Yosemite Rocks

I'm sitting here in the Yosemite Community Center next to Colin, who is desperately trying to write an article for the Alpinist. Unfortunately, he is not a writer and doesn't enjoy the torture of forcing himself to try to be one. However, there's money at the end of the tunnel, so he's giving it his best go.

I'm taking a full rest day today. It's difficult here to rest when there are so many fun climbs all around, so many partners to climb with, and so much exploring to do. A few days ago Colin and I cragged at Sentinel Creek; the next day we planned on resting, but ended up biking all over town all day on the SAR townies and then soloing up a route called "After Six" (although I skipped the first 5.7 pitch and found some easier terrain to ascend); the day after that I climbed a route called "Snake Dike" with my friends Singer and Aaron. I didn't really want to climb, but I knew I'd laugh all day if I climbed with them. We started the very long (12 or 13 or something miles round trip) hike at around noon, bushwacked (crawled and swam through sharp, gnarly manzanita forests and stumbled our way up loose talus and gravel), and ended up at the base of the route around 2:30. We planned on just hanging out at the bottom for a few hours to wait for the train of 13 climbers above us to finish the route, but then another party showed up at the base at 3:00, so we were forced to start. I headed up with Aaron on the other end of the rope, and Singer (in order to avoid the inevitable clusterf**k) soloed around us. We passed numerous parties and had a blast on one of the coolest 5.7s I've ever done in my life. We topped out an hour or so later and then made the long (3 hour) scramble down hill back to camp, where we ate pesto pasta and ate two pints of ice cream. What a lovely day.