08_20_2012 Boulder Canyon with Larry and Dave

We'd just returned to town, but couldn't resist an opportunity to climb with Larry Hamilton. He'd been in town a while, but was getting ready to head back to NH. I met him in the afternoon and we headed to Tonnere Tower (sp?) in Boulder Canyon for some fun.

The first climb was a two pitch 10a with a roof. Really fun! For a brief moment, I thought I was going to peel off the roof, but managed to hang on. Good time.

We rapped down just as Dave arrived from the office. We went over to the left side of the formation and did several climbs. All fun. Finally, it was getting dark - mostly from storm clouds so we decided to call it a night and head to the Walnut Cafe for some dinner.

We hiked down, crossed the creek and climbed the embankment. Just as we reached the car, it started pouring. We'd made the right choice! Food and company was great. A really good time. Such fun in fact that Dave and I returned on Thursday to climb several more pitched after work.

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08_11_19_2012 Final Tuolumne Post

Our second to last day in Tuolumne, we headed over to Dozier Dome and climbed a bunch of peanut routes. We'd never been there. Good time! Lots of little rock embedded in the granite. The weather of course was being difficult and it sprinkled on us several times while climbing.

Still, we got in several really fun routes and some people watching.

On our last day, we headed over to do a crack that was close to the road. Darn me, I've forgotten it's name. Anyway, Dave did a few laps and I climbed it, then it was over to Lembert Dome to say goodbye to Tuolumne.

We took a few photos of the area and started for the car. We couldn't resist getting a photo of an SUV parked by the road.

I wonder if this guy knows his car so well that he knew it would be okay. Or perhaps he's one lucky guy. Or maybe he'll find out later when he returns to the car that it's a bad day.

Regardless of which, it was drawing attention and others were snapping photos too. Crazy scene.

We got in the car and drove up 395 for Bridgeport. We had a reservation in the hotel there. We grabbed a really delicious dinner that night in the main house. The house ghost spooked me (Dave doesn't believe it). And we headed to bed.

We were up the next morning to drive to Reno; fly to Denver; and bus back to Boulder. A long day, a good trip, and we were happy to be home! Free Blog Counter

08_11 to 19_2012 More Tuolumne

Perhaps the highlight climb of the week there was Dave and Rick's goal of a link-up of On The Lamb to OZ to Hobbit Book. Dave's done it before and wanted to do it again. They got up early and we hoped that the weather would be more cooperative.

I had to drive into Lee Vining for a business call, but when I finished, I headed to the area in hopes to see their climb. Happily, I found them while they were still On The Lamb.

On the Lamb is a very long horizontal traverse which is unusual for climbing. Dave led pitch one and Rick did the second. I got there shortly after Rick started his pitch. Once done, the disappeared over the shoulder of the dome so I took of walking in hope to find the next climb.

A little later I heard voices which directed me to OZ. This is a beautiful climb, one that Bachar used to solo. I sat on the dome and watched the conga line on this climb. The party in front of Dave and Rick were excruciatingly slow. Like so slow, I thought they were going to start going backwards. All the while, the clouds were building.

Finally, Dave headed up the first pitch and brought up Rick. Then Rick took off for what looks like a really tricky pitch. He gained the belay and Dave came up and climbed the dihedral - the most photogenic of the climb.

All the while it was starting to thunder. :/ Once I saw Rick gain the belay above the dihedral, I headed back to the car.

Found out later that Rick's cousin Alan got some photos of them climbing using his 600 mm lens. Hopefully he'll send them to us.

Unfortunately the weather had deteriorated badly. I dreaded seeing them approach the beginning of Hobbit Book and was happy when I didn't. Not safe. Instead, I intercepted them on the trail back to the cars.

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08_11 to 19_2012 To Tuolumne by way of Lake Tahoe and other Sites

We got up early on Monday and headed out of Reno. Had a really great time there and I'm sure we'll be back. Our goal today was to get to our campsite in the Tuolumne area. Specifically, we stayed in the Junction campground behind the Tioga Pass Resort.

We decided to get their leisurely. I'd never been to Lake Tahoe so we drove there and drove south along its western shore. Beautiful place but my lord - there is more traffic there than I could have ever imagined. Can it be worse on weekends? Is there room for more cars, meandering tourists and bikes? it was a zoo!

