Yosemite Update; N-E Buttress of Higher Cathedral Rock

We jumped out the tent at 05:00am this morning to have a quick bite to eat and biked towards the North East Buttress of Higher Cathedral rock. After some elevation gain along the climbers trail and some boulder hopping along the way we reached the base of the climb at 07:00am. We were the first ones there! Seems like the longer hike kept most of the weekend crowd away. The climbing was definitely more physical than I expected. We knew that a good part of the climb involved chimney and off-width cracks. The length of the wide cracks had us sweating a lot on the way up. Neither of us had much practice on the awkward wide cracks which made them even more physically demanding than they needed to be. We wiggled our way up and topped out on the 12 pitch climb around 18:00h. Tired and mentally drained. I was happy to have done the climb. But I’m not convinced I enjoy wide crack climbing more than before. It’s a completely different technique! I guess it was good practice.

Unfortunately I didn't capture any photos of us climbing in the wide cracks due to the location of the belays. Here are a few from the climb.

Click on photos to enlarge.

Yosemite, CA

We arrived in the valley on the night of October 11^th. We were told at the Yosemite Park gates that almost all campsites were full. We wanted to stay at Camp 4 due to the climbing history which is also where most climbers stay. Unlike most camps this one was a drop-in. This meant first-come, first-served. We stopped by to hopefully catch up with some friends who were already there and found Camp 4 to be full as expected. We were told that people had been lining up quite early to get a spot in camp. We drove out of the park that night to sleep in the van and drove up to Camp 4 at 05:30am. By then there were already six people in line! We made ourselves comfortable and tried to stay warm while we waited in line for the camping registration to open at 08:30am. The six people who were already there were smart to bring a sleeping bag and sleeping pad to nap on while they waited. The early start had paid-off. Only 14 out of 25 people were able to get a camping spot that day. We climbed on a nearby busy crag called the “manure pile” that afternoon. On the 12^th we showed up at the base of the East Buttress of Middle Cathedral at 07:00h. During the climb we were slowed down by two parties ahead of us. We also got passed by two guys simul-climbing. The climbing was great although the amount of people on the climb took away from the experience. I guess that’s the price to pay for climbing in “the Valley” during the busy climbing season. On the 13^th we woke up even earlier to climb the East Buttress of El Cap. We showed up at the base at 06:30h to find two climbers already there and about to start the climb. One of them was a well known Japanese alpine climber named Jumbo which I had heard of before from a friend. It was fun to share climbing stories at the belays with him. Today (Oct. 14^th) is a rest day. We’ll spend it bouldering near camp and doing a well needed laundry.

The famed "El Cap"



A different view of El Cap.



The third pitch on the East Buttress of El Cap.

Morning shot of Yosemite Falls.

Yosemite Falls

El Cap during sunrise.

Can you spot the big wall climber on El Cap?



Drive to sunny California?

We took the scenic way towards Yosemite by heading west through Oregon to reach the coast and then took Hwy 101 South. To get there we passed by the small logging town of Coos Bay in Oregon. The town doesn’t have much for tourist attractions. I have known it as the hometown of my running idol Steve Prefontaine. Pat and I went out to run around town for the sake of it and came across a high school track. As I ran a lap on the track, it opened my eyes to how a guy from such a small town had a big impact on me and plenty of others. We continued south on highway 101 to reach California where it rained continuously on the drive. We plan to be in Yosemite tonight (Oct. 10th).



Sunrise near Redman, Oregon.

One of the famous quotes by Pre.

Colours along the drive to the coast of Oregon.

California beach.



Smith Rocks, OR

A few photos during sunrise... before arriving to Smith Rocks.

We settled down for the night a few miles north from Terrebonne, Oregon along a quiet side-road. Terrebonne is a small town close to Smith Rocks State Park (about 3 miles away). We had a kind welcome to the town when we stopped for coffee at a small drive through “coffee shack”. We’ve been getting by with paying everything in the U.S. using our credit cards (gas & food... our only expenses) and didn’t bother having cash on us so far. The place only took cash. The nice lady at the counter said to take the coffee and stop by next time to pay for both. Fuelled with caffeine we drove to Smith Rocks State Park to settle down for a bit and climb for the next few days. We were glad to have our bikes to reach the climbs which were only a 10min ride from the campground. There was a fun downhill section on the way to the climbs and a gruelling uphill to get back to camp. Over our four days at Smith Rocks we had sun during the day with rain overnight on our first two nights. We had a chance to climb on rock that was formed by volcanic ash that was originally over half a mile thick. The rock had some interesting hueco formations on the main wall. These large hollow pockets were a blast to climb. Most of the rock had smaller crimpy features with one or two finger pockets along the wall. On our first day we sport climbed on the Morning Glory wall and climbed fun routes in the 5.8-5.11a range. The bolts seemed generally more run-out than I was used to. They still offered good protection. The harder 5.11a was a good mental workout. The crux was a few feet above the second bolt and offered good airtime as I fell on the few tries I took before passing by. On the second day we took a rest day to help recover our raw fingertips. It was hard not to climb since it turned out to be a nice sunny day. On the third day we climbed two classic gear routes. The first one was on the West face of Monkey Face (5.8 A0, 4 pitches). What stood out on this climb was climbing up a bolt ladder into the mouth of the monkey face before stepping out onto the most exposed 5.7 at Smith Rocks. There was also a memorable 50m free hanging rappel. The second gear route was named Zebra Zion (5.10a, 3 pitches). The climbing was more interesting and demanding up a corner/crack system. The last pitch was known as the best 5.9 at Smith Rocks. The third day was spent climbing in the Cocaine Gully area where we warmed up on a 5.10b and projected a route known as the best 5.11b at Smith Rocks. Unfortunately we left it as unfinished business. I couldn’t get past the second crux at last bolt without taking a fall. On our last day we witnessed how many people come to climb at Smith Rocks on a nice Saturday during a long weekend. It became quite busy and we even had trouble finding climbs that weren’t occupied. We wanted to have another day of sport climbing before heading off towards Yosemite, CA tomorrow. Instead we should have gone to the Lower Gorge area that was suggested by someone since it is quieter. But it only had gear climbs. We could still get some sport climbing done but couldn’t jump onto any climb without waiting in line. Unlike the last few days we had here.

