Red Rock - Photo TR

 Teresa and I met up with Sue and her new beau, David, for 5 days of climbing at Red Rock. We had a great time, climbing moderate multi-pitches and cragging. A nice outing!

Whiskey Peak

Sue and David - getting ready to climb

Sue on P1 of Jubilant Song

David on the roof pitch of Jubilant Song

David on the summit of Whiskey Peak

All smiles - Sue and David

Splitter cracks

Angel Food Wall

Bomber

Teresa!

Yours truly

Cathedral Range Enchainment - Photo TR

 On October 3 Susan and I completed the Cathedral Range Enchainment (a.k.a. Cathedral Range Traverse).  With wild fires burning across the Sierra it was a smoky day out. We almost bailed, but thankfully Susan convinced me we should continue. 

 

Topo map of the Cathedral Range Enchainment

Similar to the more popular TMC traverse,  the Cathedral Range Enchainment involves climbing a large amount of low 5th and 4th class terrain. The route is about 13 miles long, with around 6,000 feet of elevation gain. We did a mixture of simul-climbing and soloing. Along the way we summited Cathedral Peak, 3 of the Echo Peaks (Echo Peaks 3, 2,1), Cockscomb and Unicorn Peak.

I will confess that the combination of the endless fires, hot weather, and pandemic really sucked all the climbing stoke out of me by mid-summer this year. I am really grateful that Sue put up with grumpy attitude and provided the momentum to keep this one going. Susan has really matured as a climber and has become my go-to partner for alpine climbing ventures. Thanks Sue!

 

Smoky views

Sue with an ethereal halo

Like climbing on another planet. Cathedral Peak in the right background

Heading down. Cockscomb in the background

Awesome day with an awesome partner

TMC Link-up

Last week Trevor and I completed the ever-so classic TMC Link-up. This involves climbing Tenaya Peak (II, 5.5), then hiking over to Matthes Crest (II, 5.7) then hiking over and climbing the SE buttress of Cathedral Peak (II, 5.6). You complete it by hiking out and hitch hiking back to your car. 

After our foray up Matthes Crest with Sue last month, Trevor got pretty stoked on the idea of the link-up after I told him about it. I personally have always wanted to get it done, so when I managed to score new Yosemite permits we drove up and gave it a go.

We soloed Tenaya Peak and Matthes Crest (we skipped the summit to avoid a cluster -f*ck with some slow climbers) and simul-climbed Cathedral Peak in 2 pitches. The climbing parts went fast, the crux is hiking in the heat! We managed to find a couple of nice ladies at the parking lot to drive us back to our car. The whole thing, including a 30 min stop/detour to filter water at Echo lake took us 10 hours.

Very fun!

Peak 1 - Tenaya Peak

Trevor solos Tenaya in the dawn light

Looking back at Cloud's Rest, Half-Dome and Mt Watkins

Filling water at Echo Lake

Trevor on Matthes Crest

Glorious Matthes Crest

Cathedral Peak

Matthes Crest - Photo TR

My good friend Sue came up from the Bay area for a few days of climbing. We enjoyed some sport climbing, but high on her tick list was Matthes Crest. While I had climbed Matthes Crest several years ago, I was pretty psyched to revisit the route again. Especially, since I have been mulling to a solo of the TMC link-up. We grabbed Trevor (who's always game for an adventure) and made a day trip out of it. The route was as fun as I remembered. As a bonus, there was not a single other person en route. We had the entire thing to ourselves. What a special day out with good friends.

Climbing in Lander - Wild Iris and Sinks Canyon

Teresa and I needed a change of scenery, so found ourselves a cute little airbnb, packed up the Subaru and headed off to Lander, WY for a week of sport climbing at Sinks Canyon and Wild Iris. Historically I have not been much of a sport climber, but I have really taken to clipping bolts and trying hard the past few months. Neither of us had been to Wyoming, and Lander seemed like a great place to pluck our butts down for some climbing, beer drinking and relaxing!

Teresa insisted on a non-climbing activity, so on the drive up we stopped at Bryce Canyon National Park for a bit of hiking and to check out the scenery.

Bryce Canyon

The park was not too busy, and we enjoyed a very nice 8 mile loop hike before doing the typical tourist drive through. Luckily the weather was pretty comfortable, not too hot!

Tower Bridge

Pretty desert views

Travel and Covid

We then headed across the desert and made our way to Lander. Its wonder little town, nestled at the base of the Wind River range. The surrounding land is hilly, green, lush and vibrant with color.

Red Canyon - Just outside Lander

The city is very welcoming, and has free 3 night camping at the city park. We took advantage of that for one night. Lots of climbers and vans.

Meal prep at the city park.

With unseasonably cool temps I was stoked to check out Sinks Canyon, which is a short 10 min drive from town. We spent a couple of days climbing at Sinks, checking out a variety of crags, logging in a bunch of moderate pitches. Fun times!

The "Killer Cave" centerpiece of Sinks Canyon. Lots of 5.13+ here!

Climbers at Sinks

Popo Agie River in Sinks Canyon

Our AirBnB was really nice. A small little guest house on a farm. Perfect. Close to Sinks and even came with a friendly farm kitty for visits!

Our home in Lander for the week

Fresh garden veggies everyday!

With the weather warming, we spent the next few days climbing at Wild Iris, the most famous crag in Lander. At 9000' nestled in among the trees with perfect white limestone, the place is truly sublime.  The climbs are short and fierce. I really enjoyed the routes, very bouldery and tough. Not my normal style!

Wild Iris

Working the moves on Tribal War.

We had a great time, and I am definitely adding Lander into the rotation of regular climbing areas to visit!

See you next year Wild Iris!

Charlotte Dome - South Face (III, 5.8)

Last weekend Paul Souza headed over to the eastside to climb on of the "50 classic climbs: of North American, the South Face of Charlotte Dome.

Note - All photos were taken by Paul Souza

Charlotte Dome

Due to difficulties in obtaining permits on the Western slope, we opted to hike in from Kearsarge pass. It was a beautiful but long approach. About 12 miles, with maybe 3500' of elevation gain. It took us around 6 hours to reach the campsite with our heavy packs.

Heading up Kearsarge pass

Your typical Sierra scenery

It looks close, but its still a long ways off....

There was another pair of climbers from Reno already at the campsite when arrived. The winds picked up, and temperatures dropped, things did not look good! I chatted some with the Reno climbers and we discussed how the next day would go. Hopefully that wind would die down!

The next morning, we woke to clear skies, no wind, but a bit chilly. Paul and I headed out of camp about 30 min before theReno climbers and made our way to the base of the climb. From camp, it was a chill, easy approach, taking maybe 30-45 minutes.

Start of the climb

Other than some minor route finding issues at the start, the climb was very straight forward. The crux pitches were casual, the gear was good and we moved fast enough that the Reno climbers were well behind us. The rock quality was excellent, very featured and somewhat similar to what you see on Fresno Dome.

Approaching "The slot" 5.8 crux

crazy features

We topped out after maybe 5.5- 6 hours, sometime around 1 PM. An easy descent and quick hike back to camp.  Overall, the route I would say this is one of the better 5.8s in the Sierra, and is mostly a casual, well protected, and  high quality romp on excellent rock. Go get it!