So happy we went, but it did nothing to make me ever want to go back again. Yowza! We then continued our drive stopping in little towns and enjoy our time. We went over Monitor Pass and declared it to be a great bike ride - perhaps we'll do it next time we are in the area with our bikes. Miles of perfect pavement, shoulders, views, and elevation gain. Nice.

We also stopped again at Mono Lake. Gorgeous place, but the flies on the shore. They are just creepy! There must be billions and billions of them! Finally, we headed up Tioga Pass (we rode this a few years ago) and set up camp. It was raining. :/

We went over and found Gerry and Rick Accamazzo and met Dave Yerian. And as we were hanging out, Ed Hartouni showed up. He was returning from Vedauwoo. We coaxed him into coming out and climbing with us for the afternoon. The weather was iffy so we decided to go to Harlequin Dome to minimize epics. Yerian stayed behind as he's recovering from a nasty bike crash. Man on bike descent--->deer=bad outcome. He's doing well nonetheless.

We headed over and did several pitches. I declared them the worst in Tuolumne (sorry FA guys). They were dirty and crumbly. Bleck. Had a great time visiting and the guys did all the routes.

Our time in Tuolumne was leisurely. The weather was very unstable the entire time. Given we were already at 10k or so in elevation, going higher on formations with a bunch of metal strapped to us was not appealing. It was fun as we did things we normally don't do like go to Tenaya Lake and lounge.

Aside from disliking this particular dome, I was climbing well. Rick and Dave got in some excellent climbs too. And there was a party at Rick's cabin. It was just a great time.

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08_11 to 19_2012 Reno and Tuolumne - Part II

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08_11 to 19_2012 Reno and Tuolumne Meadows Part I

This friggin' software. It now loads all photos in a gigantic size. This requires I go into the code for every single photo and resize it. It's newest trick is to center justify the photos. So I get to change that for each photo too. And it has ceased wrapping text. Not sure how to make that happen again. Ugh. *may have fixed it...nope, not fixed*

A recent trip was a bit more than a week out west. We flew to Reno, then after a few days, we headed to Tuolumne Meadows aka the Granite Planet. Lots of climbing and socializing was in store for us! We landed at Reno Airport where they had some cut out thingies. Dave couldn't resist this beautiful outfit so he stuck his face in the hole. Very funny!

Our first order of business was getting a rental car. I guess Enterprise has better rates than everyone else in Reno. There was a line. And some not-to-be hurried attendants. Dave caught a little sleep while waiting.  (Okay, why is is now wrapping?)

We headed over to our friend Aaron Silverman's house. We dropped our bags, grabbed our climbing stuff and headed to Donner Summit. Yes, Donner as in "Donner, party of four...Donner, party of four."  This is the site of that event.  Quite a beautiful view from the climbing - this is Donner Lake shown.

We arrived just as a fallen climber was being hauled out. He fell 30 feet and landed straight on his back. Those who witnessed it say his back was broken. Later word confirmed that he was okay! How he didn't do himself in is just a mystery.

The crew held back on the road as they hauled the injured guy out. We didn't want to be in the way. And honestly, none of us wanted to see up close the carnage. :/

Aside from Silver, our friends Shack, Mark Miller and others joined us...

Once it was clear, we hiked up to the left side of the Snowshed area. The views got even better up here!

And the climbing commenced. Dave immediately found a brand-new cam abandoned by a previous climber. It is his 80th bootied cam! What is that? About $5,000 in found gear?

There were no biting insects around the wall...just Dave. :)

He led up and onsighted all sorts of great climbs. Really fun time!

Some of our friends - Kovar, Shack, Climbski2 and is that Mark Miller back there?

Here I am climbing some beastly crack. I found a way to do a fair amount of lay-backing as well.

More climbing as Shack heads up something fun.

This guy, Hans, is a local. He warmed up on this arete climb. Made it look so easy. I tried later (see below) and about had my arm pulled off my body. It's a very burly climb!

Climbski2 hanging out between routes...

Mark Miller watches others climb between his attempts.

Local climber Max belays Hans. We ran into Max later in Tuolumne as well.

Aaron heads up some crack....

Here is one of my attempts on the burly thing. I made it to the high point in the shallow crack I'm on before melting off. A week later, my shoulder is still a bit angry with me for that move!




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