I knew that stuff was slowing down at work, but when was I getting the time off. I kept harassing my bosses and finally found out on a Thursday that I had two weeks off starting Monday. Yes, exactly what I was looking for. I bought a plane ticket down to Vegas for Sunday and planned to spend two weeks with my good friends Braden and Allie.
It turns out that we did more climbing than I ever thought imaginable. Over the course of two weeks we climbed almost 9000 feet and never climbed a route that was easier than 10d. Here's what the trip looked like
Day 1. Fly to Vegas from Bellingham. Climb Risk Brothers Roof 11a
Day 2.
Challeger 4P 10d and the last two pitches of Jupiter 2 10d. Braden and I climbed this . It was a really exciting climb with 3 pitches of 10d; an awesome roof, a tips corner and an Indian Creek style splitter. I thought this route was really heads up and had one of the most exciting pitches of the trip for me. It had lots of really small gear with some healthy run outs and, for me, a desperate mantel. I committed to it and started to fall and somehow stopped myself with a wild hand slap/palm move up against a blank face to my left. We were both able to onsight every pitch so it was a good confidence booster.
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| Braden following the tips corner. It really is tips down there. |
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| On top |
Day 3.
Cloud Tower 800' 11d. Braden, Allie and I climbed this. Since this was my third time on this climb I only led the first two 5.8 pitches and let Braden and Allie lead the rest. Allie took the middle block with the 10a crack and 11+ corner. She did great. Since I have only led the corner I was hoping that maybe I would have the gurr to follow it on top rope. Turns out that was not the case. It was still way hard. Braden lead the rest of the climb after the crux corner. He was able to onsight every pitch of the route. Really burly. I fell on the 11+ corner and on the last move of the 11c last pitch.
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| Braden starting up the 10c fist pitch |
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| Exiting the roof |
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| Allie enjoying the wide stuff |
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| The chimney pitch |
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| Allie on the final corner. |
Day 4. Drive to Zion
Day 5.
Shune's Buttress III/IV 5.11+. All three of us climbed this. My favorite route of the trip. It had everything from tips to chimney. Braden led the first three pitches. I thought the 1st and 2nd pitches were especially burly, with the actually crux being on the second pitch. I led the rest. There were three pitches in a row of hard chimney and offwidth climbing. One of which I will not forget anytime soon. Then there was a funky pitch of 5.11 face climbing that resulted in me doing a sideways and downward dyno out of desperation. It didn't work. On my second try I was determined to do something different but climbed myself into the same situation and was able to stick it. From here I had to face climb around an arete and into a crack that started as tips and eventually widened to .75 through a roof. I somehow made it to the roof and finally pumped out as I was trying to pull the mantel. I was so pumped that I couldn't even close my hands. It took a few minutes for me to get it back and I started up again. I almost fell pulling the roof even when I was fresh, still hard, and continued up tight hands. This was very pumpy climbing separated by mediocre rests. The kind that let you get enough back to keep going, but just barely. I wanted to make it to the chains without falling but it wasn't meant to be. I pumped out before I got there. I was a little surprised that the pitch was so hard when I thought it was 5.10. To my surprise Braden and Allie told me it was actually 5.11+. That made me feel a little better. After this pitch we climbed one more hands pitch and we were on top. What a great climb.
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| Braden on the first pitch. |
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| The pitch that I wont forget anytime soon. I took this off of Mountain Project so I don't know who the climber is or who took it. Sorry. |
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| Looking down one of the upper chimneys. |
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| Braden getting warm in a pod right before the last pitch |
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| Looking down the 11+ pitch. This is after the roof and is another picture that I took off of Mountain Project. |
Day 6.
Linkup: Sheer Lunacy V 5.9 C2 and Moonlight Buttress V 5.9 C1 2200 ft.
