My first climbing trip to Pinnacles was also my first-ever climbing road trip. We went down after Christmas, 1984, and stayed for six straight days. We camped on the West Side (yeah, before the 1998 floods destroyed that campground) and climbed there and in the High Peaks. The Paul Gagner guidebook was current then, and it got us to climbs I've never since forgotten: Hummingbird Spire (first route I did at Pinnacles); Egg Shell (to this day I still remember the sense of adventure that that one gave me); Condor Crag South (dragging our lunches up behind us and being filled with wonder while eating and taking in the view from the summit - perhaps the one route that almost instantly cemented my love for this place).
That great trip extended into the first two days of 1985. In fact, it helped turn 1985 into my first "big" year in climbing. I started 1985 - on New Years Day itself - by leading my first multi-pitch route. Both pitches of Lava Falls went flawlessly (we dragged two ropes up that one though, because, back then, there was a one bolt anchor at the top of Lava Falls, and that one bolt was well back from the cliff edge; the descent required walking to the top of Hook and Drill and making a two-rope rappel down that). Later in that same year, in Yosemite Valley, I led my first 5.10 crack, did my first Grade V aid wall, my first Grade V in a day, and my first El Cap route. It was indeed a big year, and it really started at Pinnacles.
So that's 30 years of climbing at this wonderful place. I grew to love it quickly, and I love it still.
Last week I went down for my last trip of this, my 30th Pinnacles season. I had a very successful two days (purposeful the first day and fun the second day).
I've posted about The Embarrassment of Riches, the route I climbed last Tuesday. That was the purposeful day, and, honestly, I'm glad it's behind me. What I didn't post about that climb is that The Embarrassment of Riches was the last climb in the 2007 guidebook that is easier than 5.10 that I hadn't done. I was pretty damn happy to mark off that one single box, to finish filling in six pages of check-boxes. I had Gavin watch me put ink to paper (he must think I'm crazy), and when I got home I immediately showed Vicki and Tricia (wife and younger daughter). I even emailed Katie (older daughter) about what I'd done. I think I understood her response; she's in college, and I'm not quite sure we speak the same language (I know I loved what she wrote though). She saw the photos I'd taken of the check boxes at the back of my copy of my book and said:
"I'm truly impressed. Thats a shit ton of climbs. A metric shit ton."
I'm not sure how she could tell the difference between the two types of "tons," but I laughed when I got her email.
And now, after some reflection, I've decided that it's OK to post the same photos here that I sent to Katie, and that it's OK to start a thread about two goals that most of you have helped me with, two efforts that could each actually reach an end. First the photos:
And now the goals. First, I've ticked all of the "sub 5.10" routes that are in the book, but new routes have gone up since the book came out. Including those new routes in the count, I've done either all but three, or all but five routes known to exist at Pinns that are easier than 5.10 (there are three complete "sub 5.10" routes that I know of and haven't yet done, and two more that are nearly finished or "maybe finished" routes). I hope that, early next season, I can do these few routes (plus any other "sub 5.10s" that go up between now and then) and become (most likely) the first person to have done every route at Pinns that is easier than 5.10. If (IF) I am able to reach this status, it may only last for a day or a week or a month. New routes continue to go up. But I think I'll be able to keep up by doing new routes after they are put up (for a few years anyway - we'll see how I do once I'm hobbling out to routes with my walker and a bottle of Geritol). I've had a ton of fun getting to this point, and I hope I continue to have fun finishing and then "maintaining" this goal.
My second goal is related. Some years ago I did my 800th route at Pinns. It was a first ascent; 14 of us put up a new climb called "The 800 Club" as my 800th route done at Pinns. It was a "mass assault" that included some of my best friends and it was a great day. A few people have asked me since then whether I thought I'd ever get to 900 routes done in good style. Although I kinda doubted that this one would happen, and I haven't really cared much, it now seems like it might.
As of last Wednesday, over the course of 30 years, I've done 881 routes at Pinnacles in good style. I suspect now that I will eventually have done 900 routes, and I think this may happen next season.
If I get there, I'd like to do another "mass ascent" of a new route. I hope that most of the folks on here could find time to join me on that (tentative name of the route-to-be: "Nine Hundred for the Lead").
And now, one final comment. Although these goals are and have been fun, respect for Pinnacles rock has and will continue to come first. That respect takes precedence over any of my climbing goals just as it takes precedence over any other climber's goals too. Respect for Pinns rock means that I have not sought out or created routes just to inflate some (basically dumb) route count. I won't do that, period. And, on that subject, although I've been part of an unusually large wave of new first ascents this just-passed season, those ascents have been made for fun and adventure. They have not been done to artificially increase some already artificial number. I absolutely do not intend to change this pattern, at least not in my own behavior.
