K.C. and J.C. Doing FAs On - Wait - GRANITE

[clink]

Wildemoost?

[clink]

My above post is for me google historic. No results, zip, nada.

[F4?]

I shall return!
Right now I'm in South Dakota.
Seen hawks, buffalo, wild climbers, Pronghorns, wild horses, deer, and a MOOSE!!

stand off with the moose on a trail. Didn't get a good pic. But my second wild moose ever.

Excellent, just excellent. Enjoy the trip!

[clink]

Granite blah, blah blah. You are being hijacked. Eastside at 0630.

[Brad Young]

Granite blah, blah blah. You are being hijacked. Eastside at 0630.
 

Nope. They're still here (just had dinner, all of us, at Dawsons). Birthday song and cheesecake for the birthday girl.

K.C. led two routes today and J.C. four.

I think they're going to Herring Creek Dome with Dawsons tomorrow. Tricia and I are going to hike a Sierra Peak (I've been climbing pretty hard and I need a rest/hiking day).

[F4?]

Well the Central Coast is having some nice weather.
You guys are missing out.

[clink]

very nice!

Labor
Day

Labor Day: Sunny and hot, with a high near 101. East wind around 5 mph becoming calm  in the morning.

Hot

High: 101 °F

Tonight


Tonight: Clear, with a low around 53. West northwest wind 5 to 9 mph becoming light and variable  in the evening.

Clear

Low: 53 °F

Tuesday


Tuesday: Sunny and hot, with a high near 104. East wind around 5 mph becoming calm.

Hot

High: 104 °F

Tuesday
Night

Tuesday Night: Clear, with a low around 58. Northwest wind 3 to 6 mph.

Clear

Low: 58 °F

Wednesday


Wednesday: Sunny and hot, with a high near 108. East wind around 5 mph becoming west in the morning.

Hot

High: 108 °F

Wednesday
Night

Wednesday Night: Clear, with a low around 61.

Clear

Low: 61 °F

Thursday


Thursday: Sunny and hot, with a high near 109.

Hot

High: 109 °F

Thursday
Night

Thursday Night: Clear, with a low around 61.

Clear

Low: 61 °F

Friday


Friday: Sunny and hot, with a high near 108.

Hot

High: 108 °F

[Brad Young]

Wow, and the prediction for today on Leavitt Peak (at 11,669 feet) is: "Sunny, with a high near 66. Calm wind becoming west around 5 mph in the afternoon."

We'll likely be able to see into the San Joaquin Valley to the west and into Nevada to the east.

And it's only an hour drive to the trailhead.

Yeah, screw it, we're on our way to Pinns for the day. See you just after 8:30.

[Brad Young]

Maybe Pinns might have been better. I most commonly succeed in what I set out to do. But today Tricia and I failed monumentally. Big time. Totally screwed. Abject failure. Utter fiasco.

To say the least, we didn't summit.

We thought we'd start from south of the peak and hike to it and up it before continuing toward Sonora Pass. And Vicki would hike up from the pass to finish the walk out with us. Hiking in this direction required us to start at Leavitt Lake.

The road in to Leavitt Lake is even worse than I'd heard (and I'd heard it was pretty bad). We turned around after the Expedition slid into a hole (while in first gear/low four wheel drive). Both of the side running boards were shattered.

OK, it's only "material" right? So we turned around. Or Vicki took over the wheel and did. Tricia and I simply started up the peak from halfway out the road. It's only cross country, right? Right. I've never done harder cross country. Side-hilling in scree for hundreds of yards. Huge elevation gain. One step up, nine tenths of a step down. Cliffed out numerous times. Going north and east in order to work around so we can go west. Big elevation loss. Jesus!

By the time we hit the PCT we were spent. And to summit the peak we'd have had to go away from the car a full mile, top out, and then reverse the same hike. No way. Too tired. Almost out of water. Smoke from the fires blowing back in. Screw it, we're out of here.

At least we met Vicki a mile and change up from the pass, right on time (although "on time" as planned had included summiting the peak before meeting).

Tricia gleefully commented that we've now got a new measuring tool, a "worst day of hiking" to which we can compare anything else in the future. Or her version of words to that effect.

And I got to spent a day with my daughter in adverse conditions, work through crap, come out OK from it all, and still have time to stop on the way home for a damn good hamburger.

Plus, unlike some parts of some routes at Pinnacles, Leavitt Peak will be there next time we try (and next time we're going all by trail).

[F4?]

That road was tough in my old ranger 4x4 when we drove it in 98??

It used to be easy so says my buddy.

