KC and I did 7 days of climbing last week. We didn't go all day every day – but we did climb something every day. We started on the Pass with a quick stop at Donnell Vista - Easy Crack Corner 5.5 and The Climb-Me Flake 5.7***. Our next stop was Column of the Giants - Hexentric 5.7***
and Lincoln Logs 5.8R. We spent the night at Chipmunk Flat and got up to a crisp beautiful morning. We started at Deadman’s Fun Area on Rob’s Everybody Stance 5.6* followed by the Unseen Corner 5.6. I think that climb should be called 1-2-3-4-Nut. We finished off that wall with Putt Putt Mini Golfer 5.7*.
We headed up the hill a bit to the Predecessor Cracks and jumped on Steeple Spire 5.6** and Uncle Robert 5.4. Back to Chipmunk Flat for a quiet, cool evening. As the sun came up over the crags we were singing “here comes the sun…here comes the sun”…and when I accidentally shaded KC she said…”hey! – get outta my sun!” You had to be there. We packed it up Monday morning and headed to The Leap. We had a nice adventure on It’s Better with Bacon 5.8*** - my first experience placing RP’s and our first 5 pitch climb.
KC tries not to grease off It’s Better with Bacon p1
Tuesday we climbed The Farce 5.5**.
We set up camp early and took a walk over to the Hogwild area to do some recon. Wednesday we returned to the Hogwild area to climb the pillar we’d reconned. We named it Belly Button Slab after discovering a series of vugs on the face. There were two routes which we dubbed Triplet 5.4* (starts just below a horizontal string of 3 vugs) and Innie 5.5.
To finish the day, KC did her first ever gear lead on pitch 1 of Knapsack Crack. She led with calm and precision. I was SUPER PROUD of her.
We packed up and drove to Mammoth to stay the night.
Thursday morning we opted to head for The Hills – we had a hankering for roasted choss.
We went to Earthday Dome and I led two gear climbs - Seamingly Cool 5.6R*( my first R in the Hills) and Greenpeace and Greenbacks 5.7*. Hellacious winds drove us from the crag and in to town where we acted like tourons and went to the Film Museum. We camped on the Ghosts Road for the night.
Seamingly Cool 6R*
rappelling off Earth Day Dome
Friday the shade of Hoodgie Wall offered up the Original Route 5.6R* - not for the faint of heart!
While we were climbing, the only other climbers we saw during our two days in the Hills showed up – Caleb and Scott. Caleb was from KY and had climbed a lot in the Red – he lives near Lake Isabella now.
I followed up the R route with Holy Shiite Muslim 7*.
KC rigs the rap while Caleb leads Leonosphere…Holy Shiite Muslim is the big crack to Caleb’s right…
I can now say I’ve completed all the climbs on Hoodgie Wall. We ended the day and our summer climbing extravaganza with another 7* on Tall Wall – Renegade Trail - then aptly – we hit the dusty trail…
