Park Life - Yosemite!

Panoramic of Yosemite Valley!

Last week saw Marshall and myself give a few slideshows around the country.

Back in September/October of this year we had an extremely successful climbing trip to Yosemite. We went out with a short tick list that consisted of climbing 3 of the bigger and steep faces in the Valley: the Nose of El Capitan (In A Day), Half Dome via the NW Regular Route and Astroman on the Washington Column.

The trip started out slowly.  After travelling from Dublin - San Francisco, picking up the hire car and checking into Camp 4, we headed straight for Astroman. Not such a good idea!  By the top of pitch 3 we were completely out of water, climbing in the intense sunlight and totally wrecked from travelling non-stop!  With the infamous Harding Slot looming we both happy sacked it off for a nice swim in the Merced and to have a look at our 'tick list'.

Astroman in blazing sunshine!

Essentially we went back to the drawing board and made a plan.  Like Marshall said in a short video clip "it had been a 7 year hiatus".  I had to google it when I got home to see what it actually meant (a small difference in pitch between two musical tones) whatever that means but basically we needed to do a little Yosemite apprenticeship so not to get spanked again!

We got on some of the easier classics such as the 20 pitch Direct North Buttress on Middle Cathedral.   This Old Skool route follows a series of awkward and, at times, scary chimneys and flares.  We managed it in good time and style.  Next up was the 3 pitch Moratorium. Jono Redmond from Dublin was kicking about and with his partner injured from rock fall he was keen to hook up.  We got a pitch each with Marshall leading the last crux pitch.  There isn't much to hold onto if you have fat sausage fingers so Marshall had to battle!  Once at the top I told him it was onsight soloed by John Bachar - he could't believe it!  To keep the rhythm going we went for the West Face of El Cap, a 19 pitch gem on the western flanks of El Cap.  We went for the onsight and managed it with both of us getting loads of funky, awkward and varied pitches.  Now psyche was high and the list was ready to go down!

4am start for NW face of Half Dome.

Up first was the NW face of Half Dome.  We took a bivi at the base with the intention of getting it done in a day.  We got off to a great start arriving at the chimneys after 3.5 hrs of climbing.  Our rhythm was then broken with a bottle neck of slow parties through the chimneys.  They seemed to take a eternity to get through and hauling is definitly not a good idea on this route! Once we were past them and chillin on the Big Sandy ledge (there was more of a bottle neck at the Zig Zags), we arrived at the edge of the Thank God Ledge.  This for myself was a real highlight of the trip and I can see how it got its name!  Below is a little video of Marshall crossing it.  We arrived on the top in daylight and descended with friends who had just topped out on another route!

Thank God Ledge!

After a bit of R&R and a recce to Dolt Tower, it was time for the Nose In A Day. The little run up the first 12 pitches of the Nose was a great way to look at the systems that were needed to move fast and to get a feel for those pitches that we were going to be climbing in the dark.  Marshall was keen for the King Swing and Great roof so the first set of block leading was mine!  We opted for 4 blocks - I would do 12 pitches, Marshall 10 then 5 each to finish. 32 pitches in total!

Stovelegs, The Nose

The approach to climbing something like this is very different to climbing somewhere like Fair Head or in the Mournes.  After every pitch the rope is fixed to the in-situ bolts.  This means the second simply climbs up the rope, strips the gear and hands it over to the leader to get on their way again.  In this style the leader is in 'lead mode' for his block while the second can relax a bit more.  I guess you could say this was the case for the first 2 blocks but after that the wall kicks back making upward progress much more difficult! I must say I was pretty scared jugging the last pitch and actually put a gri gri on as back up!

The tree and success at the top of the Nose.

We made it to the top in just under 17hrs.  I think we were more relieved then anything - it means we don't have to go back and climb it again in that style!

I was battered after that day, my fingers had swollen, joints hurt and the sheer scale of the place becomes totally overwhelming!  I think we rested for 3 days, we did nothing but chill. The beer tasted good and we treated ourselves to a few 'all you can eat' breakfasts and endless Peats coffee!  In the back of our minds though, we knew that we could not leave Astroman half complete - or Astroboy if you bail from below the Slot (as we did!).  I had fallen off the enduro corner first time around, something I had wanted to climbing since forever really and we really didn't enjoy our first go at it.  It was time to climb it, get through the slot and finish off our 'tick list'.

Enduro Corner

Changing Corners Pitch - Astroman

While climbing in Separate Reality we bumped into Clayton from Austin, Texas.  His partner had injured himself on Freerider and was keen to climb Astroman so he teamed up with us.  He also volunteered to take on the slot, something that I didn't complain about - it was Marshall's pitch anyway!  

So with only a few days left of our trip we got back on it.  We climbed our pitches clean and even saw a few BASE jumpers jump from the visor on Half Dome! We topped out in the dark and were rewarded with pizza and beer at our camp (thanks Chris).  What a great way to finish one of the most successful and enjoyable trips I have ever had, thanks Marshall - you're a legend and bring on Freerider in a few years!

We are MEN! AstroMEN!

So back to the slideshow.  We both cruised to Tollymore (great turn out, 80+), Dublin (you can tell there is a recession) and Cork (70+ with proceeds going towards the Cork Youth Climbing Club).  The idea of the slideshow was to inspire the youth, show them where they want to be going in years to come and the beautiful climbing to be had in the most beautiful valley I have ever stepped foot in!

A big thanks goes out to Alpkit (for keeping me warm and looking cool!), Tollymore (for the equipment), the weather gods for no rain in 3 and half weeks and my lovely wife for putting up with this lifestlyle!

The slideshows were kindly supported by Kerry Climbing, Mountaineering Ireland and Tollymore National Outdoors Centre.