Alpine Lifestyle in the Canadian Rockies: Yosemite Update #2

Monday, October 17, 2011

Yosemite Update #2 - Ups and downs

Oct. 17-19^th: Forced rest days... The “Camp 4 bug” has caught up to me. Quite a few people around Camp 4 seemed to have cold symptoms. I had low energy and a good case of the sniffles for a few days. Ian, a buddy from Monod Sports in Banff, brought me and a few other friends from Camp 4 to a massive rope swing that is at the base of El Cap. It was a blast! The 70m rope hangs from an overhanging alcove 100m off the ground. I figured that we must have been swinging out at least 80 meters! Quite the feeling!!! After dinner on the 19^th Pat and I biked a few minutes up the road to an overhanging boulder that had a bolt ladder to practice overhanging aid climbing.

Click on photos to enlarge.

Oct. 20^th: Cragging day at the Five Open Books area. We climbed “Surprise” with the 5.10c alternative start. It seemed to be the best way to start off the climb with a fun cruxy traverse move on small gear. Pat and I then walked back down and simul-climbed “Committed”. It’s a great 5.9 route with short and powerful cruxes. After dinner we went to the “Aid Route” on nearby Swan Slabs and practiced more aid climbing. This time it was on a mix of bolts and gear. It seems like we’re getting a good hand on the basics of aid climbing. Pat seems to start having symptoms of the Camp 4 bug!

A climber on a slack line at Camp 4.

Oct. 21^st: Pat Audrey (friend from Monod Sports in Banff) and I Simul-climbed Snake Dyke aka Snake Hike. The day consisted of 20km of hiking for eight pitches of easy and enjoyable climbing. We started up the trail at 09:00am and took the shorter alternative to reach the base of the climb. We passed two parties on the way up. One was a party of four which made them quite slow. We were glad they didn’t mind us passing. We were back in camp at 05:00pm for an early dinner. I had made plans to climb the Steck-Salathé (5.10b) on Sentinel Rock with Cian (a climbing buddy from Banff) tomorrow. After dinner I was on my way up to take a shower in Curry Village and fell off my bike. At first I thought that I had broken a bone around my ankle. But I was still able to bike back to camp and thought that maybe it was only a bad sprain. I had my personal physio (Pat) take a look at it. He determined that the tendons and ligaments were fine. He figured that it’s a chipped bone?

South Face of Half Dome.
A view from the start of Snake Dike.

Looking down the North face of Half Dome.

The fixed cables on the descent.

View from the East face of Half Dome.

Nevada Falls... On the walk back from Half Dome.

Oct. 22^nd: Forced rest day due to my ankle. It's nothing serious... I can walk around and put weight on it but can’t get much mobility out of the ankle. It seems like I’ll need to rest it for a few days. I guess that means more time to practice my aid climbing technique.

Oct: 23 & 24th: Rest day. Seems like the ankle is recovering quickly. Maybe it was just a bruise? Here are some photos from early this morning.

Click on photos to enlarge.