Team 2 in Yosemite
by Dave Brown
Part 1 - the seed is planted
Chairman Karen on Monginella
"Hey Dave. Have you ever wanted to climb 'The Nose'?"
"No, Ray. I'm not good enough, and I never will be."
"You wouldn't actually have to climb. Just belay and jug."
Runitout (Ray Rutitis) was trying to recruit a portable belay station to help satisfy his lifelong dream. One of the useful things about experience is that you've learned when to say no.
Ray assembled his Nose team of Leo Markle and Paul Witherly, with Karen Woo as base camp manager. The article in the last newsletter describes their two weeks in the valley.
Part 2 - the seed germinates and starts to grow
Although I've never wanted to climb The Nose, I did want to climb in Yosemite, more in Tuolumne Meadows than in The Valley, because I find Yosemite Valley very intimidating. The climbing guides don't help - a half dozen routes 5.0 - 5.6 and a few 5.7s. Pages (in the index) of 10s and 11s. But Tuolumne, now, say, the east buttress of Cathedral Peak, 7 pitches of 5.4. That I could do.
Team Two grew quickly - Ted Rosen and Dave Myles (recruited to lead the hard pitches), Brenley Crawford, Susan Andrew (with Steve and Courtney), and Brenley's friend Karni Daniel from Oz.
February 15 we tried to reserve campsites for week one in the Valley. Only Brenley succeeded by phone. Ray, Karen and Leo got campsites by writing letters. You don't want to know about reservations by intenet. Campsites for week two were reserved on March 15.
Part 3 - getting there
Brenley on Swan Slab
Ted, DaveM, Ray, Paul and Brenley flew to SF, joined up with Karen and Leo, who had arrived earlier to enjoy a west coast urban holiday, rented cars and drove to Yosemite. I started two weeks earlier, motoring west in my trusty Toyota Corolla (carrying camp stoves and lawn chairs for the aviators). Susan, with Courtney and Steve, followed about a week later, caught up with me in Colorado, and we carried on in convoy across Utah and Nevada to meet the rest of the group in Yosemite Valley, in the Upper Pines campground.
Rockfall at Glacier Point
Part 4 - The Valley
Day two. Team Two headed out to climb a five star 5.6, "The Grack", on Glacier Point Apron. Ted, DaveM and I went off ahead, got lost in the trees, detoured out onto a big talus field (resulting from rockfall 5 years ago), and finally found the route. Brenley, Susan, Steve and Courtney were already there, having simply followed the right trail. Ted led the first pitch, followed by Steve and then DaveM. I (DaveB) was digging my rope out of my pack when I heard some very big noises.
Simultaneously, the three on the first belay started yelling helpful advice: "Run! Run!" We ran. We ran down part of the pitch Ted climbed, and huddled in the groove.
Seems a piece of rock, approximately house size, parted company with the rest of the cliff, fell free a thousand feet or so, shattered on "the Apron, and landed in the talus field where we'd been, an hour before. Welcome to Yosemite.
Briefly, we called it a day and went back to the campsite for a cold beer. Lesson learned: don't assume that classic Yosemite climbs are free of objective danger.
Days three to seven. Team Two hunted down and climbed a bunch of the multi-starred 6s and 7s in the Valley. Midweek we were joined by Karni Daniel (from Oz) and by Karen McGilvray, Don Williams and their son Lucas. Team old fart climbed Swan Slabs, Munginella, After Six, Bishop's Terrace (a 5.8 led by Karen McG), and Knob Hill. Don took Steve up Nutcracker. We typically did one or two climbs a day, took things easy and had fun. We learned that Yosemite Rock is very different than Ontario rock and that a period of adjustment was necessary.
First pitch of "After Six"
One nice thing for me was that the lower grade climbs were not overhanging and not even vertical. This meant that, because I'm either heavy for my strength or weak for my weight, I found them fairly easy for their grades. That statement doesn't apply to the first pitch of After Six, a polished sandbag if there ever was one. Luckily Dave Myles led that pitch.
With a vehicle, access to the classic Yosemite rock climbs is truly convenient. Once away from the tourist hordes, we found relatively uncrowded cliffs. Although the summer heat has a reputation for being brutal, many of us found the warm weather quite acceptable. We did find the morning air, full of smoke from a nearby forest fire, somewhat uncomfortable.
