The Road to the Valley

So we took off from Smith Rock after one final parking lot concert and cruised down to South Lake Tahoe. The home of moderate Traditional multi-pitch climbs. We got to work on our trad skills and boulder a little. But the weather caught up to us and we decided to get outta dodge and head to Yosemite Valley. Along the way we spend a night in South Lake Tahoe and I got my first Casino experience and realized that they are BOOOORING. Mind you that could have been because of that fact that I'm underage... therefore I couldn't drink and therefore there were no good looking women there. To tell the truth booze wouldn't have helped... there weren't even any remotely good looking women there.

From there we did a little bit of interesting orienteering, changed our luck with hitch-hikers (no felons this time) and drove a full lap around Lake Tahoe before heading south to the Valley. By this time it was getting cold and being at anywhere from 5000 to 9500 vertical feet doesn't help it too much. We spent a night just past Tioga Pass entering Yosemite Valley... and woke up with a little snow and some ice nearby. Something I wasn't really expecting at the beginning of October. The stunning views from the pass had eluded us at night, but now we could see the amazing granite monolith's that are the valley walls.

Our arrival at Camp 4 (the climbers camp) was the first time we'd had to pay for camping... also the first time that we realized it might have been a good idea to bring some girls along. Five dollars a night... the price of rent... and very few amenities. No soap, no mirrors, no hot water, no dishwashing sink, no music after 10pm and no rolling toilet paper rolls. Not to say that all of it is bad... because it isn't. The camp is full of amazing people, one angry drunk, wicked boulders and the overwhelming "Oh my buddah!" feeling.

Here we met up with a bunch of people we'd met previously on the trip, as well as a North Vancouver Crusher named Will Stanhope... what a slut. It's pretty cool to have a person like Will show us around and give us the downlow on the Valley. He let us in on one important piece of info... that being to avoid the most dangerous snake in the valley, the COBRA. A deadly 6% malt liquor that has invaded the Valley.

The climbing here is hard and interesting to get used to. So much for 5.12 bolts... how about 5.9 cracks. But it's a learning experience without a doubt. The downgrade hasn't held us back though... we managed to do some pretty cool routes. One of them called the Snake Dike (Snake Hike). This is the easiest climb up a prominent figure in the Valley, the Half Dome. Unfortunately only half of the dome has been completed at this point... maybe one day we'll be able to do the whole dome. This climb allowed us to do about 5000 vertical feed including hiking. It was a full day of hiking and climbing on easy runout routes. A number of pitches saw 30 meter runouts on5.7 slab or 5.4 polished dikes. Without a doubt a wicked way to get to the top of Half Dome without having to be an extremely competent crack climber or aider.

When we reached the top we heard what sounded like a fighter jet flying through the canyon. In fact it was a large rock slide above one of the villages. Luckily no people were hurt... but it was still a pretty awesome amount of power unleashed from the hillside.

This October has also been a pretty historic time in climbing history. We got to be here for a new free route variation called "The Secret Passage" climbed by a few guys we met at camp. These guys are some of the strongest climbers in the world. Even more epic was the fastest climb of the Nose on El Capitan. We were able to watch this from the meadow this morning. Most people spend close to 5 days on this route and Yuji and Hans managed to climb it in a stunning 2 hours and 36 minutes. Kinda "craZy" with a capital Zed.

Otherwise, I got to walk my second highline, in an area called the Rostrum. It was a little shorter than the one in Smith Rock but it was freaky none-the-less. The feeling of stepping into the void is pretty cool and never comfortable. But I did it and managed to even throw in a turn all the way up there with a thousand vertical feet to the Valley floor to one side.

Tomorrow Chuck and I are going to do a 16 pitch route called Royal Arches. Wish us luck. Talk to you all later.

-Thomas Sloss