After Shune's we all went out for pizza and Braden and I started to finalize plans for a linkup. After pizza and a beer we decided that Sheer Lunacy and Moonlight were the ticket. We got back to camp and packed until a little after 12 and then went to sleep for a few short hours. The next day we were up bright and early and caught the first bus into the canyon at around 7am. Unfortunately, since the river was really flowing we had to do the long approach from the grotto. This added a couple miles along the river, but wasn't too bad. We were able to make it to the base in an hour. Within a few minutes Braden was starting up Sheer Lunacy. He led the entire thing short fixing the whole way and topped out in 6hrs!!!!!! Wow. I was impressed and a little worried about how long it was going to take me to climb Moonlight. Especially considering that the last time I did it we had a 20 hour day even with the first 3 pitches fixed. Oh well, only one way to find out. We hiked to the top of Moonlight and had a small siesta and enjoyed some water that was left on top. After half and hour I started the first rap down moonlight only to find a photographer and a party just about the start the last pitch. I wasn't real excited about this but knew that a free ascent was way more important than our linkup. I waited and watched the dude send the last pitch. Really inspiring. Here are links to the
photographers site and the
climbers blog. They are worth checking out. After they made it to the top we continued the rap down and got the the base of Moonlight as quick as we could. I took a peek at my watch right as I left the ground and it read 5:40PM. Well this is going to be exciting I thought and took off up the first pitch. I was able to make it most of the way up the first aid pitch before it got dark and then the rest was by headlamp. After 9 hrs of nonstop climbing I made it to the top. We were definitely feeling it and didn't wait around at the top for very long. We made our way to the road and eventually back to our tents for a 20 something hour day. SWEET!
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| Looking up the first 5.12 pitch. I took this picture off of mountain project. |
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| Braden on the last 5.12 pitch of sheer lunacy |
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| Looking down Moonlight. You can see the photographer and the two free climbers. |
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| Looking down the first 5.12 pitch on Moonlight. This is where it got dark. The picture is from the first time I climbed it |
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| The next pitch |
Day 7. Rest day and drive back to Red Rocks.
Day 8.
Original Route 12a 1150'. Me and Braden were still completely pooped at this point but Allie was sick of lounging around and wanted to climb. Since we knew she put up with being our midnight taxi a few nights prior we couldn't deny her what she wanted, Rainbow Wall. We got into the park right as it opened and Allie took off like a bullet while me and Braden dragged ass for hours. After what seemed like a very long time we finally got to the bottom of the climb. I led the first four pitches which clock in at 11c, 11d, 11a, 11b. I pulled on gear liberally to speed things up except for the 11b which I onsighted. I thought my pitches were much more heads up than a lot of the climbing I have done in Red Rocks. Just because there are bolts doesn't mean that the rest of the climbing protects beautifully. There seemed to be lots of mandatory 5.11 climbing. Several times I was sitting there thinking, "Man I wish there was a bolt here" only to look over and see a filled in hole. I think we got the Spicy Original Route. I don't know how often it changes, but I think the climbing would have been much more casual if all those bolt holes had bolts. Allie led the next block through pitch 8 where Braden took over. His lead through the upper dihedrals was proud. Really hard climbing, some of which was over very small or sketchy gear. We all topped out right as it got dark and rapped the entire route in the dark. Then we walked for a very long time and eventually made it back to the car. Somehow we convinced ourselves that a celebration was in order and we cracked open some beers only to discover that one Coors will make you very drunk if you are dehydrated after a long day. Good times.
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| Looking down the 11d pitch |
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| 11a pitch |
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| Braden on the 11a |
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| The 11b pitch I onsighted. It goes out that roof. Really fun. |
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| Allie on a 10c |
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| Looking down the beautiful corner system |
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| Allie following to the base of the dehedrals |
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| Dihedrals |
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| Allie pulling the last couple hard moves in the dihedrals |
Day 9. Rest. The battery to the truck dies and we have to walk to a Methodist church camp for help. We get invited inside for coffee and join their chair circle. After a few minutes we realize they just wanted to enjoy our company and weren't going to do anything crazy. Great people.
Day 10. Drive to Yosemite
Day 11. Look at the Nose. It's very wet. Rest more.
Day 12. Rest. Watch rock dry and rest.
Day 13. Rest. Get ready for the biggest day of my life.
Day 14.
NOSE IN A DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! VI 5.9 C1 2900 ft.
This has been a goal of mine for the last couple of years. I trained all last season for this climb. I went to the valley for a month with the goal of climbing it in a day. When we were there we figured the best way for us to do it in a day would be to climb it over several to get it dialed, it took us four. We topped out excited, but a little more pessimistic about doing it in a day. We just weren't ready. Fast forward 6 months. New plans are hatched and I start training like I never had before. I was in the weight room several days a week, climbing and running hills. I worked my entire body. I put finger strength on the back burner for better overall fitness and endurance. We had a trip planned for the end of May, but I got laid off a month earlier. I didn't feel ready, I was scared. Oh well, I bought the plane ticket and committed.
