I'm Done/Let it Snow

[JC w KC redux]

We've got one fire going upstairs and one going downstairs and the snow is swirling in big, thick flakes outside. And that's it for the Sonora Pass season.

And I just got in two warm, fantastic days at the Gorge before the storm blew in (climbing out of county to celebrate finishing the SPH research).

And I don't have to be at work early tomorrow. And we threw a few snowballs for the dogs who are (figuratively) in canine heaven.
Soon it will be time to crawl into a nice warm bed. Maybe an eggnog first while I clean the third to last SPH topo.

Life is soooo good.

when you say Gorge do you mean Owens River?
just wondered if you and T girl got to go east.
egg nog and fires sound like Christmas...think i'll go to the beach today

[Brad Young]

Yep, the Owens River Gorge.

And, no, T and I did not get to the East Side; school and weather interfered.

We normally are doing fires way before Christmas up here. It's our primary source of heat in the afternoon and at night (in the morning the forced air propane comes on as we wake up). Do you and KC even have a heater in your house? 

[mungeclimber]

It's snowing at Standard and chain line is at the bottom of the T.H. Grade. So you're thinking new routes on the West Side or East Side ('cause you ain't doing them up here)?

hrm, challenge?

[F4?]

More bolts would have been done were it not for a lack of beer.

Next year I say cache a cooler full of beer out there. Get a solar deal to run the chiller unit on it.

[JC w KC redux]

Yep, the Owens River Gorge.

And, no, T and I did not get to the East Side; school and weather interfered.

We normally are doing fires way before Christmas up here. It's our primary source of heat in the afternoon and at night (in the morning the forced air propane comes on as we wake up). Do you and KC even have a heater in your house? 

the Gorge looks fun with lots of hard climbs!
bummer that you guys didn't get your trip to Mono.
we actually have a pellet stove insert in the fireplace that doesn't get used much - i installed it after our first CA "winter".
some heating "leftovers" in the house too - an old electric wall heater in the upstairs bathroom knocks off the chill and a baseboard heater in the master bedroom that never gets used.

i want to get back up/over to the Alabama Hills but i think KC has her heart set on checking out JTree
we'll be on the West side (Sunday) and probably High Peaks (Monday) this weekend.

[Brad Young]

hrm, challenge?

Oh no, not a challenge at all. I'm not dumb enough to dare you.

[Brad Young]

Well, last weekend totally shifted my mind to Pinns climbing. Although it'll be after Thanksgiving before I can get down there again.

Meanwhile, bored with an evening of guidebook work, and with another storm coming in to put a final, final end to the SPH season, I thought I'd say goodbye to climbing on our pass (for now) with some photos from two of my favorite recent SPH first ascents.

With Jim Lundeen I did a fabulous route called Beyond the Yellow Brick Road:

D.  Beyond the Yellow Brick Road  5.10b ***  A very clean 5.10b crack leads to a very clean 5.10b slab.  Pro:  tiny to one 1½ inch piece.







(Notice in those photos my twinsie shirt that I can wear when I climb with J.C.)

And here's another favorite that goes a full 90 feet on perfect granite. We looked at it from below and thought it would be 5.11 for sure, and probably hard 5.11 (it's totally smooth and steep looking). By the time we led through we couldn't believe it had gone so easily (actually we thought 5.10a, but it's had half a dozen leads since and a slight majority of the climbers thought 5.9!!). Dave Harden leading:

A.  The Source  5.9 ***  Start on the right, large granite block.  Easier climbing past four bolts leads to a beautiful, curving arch.  Pro:  many small to one inch with one 1 ½ inch piece:

[squiddo]

Both look stellar Brad- nice weather too. More for the next time!

[mungeclimber]

really pretty rock. Nice leads.  You know, I'm really glad you got in to that spot Brad. I know what that sensation of new good rock is all about. Savor every minute.

[Brad Young]

really pretty rock. Nice leads.  You know, I'm really glad you got in to that spot Brad. I know what that sensation of new good rock is all about. Savor every minute.

It's good rock, but - as you know - we've now officially used it all up. When it comes out the new guidebook will be current forever, there will be no new routes established since the resource is now gone.

It was fun while it lasted.

(Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha...CLUNK, he says as he laughs his head off).

[mungeclimber]

\picks up rolling head and says "Alas, poor Brad. I knew him Mudncrud."

 

[JC w KC redux]

With Jim Lundeen I did a fabulous route called Beyond the Yellow Brick Road:

(Notice in those photos my twinsie shirt that I can wear when I climb with J.C.)

were you singing Elton?

both those routes look awesome!

belly laugh on the twinsie comment...

[Brad Young]

were you singing Elton?

both those routes look awesome!

