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!

Secret Sierra - Climbing obscurities on the Western slope

With the whole Covid-19 thing shutting down my lab and the world, I have spent countless days over the past couple of months climbing at more obscure formations in the San Joaquin River gorge and in "Southern Yosemite".

In the past 90 days I have been outside climbing 35 days, logged more than 100 routes, and more than 200 pitches. Not bad for an old man.

First up, for my 40th birthday was the Fuller Buttes. I had wanted to do my first 5.12 redpoint on my birthday, but there was still far to much fresh grief from Penny's death for such a venture. Instead, we headed to the Fuller Buttes. These a massive pair of granite dome, 1000' tall, with perfect rock. Despite being in plain view, there is surprisingly little information on the climbing there. I managed to get information on two moderate Jerry Anderson routes on East Fuller Butte, "Meridian Passage, 7 pitches, 5.9" and "The substitute, 3 pitches, 5.8". We did both climbs, which were easy, and had mediocre slab climbing. The summit however was excellent!

Slabby granite on "Meridian Passage"

Trevor looks over at the West Fuller Butte

Sublime

Nice belay ledge

I turned 40 today (May 13th)

On a separate trip Trevor and I then hit up two domes in day, which was an excellent idea!

In the morning we climbed "Do it don't spew it" (III, 5.11c) on Disappearing Dome. The route was excellent, featuring a mix of crack, slab and dike climbing. Very fun! We followed that up in the afternoon with an ascent of "Snake" (II, 5.8) on Piyau Dome. What an amazing day!

Approaching the back of Disappearing Dome

Looking up at the first pitch of "Do it don't spew it"

Trevor is having a good time on the traverse 5.11a pitch!

The backside of Piyau Dome

Glory handjams on Snake

Trevor reflects on the grand day we had

In addition to all the domes, I have been spending a fair amount of time climbing at the Sphinx. This is a recently developed Sport crag, with 100+ climbs ranging form 5.7 - 5.12+. The climbing is featured, steep, well protected. Its some of the best sport climbing in our area!  Its quite fun to hop on routes not knowing the grade. I found myself a wonderful steep project there, in the 5.11+ - 5.12 range.

A wall at the Sphinx

Trevor climbs some steep granite

I climb some steep!

Teresa enjoys some moderate climbing at the Sphinx

In addition to the usually Shuteye ridge climbing, I managed to put up three new routes at Fresno Dome. There was a detached unclimbed pillar below the West face, which we dubbed "Penny's Pillar", in honor of our little buddy.

Penny's pillar

One of the new routes tackles the roof. Fun.

Although not on my 40th birthday, I did mange to nab that first 5.12 redpoint. "Merry Christmas" on the Christmas wall at Chilkoot, I successfully redpointed. Thanks to Teresa, Susan and Trevor for belaying me while I worked to link all the moves on that one.

First ascent at Disappearing Dome - "Penny Perfect" (5.10a, 4 pitches, 600')

On our last trip to Disappearing Dome, I spied a beautiful looking splitter crack below a roof system. With that in mind, Trevor, Teresa and I returned to the area to see if we could give it a go!

Perfect slab

We made three rappels down the approach gully, and I racked up and headed up the crack. What a crack, it was mostly glory hands, a truly perfect splitter! I was giddy and smiling the whole way up.

My first ascent of the crack (5.9)

Once I got up to near the end of the crack, I elected to put in a 2 bolt anchor, so that this crack could be climbed as a stand alone pitch. Some my disagree with my decision to put in bolts here, but hey, its my FA. Looking up a the roof, it certainly looked like it would go with gear, so I launched out from our belay onto pitch 2.

Heading out onto pitch 2

Into the roofs

There was good gear below and through the roof. The roof move itself was quite fun, maybe 5.10a (?) and very well protected. Above the roof I found myself facing either a long runout friction slab, or a not-fun plant filled water groove. I decided to put a single bolt in, and abandon the ground-up attempt.

We headed to the top of the dome, and while Teresa relaxed, Trevor and I rapped in form the top and figured out where the rest of the route would go. We added a few bolts to what would become the 3rd pitch. I ran out of battery and bolts, so we would have to return another time.

Attempt 1 - 1 pitch onsite, partial pitch 2, and equipped pitch 3.

A couple of weeks later Trevor and I returned, armed with more bolts, extra batteries and multiple ropes so we could fix all the way to the ground. We spent some time deciding on the best path and bolting pitch 2, and a fair amount of time removing all the plant matter from the crack on pitch 1. After about 4-5 hours of work, we ditched the fixed ropes and raped back down to the base so we could lead up from teh ground. Trevor and I swapped pitches, redpointing the route. The crux pitch is certainly pitch 2, with some tricky well bolted slab moves (5.10b?). All in all a great roue, and something I am proud of. It was wonderful completing this project with Trevor.

Dang, that's a nice splitter crack

Fun times!

Trevor graciously let me name the route, which I named in memory of Penny.

Penny Perfect, 5.10a, 4 pitches, 600 feet

8 QD, Gear to 3”, double #2, double or triple, 3 #1 useful.

FA Cory Brooks, Trevor Crough, 05/30/2020

Approach: Make three raps down the gully between the domes. Scramble down a bit and locate the obvious splitter crack below two triangular roofs.

P1 – Climb the perfect splitter below two triangular roofs. The crack starts with fingers and quickly progresses to thin hands, then glory #2 hands. Ends on a bolted anchor below the roof. Stellar pitch. 

70’, 5.9. Gear to 3”, Triple #1 useful. Double #2.

P2 – Head out right from the belay gain the thin crack, then head up and pull through the weakness in the triangular roofs. Above the roof, a technical slab is protected by bolts and optional gear in a plant filled water groove. From the slab head up into a pair of flake systems, and end up to the right past one more bolt on a good ledge with a bolted anchor.

180’, 5.10a. 7 bolts, gear to 3”

P3 – From the ledge head out left into some blocky and hollow flakes. Tread carefully here as some of the blocks may be loose, and the flakes are hollow and avoid placing gear until you reach a large right arching flake. Underling the flake, then traverse right past 2 bolts, and straight up past 2 more bolts to reach an alcove above a massive flake. Gear belay (#2, #1, #3)

 4 bolts, gear to 3’, 110’, 5.8

P4 – 230’. From the gear belay head straight up the easy runout slab. Be wary of potentially loose blocks just above the belay. Head up and slightly to the left to gain a bolted anchor on a rock shelf.

Gear to 1” 2 bolts, 230’, easy 5^th

Perfect Day, Perfect climb, a fitting tribute to a Perfect little dog