consider the climbing

Just like other body movement practices climbing reveals itself more and more with repitition. Yoga postures and transitions flow in new ways with each session. Playing the guitar becomes an expression of the internal once the muscle movements are well learned.

Right now I am in one of those lucky moods where my climbing is an expression comfort. Finger locks reveal themselves and all at once I'm connected to the rock through my senses and emotions. My feet find the holds. My body adjusts and moves up the wall with just the right amount of effort.

Not that it is easy to move vertically. Difficulties are encountered. Technique meets power and you move upward with your speaking mind momentarily silenced. This is when the best moments of meditation are combined with a physical intensity that becomes graceful rockclimbing.

The real trick is carrying this memory when you no longer have the rock to guide your body and mind.

weekend warrior

When you get weather like this there is only one place to be: the Valley. With perfect temps and two days to climb we returned to Yosemite for another serving of granite rockclimbing.
Approaching the Nose with the intent to climbing to Dolt Tower we ran into two parties. One team of two was about to rig the fixed lines to Mammoth Ledges and the other fellow from Eastern Europe was looking for the start of the Nose so he could rope-solo the route.

On pitch one of the Nose I quickly gave up trying to free the reachy 10d pin scar moves and instead grabbed the fixed gear hanging right in front of my face. What can I say? Old habits die hard. Allen had better luck on second and managed to make it through with some funky knee bars. The rest of the pitches up to Sickle Ledge were sweet and I really enjoyed cleaning the last traverse to the ledge. Grated the hell out of two knuckles just by brushing them against some super sticky piece of granite.

At the ledge we parked our selves at the belay and watched a show unfold before our eyes. The party with a red portaledge we had spotted while approaching had only managed to move their bags two pitches up. Another party of two was in the process of retreating from the top of the seventh pitch.

Upward progress looked grim for us day climbers so we did the four raps to the ground and walked over to the Manure Pile Buttress. I pulled the mantle roof on the last pitch of Nutcracker just as darkness crept in. Despite the seriously wet pitches and the long waits behind two uber slow climbers the climb was classic. I hope to climb it many more times!

Spring Fling

Just got back from the Valley over the weekend. On Saturday we were up on Serenity Crack and Sons of Yesterday. Was the first pitch of Serenity Crack wet? It wasn't wet. It was green and slimy and dripping. Wow. But anyway it went down and the rest of the climb was even better than I remembered. Talk about splitter.

At the top of the climb, sitting 900 feet above the Awahnee, I watched the gray clouds move and swirl around the Cathedral group. Just before twilight the sun split through the clouds and two planes left white trails against a blue window.

the whole Spring thing

When the trees are pushing green shoots and you see gatherings of this sort you know a new season is in the making. We spotted a bunch of these ladybug clusters hiking back from a day of cragging at the Pinnacles this past Saturday. Here are two more of the ladies initiating an age old rite of spring.






Anyway...Saturday was a good day out at the old Pinnacles. My friend Steve and enjoyed the mild weather and sunshine as we hit up some repeats at the Discovery Wall. The later part of the day saw me leading out on a really fun 5.7 R on the Monolith. You start the climb from the top of a boulder that sits above the caves. The first bold is about fifteen feet up and out hanging over the dark caves below. Fun stuff! From the top of this little treat of a climb we top roped a very fun 5.10a that we will be sure to check out on the sharp end next trip.

Next weekend we are off to Consumme River Gorge on the other side of Sac. We have heard rumors of granite cracks at 1,200' elevation. The forecast is for sunny skies and fun trad leads on Saturday.

Yosemite in January

camp four has never looked so good!!!























half dome, always looking good























january is a good month for climbing























free form snow piece

pinnacles national monument and mount st. helena

mystic fog over sonoma and the pacific ocean

sunset at the pinnacles

11-28-08 Pinnacles National Monument Sport Climbing / Scrambling




On Saturday we climbed several nice routes at the Discovery Wall and a classic easy route up the proud face of the First Sister. I also soloed around the Sisters and explored several chimney pitches.



Sunday saw us hitting the Teaching Wall/Toprope pretty hard to get in laps for our friends! Way to go team! Then Steve took a lead on back side of the Teaching Wall on a 5.7 with huge chicken heads welded to the rock!

After that I pulled a 5.3 move onto the Camel's Back to set a top-rope for Ali Baba. Which was a sweet climb on a pillar!

12-7-08 Mount St. Helena Sport Climbing

12-7-08 Mount St. Helena Sport Climbing

Solar Power TR

The Ladder TR

TR Crack/Seam to the right of The Ladder at 5.10 liebacking and fingers

TR Crack at 5.9+









the moon above the bubble

and

my friend murdo

the View from up there

Hello friends and slackers. Welcome to this December 1 recap of our fall Yosemite excursion. As always, just getting to the Valley was half the battle. In typical bonehead fashion Bobbie-Joe nearly ruined everything by failing to secure a full week away from work. Luckily, the Tao is strong in Jeffertiti and the truncated schedule was accepted as the only way forward.

Jeffertiti arrived in California in the belly of a silver winged bird with a sack of gear and a new hair do. After high fiving in the airport parking lot for five minutes we piled into the car and retreated to the Mission to plan moves. Back at the Warehouse gear was sorted and everything was arranged for an am departure.

The second day of our trip began with a notable blessing from Phil himself of Philz Coffee. Fully caffeinated and with lots of metal bits in our possession we began the journey...

And then the traffic. The highway was on total lockdown. Smoke is rising from our hood. What the hell is going on? My stomach is sinking fast when all of the sudden we are rescued by the driver of a green minivan. Thanks for the secret beta around the traffic jam lady!

We do the drive in good style with no falls and enter the Valley with a cool rain falling. By early evening the rain has quit and we are positioned in our super secret bivy spot in the boulders above camp four. High above the valley floor we are happy monkeys. The Sentinel rises skyward from the other side of the valley as the fog drifts in and out of the tree tops like the ocean tide. The rhythmic melodies of a group of musicians jamming in camp four reach us in our magic spot.

The following morning we shoulder our loads and begin the approach. The Death Slabs are passed without incident and we position our selves at the base of the Regular Northwest Face of Half Dome. Holy shit. What a bivy site.