that is.
After being a bit frazzled from the camera destruction, I fumbled a bit when I was cleaning the pros. I must have not clipped one of the draws completely back on my harness, and it flew down the cliff (again) as the people below us yell ROCK once again. Payback time for dropping my No. 1 C3 the day before (not).
I swear, the people below us kept their distance after that. We didn't really see them until we were on Pitch 3.
The rest of the climb was amazing. P2 had a beautiful, sustained thin hand then finger crack. P3 had a big roof then some insanely large offwidth. It's one of those pitches that you don't think would be that hard after the BIG roof, but then you go above it and realize that there is a lot more.
Max ran that pitch OUT. That's because he is that bad ass, but also because he had already used his best pieces of pro below the roof. Lucky for him, there was a booty 4 or 5 stuck in the offwidth, and so he was able to clip his rope onto that. Brian from Team Weneedananny climbed it a few days later and told us that he kept his #4 or #5 and just kept sliding it up.
P4 was a beautiful fist crack. Also very sustained all the way up.
P5, like a great symphony, wraps the whole theme of the climb up and has a mixture of everything from the first four pitches.
The climb had a great view of the El Cap Meadows and the Captain himself. I was relieved to have finished the climb, and wished that I was less tense than I was. It was a lot of struggle for me, but definitely worth it.
The following day, we were both tired, and actually took a real rest day and went hiking at the Lower Falls.
I will come back for you again Central Pillar of Frenzy. Next time, I know what to expect from you.
to be continued...
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