06.21.03 thru 07.01.03

eichorn's pinnacle on cathedral peak

My climbing partner and good friend Brian and I started trad climbing two months ago. It didn't take long before the temptation to discover Yosemite could no longer be denied. It's somewhat surprising considering the abundance of outrageous climbing that exists within 15 minutes of our houses, but we were due for a road trip anyway. Plus, another good friend who i met in Nepal, Annamieka, would be working in tuolumne meadows for the summer and graciously offered to share her tentsite with us.

We showed up in Tuolumne Meadows without a clue. Having grown accustomed to the sticky sandstone rock around Boulder (as opposed to granite in yosemite) and limited crack climbing experience, we knew we were in for a humbling week of climbing. But we jumped in anyway and did some fantastic moderate routes of all different types.

Our first day in tuolumne (after 36 hours without sleep) we free soloed up a route on Lembert Dome. Feeling quite happy with ourselves, we returned to camp only to find out from Annamieka that we had courageously free soloed up ... the descent route. We said goodbye to our pride for the rest of the week.

lembert dome at sunset

The next day we decided to warm up to the granite by doing some bouldering near the Puppy Dome and the Tuolumne River. As spectacular as it was, the domes and peaks of tuolumne stared down at us and we would not be satisfied until we roped up and climbed one of them. That evening we ran up to the base of Cathedral peak for a little scouting mission and got even more excited about the climbing.

The second day we climbed Northwest Books (5.6) on Lembert Dome. With numb fingertips and hands from the cold wind, the smooth face climbing and crack felt awkward at first but we warmed up to it after the first pitch when the sun came around. That evening a snow storm blew in and blanketed all of tuolumne with a couple inches of snow. We found refuge in annamieka's deluxe tent with a few hot servings of thai green curry.

With wet conditions the next day (day 3) we decided to call it a rest day. After a run up to Young Lakes the three of us treated ourselves to "brunch" at the Tioga Pass Resort. Then Brian and I drove to Mammoth to visit a friend (Mick) from Boulder who was about to guide a group of young people to the Himalayas.

cathedral peak

On day 4 it was time to climb Cathedral. We got up early, wondering if the storm that surprised us two days before would make another appearance. fortunately, that would be the last we'd see of inclement weather, hardly a cloud would appear for the duration of our trip. Cathedral Peak was spectacular. five pitches of feature-rich, solid granite climbing, including a fun hand crack, a chimney and a few good face sections, and spectacular views of the granite domes and jagged sierras all around, it was climbing heaven. We finished off the day with a fun jaunt over the ridge to Eichorn's Pinnacle, an extrmelely airy 5.4 climb up an improbable looking spire.

The next day i ran 26 miles from Tuolumne to the Valley floor via Clouds Rest (spectacular), but I lost my camera on this run and so i have no photos to document the rest of the trip. We finished off our 8 days in Tuolumne with two days of single pitch climbs (including some toproping thanks to annamieka) on some fun 5.8 cracks, plus another alpine excursion on Matthes Crest (a one mile ridge traverse, 5.7) and the first pitch of Royal Arches on our last day (don't ask why only the first pitch).

All in all it was a fantastic trip that included great climbing, running, cooking and a fun rest day on the beach (yes there is a white sand beach on Tenaya lake where we enjoyed a short but energized stint of surfing by annamieka). We left with a feeling of being happy with what we did climb, but discontent with what we didn't climb. Much remains to be experienced in yosemite and i can't wait to come back for more. Our trip also included two days in Berkeley visiting Carly and Jose, and two days up the northern coast of california, taking us through wine country and the redwoods of humboldt county. the grand finale was our day and a half in the tetons. The story of these last two days will be queietly left untold ... as the adventure in the tetons have only just begun...

photos