Jason and I did a little climbing last weekend. We drove up to Yosemite on Friday night, camped outside the park at Hard n Flat road, and then drove in early saturday morning to secure a spot at Camp 4. We then climbed some 5.7 / 5.8 starting with After Seven (next to Nutcracker).

After seven:

Corbin halfway up:

The last pitch I led, and I haven’t led in a while. It scared me a bit to do the 5.8 moves, but I made it through. Here I am at the crux:

And a view of the roof after I made it past

We then went to El Cap

And free climbed a little 5.7

Jason, you are off belay, so I can take a picture

Then, we drank some beer, and slept. The next morning I did a 20 mile unicycle ride throughout the valley to do some training. Jason followed some dirt bags to Camp Four wall and scoped some good routes. I led this 5.8 bunch of flakes, and again wasn’t doing so hot on the top:

Jason did the top 5.8 crack, as I wasn’t feeling solid on it. We then topped the side crack:

Jason led the next “dirty pitch” (totally not the right way to go…which should have been an offwidth chimney that I wasn’t about to do). At the top, we decided to rap down instead of doing the solid 5.8 crack as seen in the middle of this photo:

It was a great weekend of climbing and a little uni training for RTL. (ride the lobster).

Last weekend, Jason, Louise and I climbed Tenaya Peak in Yosemite. More details later. It was SOO MUCH FUN!

I learned a TON of new stuff on the trip. First of all, I had never really known how to properly setup a rappel after a climb, but after a great lesson from jason and repeating it a bunch of times, I finally got the hang of it. In addition to that, I learned how to do some traditional climbing! (Also called “trad climbing”, which is when you use “natural protection” instead of bolts. This usually consists of camming devices, and various pieces of metal, called nuts, to stick in cracks and stuff).

The first day, we started off easy, doing some 5.8 warm ups followed by some easy 10’s. Then, we moved onto another area where we met this guy Gary, a long time Red Rocks climber from Vegas. He was self belaying a 5.12a (or was it a b?); well, technically, he had his little dog, Toby, there to help in case of an emergency, but other than that he was doing some solo climbing. We exchanged a few belays, and he gave me some great beta that allowed me to onsight a 5.11b (my first 5.11 outdoor lead). After that, I gave his 5.12 a try on top rope, and fell on the crux, but otherwise made it up! Then, I led a 5.11c; that thing was HARD! I was taxed at the cruz, and barley made the clip before falling. It was a risky clip; I was high cliping and there was a lot of rope out. It was scary for a moment. After I hung on the clip for a while, I finished it off with no problem.

The next day, we warmed up on some 10’s. Jason taught me some trad climbing techniques, and let me use his gear to climb my first trad climb (a 5.10-, which felt like a 5.9, and apparently another book has it listed as a 5.9+). It was a TON of fun placing gear, and I’m going to really get into it next year. After that, we headed to this really crowded area, where I attempted to lead a 5.11b. I fell twice, hard, on the second clip, and twisted my ankle a bit when I slammed against the wall. I finally made clip three after the third try, and finished it off. I then led a 5.11a, hanging on one clip for some rest; I was hoping for an onsight, but I was a little tired after my first attempts on the 11b. Then, I top roped an 11c a few times (falling on a few of the hard sections — i never did get it clean!), a GREAT 10d and then led a long 5.9 before we ended the day. A TON of fun climbing, and I’m really only telling my tale; everyone else had a great time and did a ton of great climbs.

The next day, man, my left foot was really sore from my hard falls! Oh well..c’est la vie.

Very cool! it makes me want one :)

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