Yosemite Valley - Oct 19-20, 2019

[lizolas]

Yosemite Valley

October 19-20, 2019

Climb	Grade	Pitches	Type
Aid Route	5.11b (C1-ish?)	1	Aid
Jamcrack	5.9	2	Trad (swapped leads)
Absolutely Free, Center	5.9	5	Trad (swapped leads)
Positively 4th Street	5.9	1	Trad

Ben was going to the Valley to climb with Tyler, so I asked if he’d give me a ride to climb with Lani. We left on Friday evening - for once - arriving on Hardin Flat Road about 10 pm. Ben and Tyler were doing the Steck-Salathe on Saturday, so they started at the trailhead at 5 am. After about an hour of waiting for it to be time for normal people to wake up, I met Lani at Curry Village and we slowly started our day. It was cold, and I think we’re mutually not terribly motivated to touch rocks when it’s cold.

We went to the Aid Route on Swan Slab at Ben’s recommendation. We were looking for a place to practice aid climbing that wouldn’t be in the way of people actually trying to start up El Cap. The start of the route is 11b if freed, and I was happy to have Lani to put the rope up on the first 3 bolts. I’m not sure I could have even gotten to the first bolt without a little toprope assistance. Then the move from the 2nd to 3rd bolt involves an intermediate hook which, while a relatively good placement, was not terribly confidence-inspiring as the very first aid placement I ever made. After the bolts it’s all good cams to the anchor. Except that I found out you have to be more careful with your gear than I was being initially. Eventually I ended up somewhere that I had no more gear that would work, and I was on terrain that was no more than 5.7-5.8, but wearing approach shoes that couldn’t handle the smearing required of them. Lani finished the pitch in climbing shoes and built an anchor so she could toprope it after I cleaned it. I then got to practice jugging a line [universal hand motion] and cleaning the pitch. I’m sure it was not the most graceful thing I’ve done. While I was finishing up cleaning, another party of 4 showed up wanting to practice aid skills. She said she was just going to toprope it once and try to free the start, and then we’d be done.

We let the next party have the route and walked around the corner to see if anything interesting was free. Absolutely nothing was free besides the pin scars route, so we went back to the van to contemplate our options. We decided on Lower Yosemite Falls Amphitheater. I would try aiding Ranger Crack if it was free (I had a feeling it wouldn’t be), otherwise Lani would do one of the low 10s in the area. As I suspected, there were 4 or 5 people in multiple parties waiting for Ranger Crack, so we went to Lightweight Guides, a 5.10b thin crack in a corner. Lani put the rope up for me to toprope. I trailed a rope for another party who’d gotten in line. Their leader wasn’t sure she wanted to lead this route. She did fine toproping it, so I think she was just unsure about Valley grades, as they were visiting for their first time from Alaska. I almost toprope sent it, but I hung once to get a stubborn nut out. I also don’t think I would have tried half those moves if I’d been leading, especially not my high-foot mantle solution to getting through the crux.

While we were there, I’d decided that I actually wouldn’t really be happiest leaving my climbing for the day at one (really ⅔ of one) aid pitch. As we were finishing up at the Falls area, we got a text that Ben and Tyler were about half an hour from the top of the Steck-Salathe. We’d been assuming we would give up and be back in camp first, but I suggested we go try to find Jamcrack. It’s not that it should be hard to find, but the last time I went looking for it - despite having been there before - I couldn’t find it. This time we found it with no difficulty, partly thanks to the large group of people we could hear from the trail. Fortunately the crowd was spread over several routes at the crag, and we only had to wait for one person to finish following Jamcrack before we could start.

Having already led the first pitch once, I had no strong feelings about leading it again, so Lani took the first lead. We got to the ledge and waited a few more minutes for the other party to finish what they were doing so we could use the anchor to climb. Then I started up what was said to be another straightforward, too-soft-for-a-Valley-5.9 pitch. The first half of the pitch is actually about the difficulty and style of the first pitch. In the second half it gets steeper and the crack narrows. Fortunately for me, there were still good footholds outside the crack and plenty of stances for rests and gear placements. I felt like the crux was just a move or two at the very end, right as the gear is running out but you can see the jugs to the next ledge just ahead of you.

Jamcrack belay ledge

After that, Lani toproped a couple of the 5.10c/d cracks that are reachable by climbing Jamcrack, and then we made our way back to the van by headlamp as it got dark. We’d succeeded in staying out later than the boys, anyway, since they were already back at camp and finishing dinner when we arrived. Izzy’s group had been doing Higher Cathedral Spire and due to Billy’s 10 am alpine start plus some routefinding errors on the way up and the way down, they didn’t get back until after 9 pm.

We eventually settled on a plan to climb Absolutely Free, Center, since Ben and Tyler were planning to have a more relaxed day, meeting in the parking lot at 8 am. Though it’s listed as 3 pitches on Mountain Project with both a description and comments making it sound not worth the effort, Ben had recommended it to both of us, and he doesn’t usually sandbag people into things they’ll hate. We had both misunderstood the approach description upon first read. What registered as “a long and difficult approach” was actually “a difficult approach” meaning it had some 4th to low 5th scrambling to reach the start, and “a long descent” but only if you walked off the ledge rather than rappelling, since the route is (maybe retroactively?) bolted for rappels with a 70m rope.