Part 5 - Tuolumne Meadows
Day eight. Team Two abandoned Team One (as planned), leaving them to their formidable task. We managed to get, without reservations, two adjoining campsites in the Tuolumne Meadows campground. The Meadows is 4500 feet higher than The Valley, and much cooler, especially at night. And there was none of the forest fire smoke that filled the air in the valley. This is a beautiful area of subalpine meadow and open forest, punctuated with granite domes - one of my favourite spots on the planet.
Ted on strenous layback
Day nine. Susan, Steve and Courtney had gone to see the Pacific Ocean.The rest of us went to explore the Stately Pleasure Dome. Ted and DaveM climbed West Country, a stiff 5.7 (****), while Brenley, Karni and DaveB climbed the Hermophrodite Flake (~5.6 ***). We all wanted to climb the Great White Book (5.6 ****) but were intimidated by the guidebook description - "runout" on a Yosemite 5.6 means a long distance between anchors. Later we saw a local hotshot literally running down this route, unroped. Feet on the slab, left shoulder on the wall, facing out - "Welcome to Yosemite" #2. On our way back to camp, we found Paul Witherly at the Meadows store. He'd abandoned the Valley because of the smoke and rode the bus to the clean alpine air of Tuolumne.
Day ten. Ted, DaveM and Paul climbed Zee Tree (5.7 ****) on Pywiak Dome, while Brenley, Karni and DaveB went up Northwest Books (5.6 ***), a Warren Harding route on Lembert Dome. Typical of Tuolumne, one 5.6 move comes after a long section of "five point O, no pro".
Day eleven. For me, this was the highlight of the trip. All the old farts (and Paul) hiked in to Cathedral Peak and climbed the southeast buttress (5.4 - 5.7, depending on variation, *****). An extremely popular route, there were about twenty other parties on it. With many alternate lines at the bottom, the buttress narrows to a point at the top. DaveM and Ted took one of the standard lines, passing many slower parties. DaveM's observation that moving quickly could have benefits, one of which was a relatively uncrowded upper mountain and no lineup at the last pitch to the tabletop sized summit. Paul and DaveB had to climb lines between lines, and to belay in awkward corners. Paul avoided the classic 5.4 chimney by climbing the 5.7 wall beside it. And the dreaded afternoon thunderstorms were all happening about 10 miles east, over Mt Dana and the other high mountains of the Sierra crest. A great day. Brenley, Karni and the Andrew family went for a guided horseback ride.
Day twelve. DaveM and Brenley departed for the ocean and the airport. Ted, Paul and DaveB drove to the Valley to find out how the Nose team was doing, and to coordinate with Missy Woo for the hike in to meet Ray and Leo on the top of El Cap. Surprisingly for us, we found all of Team One in Curry Village, spent the evening with them, and then Ted and I returned to Tuolumne.
Paul on Cathedral
Day thirteen. Susan, Courtney and Steve headed for home, via Bishop, Death Valley, and Zion. Ted and DaveB went off and climbed Holdless Horror (5.6 ****) on Dozier Dome, then recuperated at the Tenaya Lake beach.
Day fourteen. DaveB and Ted cleared out of the Meadows campsite, went to the Bunny Slopes, climbed Hot Crossed Buns (5.6 ***) and then toproped Biscuit and Gravy (5.8 **). After another visit to the beach, we joined Team One at their Valley campsite, and that afternoon drove west to a motel in some central valley town.
Day fifteen. An alpine start the following morning (by everybody but DaveB) was followed by a mad drive through San Francisco commuter traffic to successfully arrive at the airport for the flights. DaveB and his Toyota drove leisurely west to the coast and then north through the fog to Vancouver.
Summary
We all had a great time, and we all want to go back. Typically, for a Toronto Section climbing trip, by the end of the trip we had achieved the mental and physical condition we should have had at the start. We used the Supertopo guidebooks for both Yosemite Valley and Tuolumne Meadows and found them useful and accurate for approaches, climbs and descents. The topos show every bolt and recommend what hardware to carry. And yes, there was a warning about possible rockfall at Glacier Point Apron.
