Tuolumne 2016

In 2009 Alan Carne went for a ground up onsight of the infamous Bachar-Yerian 5.11 R/X on the Medlicott Dome in Tuolumne. Bold doesn’t quite describe the achievement of even trying this. Alan fell just below the second bolt on the second pitch. He just missed his belayer and slammed into the wall below after travelling 15-20m busting up two of his ribs.

A few weeks ago I met up with Alan and Robbie Phillips with whom I have climbed big mentally testing routes in the Alps. We have all come together with the main aim of climbing free routes on El Capitan in Yosemite but since the weather was still hot we decided to get our fitness in the high country above. Alan, who is in his mid 50s, has climbed test piece routes all around the world for over 40 years. It was obvious the Bachar-Yerian was a route that pulled at his psyche and a journey that had to be completed. For a safer approach since the onsight had been blown he fixed ropes down the route and practiced it on micro-traxion.

Robbie was focused on a route to the right of the Bachar-Yerian, which he had heard about since he had started climbing. Peace 5.13d. Ron Kauk, a famous local, made waves when he sunk a line of bolts into the seemingly blank face at a time when bold climbing was cool. What eventuated was a 50m pitch on tiny feldspar knobs, which stick out of the granite, creating one of the hardest free climbs in the area.

Typical knob on the route Peace 5.13d.

 After missing out on the Cobra Crack this year in which I had invested so much of my psych I struggled to find my own drive. It was great to be able to go along with Alan and Robbie and support them with their goals. I tried Peace and did all the moves first go but it was obvious Robbie, who is a vertical face, crimping machine, would do it fast and I would take a fair bit longer. So I jumped on the Bachar-Yerian and did it without too much trouble on micro-traxion without the main mental difficulties of being on lead. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to lead it or not and that’s probably not the best mindset for a committing route.

Alan eventually decided to go for it. I was nervous belaying. Robbie jumared above for the first few pitches and got the camera out. The first three pitches of the Bachar-Yerian are very run out but Alan cruised them utilizing the spaced bolts and a few larger feldspar knobs he slung with cordlette. The fourth pitch was like an epic of its own. Alan hadn’t rehearsed it and I get the feeling many people rappel down after the third pitch as it was very dirty.  It is given 5.8 but felt 5.10. A full 70m of dirty route finding in no-fall slab territory. I couldn’t even hear Alan so when the rope ran out I just started climbing. We thought it was the most serious pitch on the route but maybe we went the wrong way. Alan was exhausted on the summit, mentally more than physically. We decided to walk down the back rather than getting onto the ropes again.

Alan focusing on his feet while another party watches on. Bachar-Yerian 5.11 R/X.

Typical knob tie-off for when the bolts are too far apart.

We left it a little late and Alan was climbing in the sun for the third and fourth pitches.

Me on belay glad I was just following.

A few days later a cold spell hit. Snow was forecast but we didn’t believe it. Peace was on the cards for the day and it was my turn to jumar above and take photos. Robbies one request to me was to try and recreate the famous Ron Kauk photo down the black streak. It had rained and all of the chalk had disappeared. This was a problem as on the face covered in knobs it is hard to remember which ones are good and which are bad. Robbie had a quick go up to the crux and found the cold conditions helped a lot but route finding was an issue again on the clean face. Warmed up with chalk up to the crux again Robbie lowered down to the start, pulled the rope and crushed the difficulties with ease.  Another 30m of knobs lay ahead to the anchor with a notoriously easy to fall off section towards the end.  I frantically jumared ahead of Robbie as he climbed, getting photos and ticking the best knobs, so he would remember where to go. Then the skies opened up. For the last 15m snow fell melting as it hit the wall making all the knobs wet. Robbie obviously over gripping to not blow the ascent fought through to the anchor and achieved one of his dream routes.

Robbie crushing the start of Peace 5.13d.

The famous shot recreated.

Robbie was kind of stoked to have sent. 

