selaginella watsoni
I took a friend of 10 years for his first climb outside on Friday. Experiential learning: First Munginella and then Selaginella. On Munginella he was slow but fine. Later... I think it took him at least an hour to second the first pitch of Selaginella. Thats when I started counting the remaining hours of daylight. By the time we walked back into Camp Four barefoot, and then the car, it had been dark for two hours. While seconding the final pitch, he dropped a cam onto a ledge that was ten feet below him. His eyes were dark circles. He was thirsty. He was bug-eyed and out of his mind from exhaustion. I felt fantastic. The climb had totally blown his mind. Coming down in the dark was fun. Sitting at the belays watching the light move on Half Dome was fun. He climbed for two hours on 165 feet of hand cracks, and supposed off-widths and chimneys. That was new to me. Actually, I had tried to forget how slowly I climbed when I first encountered Yosemite's cracks. Every five minutes when I pulled a foot through the belay I smiled lovingly at my auto-locker. The traverse on the second to last pitch was perfect. A mini representation of the step-overs you find connecting the Valley's granite crack systems. Royal Arches. Serenity and Sons. The Rostrum. NEB of Higher Cathedral. Memories of these climbs flooded my mind while I waited patiently for my friend to find his way to the top of the wall. I guess climbing doesn't always have to be fast. He had a learning experience about the fundamentals of climbing while I shuffled at the belay and lectured myself about finding the patience needed to enjoy sitting on a beautiful granite wall listening to a dumping waterfall while letting my mind get lost in the dark streaks that cover the face of Half Dome. Yosemite is good.