When we got to the point where we decided to rope up, I led the approach pitch, which consisted of exactly two 5th class moves from where we started (we’d already done some harder scrambling). Then it was just more walking on a trail around a corner until we got to the start of the official Pitch 1. I was very glad Lani led that one. While all the pitches on the route are 5.9, they vary dramatically in style. While she thought she was taking the 5.7 chimney variation, further inspection of the topo revealed that what we considered a chimney was in fact the “5.9 flake” option. I’m not sure if I could have done it clean without a backpack, but I definitely did not do it clean with the backpack.

In contrast to the wandering, awkward first pitch, the 2nd pitch is straightforward. I mean, aside from the part where we decided it started to the left, then once I’d gotten myself stuck on something I couldn’t easily downclimb, we realized there was a splitter crack on the other side of the belay. It’s listed as one pitch on Mountain Project but split into 2 on other topos. While the entire pitch both above and below the “optional belay” shown is described as “5.9 hands,” I didn’t find it to be at all the same style. It felt like two distinct pitches. After doing the first part - thin hands - bumping up my #1 because despite what the beta listed for gear, .75s were too loose to be great placements, I stopped at the optional belay. It’s a fairly distinct mini-ledge under a bulge. I missed the anchors at the time, but there are rappel anchors visible straight off to the left. While I’d stopped largely to recover some gear (and a little bit to be able to count it as 2 5.9 pitches), it turned out that the crack after the bulge didn’t have the same character at all. Instead it climbed a low-angle #2-#3 sized crack that I’d have described as 5.6-5.7, certainly not 5.9 hands. Toward the top I found it easier to exit the crack and make my way up the blocks to some manzanitas to use as an anchor. The move right out of the belay on that pitch could definitely have been 5.9, but I’m not convinced anything after it was.

Starting P2

Lani led the last pitch, and while I was glad to be on a toprope, I think I could have led it - in contrast to the first pitch, which I think would have been risky for me to lead. We got to the top along with another pair who had caught up to us as they were taking the offwidth variation for the last pitch while we used the fingers (or lieback, I’m not actually convinced we did the fingers). We started rappelling, and the actual rappels went without issue, although at our reorganization ledge (the top of P1), I set the cams on a rock I didn’t realize had a cam-eating crack on the side, and when Lani picked them up, one fell irretrievably into it.

It turns out you can use your crackers to cut your cheese if you forget a knife.

On the way out I stopped at Positively 4th Street, which Ben and Tyler were climbing, while Lani went back to her van. I thought I was just waiting for them to get done and then we’d all head out, but it didn’t even take any arm-twisting for me to agree when Ben asked if I wanted to lead it, and Tyler offered to belay me. I had no gear on me, and what they’d brought was fine, but maybe less than I’d have brought, knowing I’d sew it up. I think it was actually an appropriate amount of gear. After the first couple pieces went in I stopped being convinced I was going to fall and break my ankles. After the initial flake where I placed 3 or 4 pieces, the climbing gets much lower angle, and to conserve my gear I didn’t place any more until just before the roof, where it gets steeper again. I placed 2 pieces under the roof, attempted the traverse, and...took my first real fall onto a cam. The hands were actually fine, but the feet were much harder than I was expecting. The description of the route says the roof is “reminiscent of Commitment,” but Commitment actually has really good feet for the roof traverse. I got back up under the roof, and, using a foothold I’m not sure would be customary to use way off to the side, fairly easily pulled myself up and over the flake. From there it was lower angle again, up to a ledge with the anchor. Just in case I had any shred of ego left, Tyler followed the pitch - without falling - wearing Teva sandals.

”Foot jams were surprisingly bomber”

I think Ben may be onto something with the idea that “you don’t have to set the world on fire every time you go climbing.” Where previously my “first _____ climb” routes had always been something intentionally not soft - like doing an old-school “awkward” pitch for my first 5.8, or leading the crux pitch on a backcountry route at 12,000’ - when it comes time to actually start pushing physical ability on individual moves or sequences, it helps to take some of the rest of that away. On Saber Ridge I wasn’t willing to commit to pushing myself with a 15-mile hike out. But 3 minutes from the car in Yosemite Valley, I was absolutely willing to do moves I wasn’t 100% sure about. Getting myself into less ledge-y terrain, I realized that I’m actually pretty willing to just try until I fall. I know how to place gear (in granite). I know how to fall safely. I might even start bouldering more seriously.

I would have been happy to have sent Positively 4th, but I’m also happy to have fallen. I really wasn’t looking for a story where it turned out I’d been climbing 5 grades below my limit for years and could actually flash everything I touched. I wanted a story where I finally started trying hard and getting a little bit out of my comfort zone. Without the recent practice - starting in July this summer - on cracks in the gym, I’d never have been able to lead most of what I’ve led since then. It turns out the secret was being willing to fail at things until I eventually made progress. My New Year’s Resolutions might have been a bit much for the way things ended up working out, but I think the one thing I did right was to make the goal “get the rope up” rather than “send.” There’ll always be time for sport climbing next year.