Smith Rocks has been the first stop where I felt surrounded by other climbers who were also on a climbing road trip. It was nice to meet new people who were heading off to the same climbing areas we planned to go next and were living the “climbing bum” lifestyle for a while. It seems like we’ll cross paths with a few of them again.





About to rappel off of the Monkey Face.




Free hanging rappel!



Last pitch of Zebra Zion (5.10a)



Last pitch of Zebra Zion



A climb named "Vomit Launch" (5.11b)

Hueco formations on the Morning Glory Wall.

Can you spot the Monkey Face?






Sun setting behind Smith Rocks.

Smith Rocks landscape

Trout Creek, OR

Oct. 2-4th

The climbing was unique to anything I’ve ever seen before. The basalt columns standing high up on the hill took about 30-40min to reach from the parking. We appreciated having our bikes along the flat section of the approach. The area was quite popular with fisherman also who floated along Trout Creek. Apparently it’s quite famous for Chinook and Steelhead fishing at certain parts of the year. I wished I had brought my fly rod out with me on the trip! The unique climbing was almost exclusively on cracks between the columns which made for great crack climbing practice. The climbs are so condensed and varied from thin fingers to wide fists and stem boxing which made it convenient to practice different techniques. They were very demanding climbs since all of them where very sustained and vertical. We were glad that a friend from Seattle suggested us to come here since we hadn’t heard of it before. Not too many people stop by here. When we walked up to it I remembered seeing a photo of the place on the cover of Climbing Magazine a while ago and thought it was a really cool place. I was glad I accidentally had a chance to climb here.

Click on photos to enlarge.

The sun setting  with the crag high up on the left hillside.
Photo taken from the parking.

One of the many climbs along the columns.

A panoramic view opposing the climbing area. Trout Creek bellow.

Day on the road

We slept at a truck stop near Takima. Then drove to Madras, OR before heading to nearby Fish Creek.

I woke up as the sun rose and saw the potential for a nice photo with the nearby bridge and also stopped along the way for other landscape photos. The last two were the results of a recent fire that destroyed a large area of fields owned by farmers.

Click on photo to enlarge.

 

Leavenworth, WA (short gear climbs)

The town of Leavenworth has an interesting twist. The old logging town turned to tourism and took on a Bavarian look. By chance we happened to be there at the start of Oktoberfest. A few people dressed in Bavarian outfits where walking the streets as we went to have dinner on our last night in town. As for the climbing, it was almost all traditional (All gear, no bolts). All of the climbs we did involved walking off the backside afterwards. We found some of them tough for the grade (sandbagged) given in the older guidebook we were given. Most of the climbing was on lower angled rock (slab) with fun cracks. We started off our first day at an area called Castle Rock. The approach was short (10min) and the climbs were mostly good although the interesting climbing on the longer climbs typically only lasted for one pitch then rambled on. On the 30^th we drove up to Icicle canyon and had a day seeking out the recommended climbs around. The two routes we did on Givler’s Dome were great despite the longer approach (about 30min uphill). “Givler’s Crack” had a fun and long crack that lasted two pitches on lower angled rock. It was a contrast to “Bo Derek” which was slightly overhanging. We then used our mountain bikes to go the short distance up the road towards Duty Dome. It was a shorter hike up this time and the climbs we did were low angled slab. “Off Duty” was mostly bolted with a few gear placements along the way. The bolts were spaced out a fair bit which made things spicy. After dinner we began our drive towards the border of Oregon.

Here’s a list of climbs we did.

Sept. 29^th

Castle Rock (Lower):   The Fault (5.6)

                                     Catapult (5.8)

                                     The Bone (5.9)

                                     Smut (5.10a)

Castle Rock (Upper):   Angel (3 pitches 5.10-)

                                     Canary (2 pitches 5.8)

Sept. 30^th

Givler’s Dome:             Givler’s Crack (2 pitches 5.7)

                                     Bo Derek (5.10b)

Dudy Dome:                Heart of Gold (4 pitches 5.10-)

                                     Off Duty (5.10a)       

Castle Rock

Castle Rock, Angel (first pitch)

Givler's Dome, Bo Derek

A shot along the streets of Leavenworth at night.