Another crack climbing aficionado, JP Ouellet, commented on a facebook post of mine and recommended an old school hard crack to me.  Love Supreme ~5.13b is a short, steep, technical, and powerful crack on a boulder half way up a hillside. I was psyched immediately and dragged Robbie and Alan around to try and find it. Two afternoons of bush bashing and we still hadn’t found it. We had thought it was further up the hill than it actually was. Eventually on the third afternoon when we realized it actually wasn’t too far up the hill we stumbled upon it. I tried for the onsight but got shut down after only a few moves. Second go I fell off near the top out. I tried some more but had de-powered and would have to come back. Luckily the next day on it I did it first shot.

On the send of Love Supreme 5.13b.

It’s kind of cool to have, between the three of us, done a bold, face, and crack test piece up in Tuolumne and along with some sport climbing at the nearby Tioga pass should hold us in good stead for the Valley over the coming weeks.

Tioga Pass sport climbing is awesome. Lizard King 5.13a.

Rest afternoon waiting for Alan above Tioga cliffs.

Squamish 2016

I'm still waiting. Image: Copyright Garrett Bradley

I haven’t done Cobra Crack…. Yet. Another amazing summer in Squamish has flown by and everything I wanted to do after I had crushed my project didn’t happen. I was reasonably confident I was going to do it this trip, possibly even quickly leaving spare time for all the other classics in the area I haven’t done. Unfortunately I got close to sending and remained close with time eventually running out. In my last three days on the project I climbed from the ground through the mono move and fell above six times.  I actually find the move after the mono, pulling over the lip, just as hard as the previous supposedly crux move. Still I fell after doing this move on the exit crimps four times all up. It is excruciatingly close to going.  

Another Day on the Cobra Crack video.

The most frustrating thing about projecting the cobra is the time involved. Every day you want to try you have to walk 45 minutes or more up a hill and it may be seeping. After 2-3 shots your skin is wrecked and you need a couple of days off. I actually felt like I was getting long term fatigued climbing one day on two days off on the route.  Maybe I should have had a three day break and gone for it.

Sideways video of a good attempt.

I guess I’m a little disappointed leaving without the send but certainly not unhappy with another great summer in Squamish with an awesome crew. It also means I’ve got the perfect excuse to come back. I could have stuck around for what some locals dub ‘Sendtember’ when the temps drop off and the friction gets great (If it doesn’t just rain the whole month) but I was confident I’d have it done and I had made plans with Robbie Phillips to hit up Tuolumne and Yosemite.

During my time in Squamish I bought a van, which has been named Olaf due to the Frozen themed cheap sheet set I found on clearance in Walmart. It is a Chevy Astro and I ripped the back seats out and had a friend build a bed in the back for me (Ian of Cobra Crack flute playing fame). New tires and some minor fixes and it seems to be cruising well.

Olaf and I in Squamish.

I have now made it most of the way to the Tioga Pass having driven through central Oregon.  Hopefully I’ll fit in a climb up in Tuolumne this afternoon. 

A massive thank you to Kailas and Outdoor Agencies (Scarpa) in Australia for supporting me while I chase these dreams.

Ting, Abond, and I after a session on the Dream Catcher.

William Win Ki Chan being introduced to bouldering in Squamish.

'Can you get a photo of me on the slab?' I asked.

The Waiting Game

I have spent four months in Perth with still a month to go before I head back to Squamish to continue my struggle on The Cobra Crack. I planned to train to get as beastly strong as I could so that I could reach a whole new climbing level on this next trip although the intensity of climbing on plastic has left me juggling injuries. My cobra mono finger tendon is a little sore but I hope nothing to worry about, I have pain on the side of my middle finger joint on the other hand (ongoing since smashing it into a boulder last summer), and I have a tear in the cartlidge on the outside of my left wrist for which I delayed an arthroscopy and got an injection instead so I can still climb in the near term. Despite these things I am still climbing really well and am definitely stronger than last year. As long as I manage these pains well it should be a productive trip.

Peaches (28/5.13a), Wilyaberup, Western Australia. Photo: Vaughan Guan.

Apart from spending to much time in the gym I have managed to get out to some local crags I don't visit much anymore. I finished off one of the last climbs I wanted to do at a crag called Wilyaberup in the Margaret River region of Western Australia getting the second ascent of Peaches (28) after almost 15 years since Pat Turner did it. It is just a short boulder roof lip problem which is very powerful and tricky. I also went on a trip to Kalbarri with the City Summit youth team and repeated routes in the Promenade area while shouting beta and putting draws up for the kids. Theres some crushers coming out of City Summit and most of them did their hardest routes to date up to grade 27.

