A mild case of burnout

After our adventures on Leaning Tower and a subsequent trip up Middle Cathedral's East Buttress, I seemed to have contracted a case of burnout. We think that the main cause was spending too much time aid climbing and not doing enough free climbing. A week off seems to have done the trick, as I am excited to get back on the wall.

I have spent some time wandering around Yosemite and have got to enjoy the park from the viewpoint of a standard tourist. Anyway I hope you enjoy the photos.

Vernal Falls- Mist Trail

Half Dome

Upper Yosemite Falls

We Made It!!!

Cam and I have completed our second Grade V wall. The West Face of Leaning Tower consist of about 400 ft of 3rd and 4th class scrambling, 10 pitches of overhanging aid, and a final 4th class pitch to the summit.

This is the most aid intensive climb that both Cam and I ever plan on climbing. It was a very good experience, but we are really psyched on doing some free climbing again. Check out the video of the climb and look forward to some more free climbing footage.

We failed to catch it on film, but I got to take my first aid whipper on this climb. There is a trick section on the first pitch between two of the bolt ladders. Typically this sections has fixed gear (copper heads) that make it fairly straight forward. Unfortunately, they were not in place, so I had to make 2 body weight placement in a row. The second piece I places was somewhat blind and after committing to it, POP-POP...both pieces went!

It was a very clean fall due to the overhanging nature of the rock and the solid bolt below me, but exciting none the less. I estimate with the two pieces popping and the slack in the system, I fell about 20+ ft. Gotta love aid climbing.

Note: At one point in the video, I'm not wearing a helmet. This was because the camera was attached to it. Ironically during this 2 minute window in which I took my helmet off was the only time Cam dropped or knocked something off from above. It made for good footage, but talk about bad timing.

Big Wall #2

West Face of Leaning Tower (stolen from mountainproject.com)

Both Cam and I have been bitten with the big wall bug. Our time on Washington Column has got us psyched. We were planning on doing a long free climb this week, before climbing another big wall, but the way the weather is looking, it looks like the time is now.

Tomorrow morning, we are going to lug the haul bag up to the base of the Leaning Tower and attempt to climb the West Face Route (5.7 C2F). Something that makes the West Face super exciting is that nearly the entire route is overhanging. This makes the climbing a little more strenuous. But, this also will make the hauling a little easier, due to the fact that the haul bag will be free hanging in space and not dragging up the wall.

Our current plan is to climb 6 pitches our first day and then rappel back down to a very large belay ledge at the top of pitch 4, for a good nights rest. Then we will wake up the next morning and finished the remaining 5 pitches before descending off of the back side of the wall.

Yosemite Valley

While many mountaineering traditions began in the Alps, American rock climbing traces its roots to Yosemite Valley. Initially hesitant that this cradle of our sport would be either too difficult or overly hyped, Matt and I soon found that the Valley is peerless as a destination.

We got our feet wet by spending a week dodging the weather and enjoying the rock. Some of our favorite climbs so far are Reed's Direct and the Serenity Crack to Sons of Yesterday linkup. After enjoying ourselves for a week we headed back to Texas to visit our respected families.

Now back in the Valley, we have set our sights on bigger and better goals. The first big task on our to-do list is Washington Column's South Face, a quality entry level big wall climb. Incorporating hauling a bag, sleeping on the wall, aid climbing, and free climbing, the South Face proved an amazing all-around experience.

Now we have retreated to a local town to refuel and fix a broken brakelight.

A couple of the video clips feature large amounts of wind, so you might have to periodically crank up your speakers to hear what is going on.