I came here to rock climb!

Saturday, June 2, I woke up into a dream-come-true: river rushing by, blue sky framed by magnificent and climbable cliffs, and fresh brewed coffee. Evelyn served me breakfast and we started our lazy Saturday.

I met more of the trail crew and heard entertaining fishing and climbing stories all morning.

In the afternoon, Evelyn, Steve and I drove to a swimming hole just outside of the park. The 55 degree water was a perfect complement to the 90+ degree heat and blazing sun. We lounged riverside until talk of fire-charred cheese, salsa, and avocado topped burgers led us back to camp.

The hot sun had us working in slow motion. Around 5:00, before we could start the fire for dinner, Sam arrived. He had the same wide-eyed glaze I had the previous day and couldn't wait to climb the magnificent rock surrounding us.

I was in a lazy day mood and hungry for dinner, so I resisted Sam's urging to go climbing for a good fifteen minutes.

Back at home, Rock and Snow Rich told me to try Reed's Pinnacle Direct as a good introduction to Yosemite crack climbing. That route was just a few miles away from the trail crew cabins and had a roadside, quick approach.

By 6:00, we were loaded into the rental car and on the way to Reed's Pinnacle. The crag was easy to find, the prominent crack visible from the roadside.

I won the rock-paper-scissor shoot and started up the first 5.8 pitch. After about twenty feet, it was obvious that the pitch I was on was harder than 5.8. The crack was finger-small instead of the guidebook described hand-jam-big.

After looking in the book, Sam advised me to down climb the 5.10 I was on and move over to the route we planned to climb. I did as Sam suggested and began my second start, this time on the correct route.

After about twenty feet, it was obvious that the pitch I was on was harder than I could comfortably lead. The excuses I used included: jet lag, hangover, laziness, too much swimming, improper diet, wrong pants, and the transit of Venus.

"ER Nick told me you didn't like crack climbing," Sam mused.

"Oh yeah, I hate crack climbing. I can't do it," I reported matter-of-factly.

"You know that Yosemite is all crack climbing, right?" Sam timidly inquired.

"Oh yeah, I know. I bet we can find a face climb or two though, right? Tuolumne Meadows is all slab, right?"

Sam lowered me to the ground and took over the lead.

I knew I was going to have to learn to climb cracks. It didn't feel good at that moment, but I knew about time and practice and I was ready to rope up for my Yosemite Crash Course in Crack Climbing.

Sam cruised up the stout hand jam. I followed the route in typical first-day-at-a-new-crag style: falling, whining, pulling on gear, and—BONUS—dropping the camera.

Sam gracefully continued up the 5.10 second pitch. I followed with much less whining and was rewarded by the awesome setting-sun-over-valley sky.

We rappelled to the ground at dusk and completed our first-day-dues-paying by getting the rope stuck. Fortunately, there was an easy scramble to the ledge where the rope end was lodged and fortunately one of us had remembered to pack a headlamp. So, rope retrieval was easy enough.

Once on the ground, all I could think about was the burgers Steve and Evelyn had planned to make for dinner that night. I was hungry when Sam showed up at five; I was ravenous after the climb. I couldn't help but wonder if the one evening climb was worth missing those sure-to-be glorious burgers.

Back at camp, my first question was, "How was dinner?" I was longing for some left-over burger scraps.

"Oh, we didn't even start cooking yet. We napped when you went climbing."

Oh joy! We would get burgers after all! And Sam had brought bacon! My first full day in Yosemite was a success.

Sunday morning, Sam and I set off for Yosemite Valley. The views and scenery got more impressive the deeper we ventured. We parked along the road and followed the path to Middle Cathedral. The approach was short, but the sun was hot.

We easily found our targeted route, Central Pillar of Frenzy. We were relieved to find two parties already on the route. We were forced to wait to start climbing and would be saved from the day's peak heat. The sun was cooking the rock wall.

We sat below a scraggly shrub and enjoyed the bit of shade it provided. We decided to practice our patience and let the party in front of us to get well into the second pitch before we started. The longer we waited, the less oppressive the sun and heat were.

Instead of the traditional rock-paper-scissor battle for first lead, Sam and I had time to discuss who would be better suited to lead each of the five pitches. The first pitch description included the words “flare/chimney”, “jam”, and “strenuous”. The third pitch description included the words “offwidth”, “large cams”, and “roof”. For me, these words were not synonymous with success.

Sam was happy to take the pitches I was afraid of and generously left me with the delightful sounding second pitch (“clean”, “fingers”, “direct”).

Sam cruised up the first 5.9 pitch, jamming a wide crack in the slippery corner. At the top of the first 100+ foot pitch, we had a great view of El Capitan. The sun showed mercy by moving around the side of the Middle Cathedral rock. I had the feeling of being in the exact right place at the exact right time.

The second 5.9 pitch climbed a clean finger-to-hand size crack that ran straight up the steep face. I felt solid and safe leading the classic crack. I savored the moves and views and proclaimed my love for Yosemite.

Sam rocked on the third 5.9 pitch’s wide cracked and roof. I had fun following and practicing fist jams. The views improved with each belay spot and we identified tiny specs on the adjacent El Cap wall as climbers.

It was my lucky day: my fourth pitch lead offered clean, fun 5.8 twin cracks. Sam wandered over chunky, featured cracks and corners for the fifth 5.8 pitch. The whole route was super sweet!

On the ground, we ate our late lunch before deciding we wanted to climb more. I was next in line to lead and opted to try Pee Pee Pinnacle. This 5.10a route offered clean finger crack climbing to the top of a 100-foot pinnacle.

We were completely satisfied to flash six amazing pitches on our second day in Yosemite.