The agony and the ecstasy

I just got back from the Valley, and I must say that I am less than thrilled about it (being home that is).  I arrived Thursday morning and climbed The Great Escape at Chapel Wall with Dan Urban.  What a great route!  4 pitches of classic 5.11 sport climbing.  I had toproped it a few years ago and kind of sucked.  I kind of sucked Thursday too, but it was nice to see that I sucked a little less than I did a few years ago.  Dan Urban climbed really well, and I am psyched to have found a new partner who is laid back, fun to hang out with, competent, and motivated.  

Friday I woke up a bit tired, and knowing that I was supposed to climb with Drew Saturday and Sunday, I was a little hesitant to try something big.  Dan's enthusiasm, however, won me over and we did the first 5 pitches of Free Blast.  I had done the first pitch of the Salathe Wall a few years ago when I barely even crack climbed.  I remember being pretty proud of flashing it on toprope, so I expected it to feel piss easy.  While I didn't fall, I definitely did not think that it was piss easy.  I partially blame my extremely tight sport climbing shoes.  I still have an internal debate over what kind of shoes to wear on a climb like Free Blast.  Should I wear Mythos, which might be a bit sloppy? Or the Katanas, which are way too tight and worthless for jamming.  I don't know.  At any rate, I bought a new pair of Katanas in a larger size.  There is NO REASON to wear shoes that tight.  It's just stupid.

Free Blast was rad.  I did pretty well, considering that I'm really not very good at climbing in Yosemite.  I ended up french-freeing the 10 foot 11b traverse section without even trying the moves.  Damn I'm such a pussy.  I get so gripped on traverses!  The rest of the FB went well until the end of the first slab pitch, where I just got lost in a sea of friction slab.  Dan, however, sent all 5 pitches on lead, and he was really happy about that.  Now he's ready for Freerider!!

Saturday I chilled at the Ahwahnee Boulders with Karl, Audrey, James and Steve.  Observe me chillin' above.

Anyway, Drew came into the valley and we went over to Chapel Wall and did the most heinous 5.11D in the world, which I got completely schooled on, and a 5.10 crack climb, which also felt hard.  On a more positive note, I worked on Drive By Shooting and figured out all of the moves.  I hope to go back and redpoint soon.  That route is really fun and high quality.  Drew of course, styled everything with his perfect footwork and "iceman" cool.

The evening found me once again in the Mountain Room Bar with James and Platinum and a couple of other random people.  I was also delighted to run into Alex Evans, who I had not seen in ages.  

Today I was worked, but went up to Public Sanitation wall to hang out and belay Drew on a few climbs.  My tips were scorched, my motivation was low, and it started raining.  Now I am home, a little bitter about it and some other things that fall under the "life is bullshit" category.  I'm sure I will rant more about that later, but wanted to devote an entire post to how awesome Yosemite is.  In the next few weeks I hope to do Serenity/Sons, Half Dome, Free Blast and the West Face of El Cap.  We'll see how much I get done on this list.  At any rate, it's a gift to be able to climb only 2 weeks after not even being able to use my hand or walk.