Only a month before I am on the road again. The current plan involves two months in Squamish followed by a three month USA road trip. I would love to be able to do a free route on El Capitan and then head into the desert for some test-piece sandstone cracks. Theres so many places I still want to go. Hopefully this trip Squamish, Skaha, Index, Smith Rock, Tuolomne, Yosemite, Zion, and Indian Creek all get some attention.

Tentative dreams/plans.

Mt Buffalo

I really did need to work and save some money but when one of the strongest climbers in Australia messages you to say he has found a crack that will be the hardest in the country it is hard to refuse a quick trip. After using up all my frequent flyer points I was on my way back to the Blue Mountains where Zac Vertrees and I would start our road trip to Mt Buffalo in the Victorian alps.

Mt Buffalo is a granite dome in an alpine setting and home to climbers during the summer months. It isn’t as popular anymore as more climbers search out steep fully bolted sport routes with nearby café instead of adventurous run out technical granite. The first thing I noticed on arrival was the intensity of the sun. Zac had a massive first day full of sandbagged routes lined up for me and we climbed them in full sun getting sunburnt and bloodied on the coarse crystals. Hard rain (3 pitch 22) was the warm up followed by Ring a ding ding (24 going on 26) then Body Heat (techy arête 24) then the project. The project is an amazing crack, which is unlike the rest of the climbing at Mt Buffalo. It is water polished so you don’t have to worry about losing skin to the crystals. It is also quite short and steep. Only 10m of climbing starting off a ledge is difficult. In total about 14 sustained moves in a 25-30 degree overhanging crack makes it a power endurance test piece.

 

Nearing the top of the brutal Ring-a-ding-ding 24. Photo: Malcolm Matheson.

Days 2 and 3 went by with more time on the project and we managed to get the moves wired on top rope with some linkage. We had also thrown ourselves at a short bouldery 29 called Gondwanaland, which Zac managed to send in a day. I would have to wait for a second day on at the end of the trip to send it.  We wondered about the grade of the project so went off to compare it to the hardest route currently at Mt Buffalo and what is most likely the hardest pure crack in Australia, The Great Shark Hunt (30). Day 4 on the trip was spent Bush bashing up and down gullies to find the line. When we did find it we wondered on how to get to the top to rap in and inspect it. It would have been easier to go ground up as we ended up on a major rappelling mission from high in the gorge to get down to it from above.

I felt broken on days 5 and 6 yet we threw ourselves at The Great Shark Hunt anyway. It was humid and about 32 degrees so not the best conditions. We floundered around sorting out the moves knowing a cold change was coming in the next few days. I only had 3 shots and Zac just 2. We could hardly move and a two-day rest was in order. I don’t think I’ve punished myself for 6 straight days without resting for a while.

It was 15 degrees and windy after our rest break and the route felt a lot easier. Unfortunately for me there is a stand up reach off a good foothold at the end of the route that I had some trouble with. I fell here, frustratingly close, on my 4^th and 5^th attempts. Zac managed to get the route on his 4^th attempt. Another day on and a change of beta utilising some higher, but worse, foot holds and I sent the route too.

 

Stem rest half way up The Great Shark Hunt. Photo: Malcolm Matheson.

We went back to the project. A week and a half of climbing had worn us down and we were definitely tired. I had one more amazing day where I sent Gondwanaland in the morning and then got very close to a clean top rope lap of the crack project in the afternoon. After that I was stuffed. The next morning, which was our last day, I managed to climb 4m up a grade 20 called Sultanz and had to bail. My body and mind were done. Zac and I bailed on the afternoon project session and called it a successful trip beginning the drive home.

Comparing the Great Shark Hunt to the project we decided the project was significantly harder. We both did the Great Shark Hunt relatively quickly but didn’t quite manage a tope rope lap on the project during the whole trip. Leading and placing on the project will be harder again. I am looking forward to our return to finish it off, as I am sure it will become a classic test piece.