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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