We were singing Elton. There is also another route that starts left of Beyond the Yellow Brick Road, crosses it from left to right, and then goes up the slab to its right (to the left of me when looking at the photo. I did not onsight this one, but I got a perfect/redpoint lead on my third try. Naturally we had to keep with the same theme:

C.  The Dogs of Society  5.11b ***  A shallow, crackless groove leads to and across Beyond the Yellow Brick Road. Continue right before climbing straight up past a very thin crux. Join Beyond the Yellow Brick Road for an easy top-out. Pro:  bolts, runners and a few pieces to one inch.

And then there's a route "from the same album" on the same formation over to the right:

G.  Harmony  5.10b **  Start barely right of My Belle (and stay right).  Pass a bolt and continue up and right in a crack/seam.  Clip a second bolt before diverging left and up.  Four more bolts lead to a two-bolt anchor.

And another of my favorites (from across the canyon). Every person who's walked under this one (including me) has looked at the rock and said words to the effect: "wow that'll make a great 5.9 or 10a."

The footwork is so ultra thin on this, and so sustained (and no handholds at all that are bigger than fingernails) that I had to wait for cold conditions last year to pull off the redpoint:

G.  A Walk in the Park  5.11c ***  The well-protected and deceptively steep face just right of (around a blunt arete from) Hind Tit.  Six bolts to a two-bolt anchor.

Nice stuff, but it's perfectly OK now to say goodbye, at least for six months, and get going on Pinns.

[F4?]

WHere abouts be this granite? In the Enchanted Valley run by Lord Mungie??

[JC w KC redux]

And here's another favorite that goes a full 90 feet on perfect granite. slight majority of the climbers thought 5.9!!).
A.  The Source  5.9 *** 

hmmmm...slight majority...my perception is you climb with a bunch of SPH bad asses who've long forgottten what it's like to have 5.9 as their upper limit of leading - i'll make a proactive note about that climb so i can mark it as a sandbag when i get my hands on the book

[JC w KC redux]

We were singing Elton.
I got a perfect/redpoint lead on my third try.
C.  The Dogs of Society  5.11b ***  

And then there's a route "from the same album" on the same formation over to the right:

G.  Harmony  5.10b **  

(and no handholds at all that are bigger than fingernails)
G.  A Walk in the Park  5.11c ***  

Hind Tit.  

Get back Honky Cat!
third try? ouch! probably multiply that by 10 for me
the same album? what are you 100? - i forget - you don't watch TV

no bigger thn fingernails?
i guess some day if i develop super powers - maybe you know of some radioactive spiders somewhere?

now shouldn't that last one be Hind Teat?
is there a Sugar Teat somewhere? If so, I may need to start on that next season...

[Brad Young]

hmmmm...slight majority...my perception is you climb with a bunch of SPH bad asses who've long forgottten what it's like to have 5.9 as their upper limit of leading - i'll make a proactive note about that climb so i can mark it as a sandbag when i get my hands on the book

Well, Dave Harden led it and thought 5.9, and he's 60 years old now. (I can't believe he's 60!! I've been climbing with him since he was 35.)

In my experience rating climbs, there are two people who's opinions are almost always (maybe even always) the same as my own. Dave's one of them. Rob is the other. I can't really recall ever differing with either about how hard a given climb is.

[Brad Young]

And, actually, come to think of it, I think I did disagree with Rob this last summer about ratings on a couple climbs he'd established a few years ago at Chipmunk. I thought he'd undergraded them.

But that's a rare disagreement. He and Dave have long been my human gauges regarding whether I am rating routes properly.

So, that's long series of sentences that prove decisively (don't they?) that there's been no sandbagging.

[Brad Young]

Vicki actually named the route A Walk in the Park. When we came home after doing it we hadn't thought of a name. We talked about the route, and especially about how much harder it actually is compared to what it looks like it will be.

Vic has this weird and inaccurate notion that I underestimate the length of hikes and that I way underestimate the amount of time they'll take. On those rare occasions when I have so underestimated she calls the resultant death-march type activity "a walk in the park with Brad." She thinks she's so damn funny.

[JC w KC redux]

Vicki actually named the route A Walk in the Park. When we came home after doing it we hadn't thought of a name. We talked about the route, and especially about how much harder it actually is compared to what it looks like it will be.

Vic has this weird and inaccurate notion that I underestimate the length of hikes and that I way underestimate the amount of time they'll take. On those rare occasions when I have so underestimated she calls the resultant death-march type activity "a walk in the park with Brad." She thinks she's so damn funny.

excellent work on her part.
you do have a knack for hiking fast over rough terrain - plus - you know how slow i am!