After a nice long week of work, riding *almost* to the top of Diablo via moonlight (we think there was a private party up there...), playing soccer, and drinking.
A group of us went to see Cool Hand Luke at the Paramount Theater in Oaktown. I've never seen the movie before, and seeing Paul Newman on the big screen was pretty awesome. Then we drank at Van Kleefs, and so I didn't get home til around 1.
Sat. 3:30 am. Woke up, picked Messy up, and headed off to Yosemite. We had a few climbs in mind that neither one of us had done (Royal Arches -> Crest Jewel [overruled since we haven't climbed together for a while... and speed is key for that climb], East Butt of El Cap, etc.) but we settled on Serenity Crack (3 pitches, 10a, 10b, 10d) to Sons of Yesterday (5 pitches, 10a). I tried to sleep a bit on the way up, but that really never happened.
We pulled into the Ahwanee parking lot around 8 am, the approach took 5 min (woohoo!), and we were ready to climb.
Looking up the first pitch of Serenity Crack. Used to be an aid route, until the pin-scars made the route fee-able. There is no good protection for the first 30 ft (supertopo claims a bolt, but no longer there). This pitch was really, really painful on your toes... and you never have good feet. My beta would be to climb FAST.
The all three pitches of Serenity Crack were tough. Some of the toughest trad I've led. I thought I was gonna pop off multiple times, but somehow I managed to cling on. The 10d section was really painful. In fact, my left index finger is still slightly numb. I should've just run it out a little more to get to a better rest to place gear.
The first pitch of Sons of Yesterday was the only "easy" pitch of the day. With two 5.5 sections, I'm sure most parties just solo it.
Matty on Son's of Yesterday. By this point there were three parties behind us. The all female party behind us took a few falls and never caught up to us. And one of the guys in the party behind them belew out his shoe, so they bailed. The party behind them did Serenity and rapped down.
Matty was ready to bail on the fourth pitch of Son's. But after I climbed it, I told him it was definitely the best pitch of the day (which it was) so he had to come up. Then we decided to do the next one, which wasn't very difficult, and ended on a nice ledge, so I convinced him to do that pitch too.
Summit shot. We chilled up on this nice ledge, taking in the day.
The day was supposed to be clear, in the high 70s... but it turned out cloudy. Earlier, on the drive up, it was raining hard driving through the central valley (I hadn't brought any rain gear, so I was a little nervous). But these clouds kept the temps down, making it perfect climbing weather. Plus, these clouds made for some nice pics.
Ravens (Crows? the bigger of the two...) were gliding right next to us all day long. Really fun to stare down at them during the day. There were also some Red Tails, but they got chased away by these bullys.
After 5 double rope raps (we took up a 60m tag line) we were happily back on the ground, craving pizza and beer... so we headed to Curry Village.
Nice alpenglow on Half Dome.
After quickly scarfing the overpriced, frozen-pizza tasting, but astonishingly satisfactory pizza... it was time to head home. We successfully came in before, and left after the kiosk was manned... successfully avoiding the entrance fee...
This is how we both felt. But I had a can of MONSTER in my hand. So I didn't sleep.
More pics from the day here.
Next day, went on a tandem ride to Sausalito with Kimbo... ate at a really popular hamburger joint. Rode home. Called Metres and went mountain biking at El Corte De Madera. Man... I love that place, my favorite place in the bay to ride. Lot's of lady bugs. Drove back, picked up Kimbo and went to Burma Superstar. Got there at 7:30. Mendelson had put in their reservation at 6:45. We got seated at 8:30. Good thing the cafe across the street serves beer. And the food is damn good...
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