We climbed like crazy for a week. Having gone to school for Economics I couldn't ignore the math. If we can climb 2200' in Zion in 15hrs then we should be able to climb 3000' in 24hrs, right? We decided to go for it.
We woke up at 2am with the intention of climbing by 3. Our plan was for Braden to lead the first half of the route(time wise) to camp 4 at pitch 20 and then for me to lead the remaining 11 pitches. He took off and climbed non stop until sickle ledge. When I got there I checked my watch, an hour and fifty minutes had gone by. We were on pace for a little under 20 hours. He kept leading through the stove legs and onto dolt. Then up the next few wide pitches to the Jardine Traverse. Left and up he went where he got surprised by 30ft of 5 inch lie back, he couldn't protect it so he ran it out. We quickly caught up to a party who slept on El Cap tower. After a few minutes they let us pass and we continued up. A few more pitches and a fall later we made it to camp 4 in 9 hours. Braden had killed it.
Now it was all on my shoulders. We took a very quick break and I was off. The first pitch was soaking wet at the beginning, making for some exciting climbing. Within minutes I was at the belay for the great roof and I had to throw on the brakes. We had caught up to another Nose In a Day (NIAD) party. After somewhere between half an hour and an hour I was able to start climbing. I led the great roof in fifty minutes and shared the belay for the pancake flake with the same guy. I talked about passing, he understood. Unfortunately, it wasn't meant to be. It seems that after every hard pitch there are a couple easier pitches where they would speed up. We would only catch them when their leader was part way up a hard lead. This is how it went. I climbed the pancake flake and the 5.11 above it, just to catch up to them at the glowering spot. I climbed the glowering spot (12d or C1) and another 5.11 pitch and caught up with them at the changing corners. This was when we really slowed down. From the ground it looked like the upper pitches might be wet. Well they were. We watched the other guys grovel up the wetness for an hour as it started to get dark. With motivation at an all time low I took off. I was french freeing in the slimy wet cracks as fast as possible, which wasn't very fast. After what seemed like hours I got to the belay. I was feeling a little demoralized. I gave myself a little pep talk and started short fixing up the next pitch. From here I climbed two wet 10d pitches and finally found cold dry rock. I was beat and not moving very fast, but we were so close. I looked at the 10c perfect crack in front of me and said there was no way I could climb it. I aided. Only one pitch to go. I started up the final bolt ladder. My memory of the fall was of me running up the bolt ladder. This time I was barely strong enough to pull myself up the ladders. I almost took a daisy fall trying to hook my fifi. I was exhausted. I finally pulled the lip and got on easier terrain. Before I knew it I was battling the rope drag and fighting for the top. I fixed the rope at the lip and stumbled to the tree. Before long Braden came over the lip. I looked at my watch right before he got to me. We topped out in 23 hours exactly. We gave each other hugs and started ripping gear off and putting more layers on. After a few minute break to get everything ready for the descent we started down. There was tons of running water up on top and all of it was frozen. It made a miserable descent that much worse. After making our way down the frozen east ledges, bush whacking around steep snow slopes and doing the rappels we finally made it to the Valley as it was getting light. We didn't worry about waking Allie for a ride. We just walked the extra 20 or 30 minutes to camp four arriving around 6 in the morning. We had been moving for 27 hours straight. It was a day that I will never forget.
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| Looking up the stove legs |
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| Sunrise in the Valley |
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| Looking down from the bottom of the stove legs |
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| A couple pitches above dolt tower |
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| Looking back at dolt |
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| Getting close to camp IV |
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| Looking down from Eagle ledge |
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| Lower cathedral |
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| The belay right below the great roof |
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| The great roof |
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| Braden cleaning the great roof |
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| The exposed belay after the roof |
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| Braden a little closer |
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| Pancake flake |
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| We are getting up there |
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| The view from camp V |
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| The glowering spot |
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| The pitch after the glowering spot. The rest of the pics from here on are from last fall. |
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| Looking down the changing corners pitch. The first 100ft was soaking wet. |
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| 5.10 wetness in the dark for us |
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| The last real climbing before the bolt ladder and I couldn't bring myself out of my aiders. Way too tired. |
Day 15. Sleep until early afternoon. Pack for home. Got out for pizza. Get dropped off at the Fresno airport where I spent the night and slept for less than one hour before I checked in for my flight at 4am.
I spent the next five days trying to recharge. Oddly my muscles felt fine, but I was exhausted no matter how much I ate or slept. A week and a half later I can say that I am finally back to normal and still trying to comprehend what I pulled off.