[clink]

Maybe Pinns might have been better. I most commonly succeed in what I set out to do. But today Tricia and I failed monumentally. Big time. Totally screwed. Abject failure. Utter fiasco.

To say the least, we didn't summit.

Wow! And I got to climb on routes with stars.

Tricia gleefully commented that we've now got a new measuring tool, a "worst day of hiking" to which we can compare anything else in the future. Or her version of words to that effect.

The price of gaining perspective. Tricia is a mountain warrior.

[JC w KC redux]

Wow - that was a bit shocking to read. On the plus side - you guys got to have an unusual adventure.
Bummer about the truck - but at least you didn't get stuck or hurt.
Has someone taken over my body and brain - what is with all this looking on the bright side crap?

Kat and I got up to HCD around 11:00?
We talked to a couple from Palo Alto who said they'd already done Sea of T. I have my doubts.
We forgot to ask them if they had the guidebook - demerit for me.
We got up to the base of the route and the bees were very active.
As we were scoping things out, the sun came over the top of the dome and yep - right in your eyes for climbing the route.
We spent some time scrambling up to check out the other routes.
Kat wasn't feeling the T so I suggested she get back in touch with her inner gear climber.
About that time another couple (from NV) came up and we spent time chatting with them.
It was their first time on the pass.

They told us they had climbed Hexentric and Pygmy Pillars on Sunday - they must have been on the pillars when we passed by. They didn't do Lincoln Logs but said they thoroughly enjoyed the rest.
We gave them some recs for a short day with easy approaches.

Kat led Teacher and I followed - a few pieces up I heard Laura and Alex - then looked down to see Steve leading the smoky charge. Luckily the smoke cleared out significantly as the day progressed.

It was a "one and done" day for me and KC. We were both feeling pretty wiped - so we headed out.
The Dawsons were still having fun on the elderly routes and were talking about possibly doing Teacher for an encore.

Really nice weekend

P.S. - I just checked temps for Pinns and it was 98 yesterday and already 94 as I finish this post - totally doable

[Brad Young]

Did the couple from Nevada have a guidebook? Two demerits for you.

Photos?

Yes, great weekend. I'm still jazzed about getting Atom Splitter clean. Plus the stuff at Deadman.

[JC w KC redux]

Did the couple from Nevada have a guidebook? Two demerits for you.

Photos?

They did have one - I suggested they get another

Workin' on it...

[Brad Young]

They did have one - I suggested they get another

Workin' on it…

Dude, you go from two demerits to five bonus points!

Did they lug that ridiculous thing all the way up to Herring Creek Dome?

[JC w KC redux]

Dude, you go from two demerits to five bonus points!

Did they lug that ridiculous thing all the way up to Herring Creek Dome?

Nice.
Yes they did and they were using Sea of T as an approach to Red Herring so they lugged it up there too

[JC w KC redux]

Here's a couple pics from day 1

Brad on the FA onsight of Ottoman Empire





I led it a little later





Kat followed Ottoman Empire while Brad and Brian belayed and watched Joel on Snap Shut Arete





Brian on Snap Shut Arete. I led the nice crack to the left earlier but the pics were crap – Madeleine 5.8** – a nice hand crack leads to a fun hand traverse to the high ledge - a bolt protects the finish on a balancy arete. Super fun lead and a nice tribute to a missed little lady.

[JC w KC redux]

I've been informed that The Empire has fallen into enemy hands so I made a few edits to the photo captions.

[Brad Young]

I've been informed that The Empire has fallen into enemy hands so I made a few edits to the photo captions.

By way of explanation, this small area where we put up new climbs is left of The Mousetrap and right of Main Burst Rock.

Older climbers here might recognize that The Mousetrap is a game wherein a ball drops on the mouse if a player screws up. There's a huge granite boulder precariously perched right above the route Mousetrap that looks exactly like that game ball, but it's five feet in diameter.

So in looking for a name for this jumbled area where the new climbs were done, Brian suggested that we name it for a different board game. J.C. then suggested Trivial Pursuit. That stuck immediately.

Joel then proceeded to tell us how, when he plays Trivial Pursuit, if he can't think of any answer at all, his fallback is "Benjamin Franklin." That led to J.C.'s fallback answer, which is "Ottoman Empire."

So there you go - the fascinating and totally arbitrary way that routes are named.

[JC w KC redux]

In my defense...although I haven't played Trivial Pursuit that many times...I've won every time

...Unlike getting my arse handed to me repeatedly by a certain bright and quick 13 year old while playing bananagrams!