Because the 26th was to be Blaine and Dave’s second day of hard climbing we opted to goof off on the 25th. We did some much needed laundry. And later we went to the Lower Cathedral to climb some easier stuff. We ended up getting on several climbs (names and ratings forgotten immediately) then called it a day. We headed back to camp. We finished and headed back to camp. On our hike down, we saw a mama bear and a cub. We got a few photos. Very cute!
Dave checked his messages to learn that Blaine was really sick! He wouldn’t be making it back to Yosemite. Major bummer.
We completed the day eating sushi and hanging out at the camp fire. The camp fire scene was like it’s been each night since the full crew arrived – lots of music, singing and some highly intoxicated folks. It was pretty funny. Though at about 3am, it wasn’t quite as funny. Happily Dave had earplugs. And happily I can usually sleep through stuff like that. I just don’t know how some of these guys do it – drink so much night after night. I’d surely die if I did it one night.
I had plans to climb tomorrow with Ed Hartouni. We were going to do Royal Arches and link up with Crest Jewel. This was going to be a 26 pitch long day. Very fun! Dave decided to solo Snake Dike on Half Dome since Blaine wouldn’t be around. It’d be a long day for both of us. We were really looking forward to it.
Ed and I got up in the five am hour and headed out. Unfortunately I failed to bring my camera. Bummer. Our plan was to belay a few pitches, solo several pitches and simul-climb most of Royal Arches. This approach yielded a good time as we arrived at the top in about 2.5 hours. Unfortunately, it was super hot this day. No wind either. Crest Jewel (10 additional pitches) was in the blazing sun. We decided doing this link-up would not be wise so we hiked down the North Dome Gulley. I think we were both disappointed we didn’t get to do the entire climb, but we were certain we’d made the correct decision and spared ourselves becoming climbing jerky hanging on the side of North Dome.
We headed back to Yosemite Village and hung around the facelift headquarters. After some visiting, we headed back to camp. When we arrived there, I found a note on the car – it seems Timmy O’Neill was going to call Ed and me up on stage during the show that night. Good thing we didn’t complete the route since it would have put us on the wall and descending until 11 pm or midnight.
A group of us headed to the auditorium for the show. Dave was still out on his adventure. I was bummed he was going to miss the show. To my surprise, during the show (before we were called up) Dave showed up. His climb involved 17 miles of hiking, 1,500’ of climbing and $48 worth of booty. The solo had gone well, though it was super windy making it a bit more hair-raising than it should have been. During this ascent, he found a new reverso (a 30$ value) a brand new DMM locking biner (18$ value).
The show was quite funny. Others took photos - I'll post some when I get them. Timmy O adopted a ‘talk show’ format. Along with calling up Ed and me and interviewing us about our lives on supertopo, he interviewed Alex Honnold, Yugi, Ammon McNeely, Dean Potter, Guy Yager (Ken’s son). It was quite a funny show. After the show, we all headed back. We were tired and went to bed immediately.
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