1st post and 1st week in Yosemite!!!

 Hey everyone, welcome to my new blog! The email list grew to more than I expected and I am found it easier to use this site because I can post the in order along with the days rather than just a file of pictures for you all to scroll through. Alli is to thank for setting this up for me J

  

   Im sorry it has been almost a week since I have put anything out there but we have just been on the go and the service isn't the best so I have had to wait til I could find internet service. There is only one place in the village that has it and also at my friend Greg’s house in El Portal. I have a lot to get you caught up on and will try my best to make this as enjoyable as possible!  Again thanks for showing an interest in my life. So where shall I begin…

Thursday night May 16:

   We arrived at our originally intended campsite was right outside of Bishop on BLM where most Boulders stay (Bishop is known for its world class bouldering). When we got there, there was a sign saying campsite closed but nothing saying as to why it was closed, we were tired and it was almost midnight so we set up camp anyways. Jared and I decided to walk to the restrooms before heading to bed and looked at the bulletin board. We were shocked to see why the campsite had closed down… Plague! Apparently there had been a recent plague infection in the area with deer mice and squirrels and the campsite had closed down 3 days prior to our arrival. Needless to say we ran back to the site and told Steven and Dan of our findings and that we needed to move to a campsite several miles away. We packed up and relocated, we were not happy about having to do this but it was not worth the risk!

Friday May17:

   Today is Dan’s birthday!! I won’t say how old he is because he wouldn't like that but I will say we have started calling him grandpa! We rose early because we were all excited to get to the valley. We drove back to Bishop first to go to the grocery store and get about a weeks’ worth of food for all of us. After this we were on our way to Tioga pass which takes you through Tuolumne Meadows and into Yosemite from the east of the Sierras. Tuolumne is also a big climbing destination with large exposed domes, some of these domes are more than 1000 ft tall. Tuolumne sits at over 8000 ft. and still had some snow on the ground, too cold for enjoyable climbing. We made some stops to take pictures, take in the fresh air and of course look at rocks!

 We continued on through the winding roads and lush forest with pine trees reaching more than 100 ft in height. At this point we are all dying with anticipation because we know we are about to arrive at a place we have only seen in movies and pictures. Finally it happens,

we get our first view of half dome, the top of El Cap and the Rostrum, all of our expectations are met and also exceeded. We are so excited that we speed on down to the valley floor along the way Dan is blowing his horn (which is a semi-truck horn) through the tunnels, it felt like my ears were bleeding but I did not care because we have arrived! We immediately went to the closest place we could find to get a good look at Elcap and just sat there, taking it in, it is breath taking, more than I think any of us expected.

 The great roof

 leaning tower and bridal vail

 tunnel view

We started questioning where we would stay, the place to be if you are a climber is camp 4 but naturally this is full and hard to get into. So we settled for Wawona which sadly was a 35 minute drive away but it was our only option. We make it to camp, get a reservation and set up camp. As soon as we are done we jump in the truck and head back to the valley to get a couple hours of climbing in before sundown (which isn’t until almost 830). We climb at a place called swan slabs because it has some easier climbing and the approach is only a couple minutes from the parking lot. We had time to do 3 climbs before the sun went down and we headed off to camp to get some rest for the next day.

Saturday May 18:

   We wake up early to head to the Valley to get a good day of climbing, first stop Church bowl! We do church bowl lay back 5.8, church bowl tree 5.10(my first 10 gear onsite) and bishop terrace 5.8.  While we were there a bobcat walked within 5 feet of us, all while looking at us, but just out on a stroll. After church bowl we continue on to the base of El Cap to do some single pith climbs.

We walked to the base of the nose and watched some parties on it making their way through the great roof, this was an incredible site to see.  We ran into a party coming off the first pitches of the Zodiac but they had warned us that a bear was following them. I was sad that I wasn't able to see the bear but little did I know that I would spend the next couple hours dealing with bear 81. We walked over to a climb called Moby Dick 5.10 but before we could get climbing the bear came back. They aren't really aggressive towards human they just want to get the food in your backpack. So bear 81 is sneaky and came up from behind, grabbed a ladies backpack, ran down the hill about 30 ft, stopped and started ripping her bag apart in search of a clif bar! Steven came out of nowhere and started chasing it and yelling at it, I decided to run after and help Steven as well (kind of crazy).

Magically we got the bear to leave her back pack and scared it far enough away to get the backpack back. Even though we scared it off from the pack but it lingered around for the next hour or so, we couldn't start climbing til it was out of site.

Finally dan was able to get on Moby dick and Jared and Steven got on the first pitch of Salathe wall, but before long the bear was back. Lucky another party showed up just in time to help “protect” me from the bear as I was belaying Dan. Jared’s backpack also received some damage but is still usable. When the sun started to set we went back to camp and went to bed.

 Sunday May 19^th:

   Nothing to epic today,  we woke up and packed because we were no longer wanting to make the drive from Wawona to the valley. We started packing for our first big wall, the South face of Washington column.

After packing we went to stay at my friend Greg’s house for the night before heading out early the next morning.

Monday May 20^th

   Well today is the day! We are headed out to do our first big wall aid route.

We started moving around 345 and actually got on the road at 415. After arriving at the Ahwahnee(a very nice hotel and our trail head for the column) we packed the food we would need for the next 2 days which consisted of breakfast lunch dinner and another breakfast and lunch for the next day, we were off! It wasn't that long of an approach, 1.4 miles, but included 800 ft of elevation gain! Now 800 feet might not seem like that much but when you have 40 lb packs its not a fun hike. It took us 2 hours to get to the base of the climb, we took a bunch of stops but still it felt like we could have done it faster. Jared and Steven were the first ones to get on it while Dan and I just hung out at the bottom waiting for our turn to  get started. The first pitch is a really easy pitch that goes at 5.7 and is free climbed. The 2^nd pitch is a very clean 5.11 corner but goes at C1… in aid climbing (aid climbing being where you are pulling on and relying on the gear to get up the wall) there are 2 different types:C- clean aid, where you are using easily removable gear and there is A: which literally means aid, and we now know of it as having to hammer pitons, pin and other metal objects in.

There was one more pitch that went at 5.7 and took us up to a natural ledge known as dinner ledge which is we would be staying the night.

This ledge was pretty big and could fit 6 people pretty comfortably but the one down side of these ledges is that they tend to smell like urine :( after getting to the ledge the main goal is to fix the next 2 pitches so that when you wake up in the morning you can just jug the lines and already have a head start in the day. Again Jared and Steven went first, the 4th pitch is known as the Kor roof (after Layton Kor who sadly just passed away this last month) and is the classic pitch on the whole route. It is about 15 feet deep followed by another 60 of crack to your next belay station, they did this pitch fast and made it look easy.

I was up next and this was my first aid lead of the trip, i have done very little aid and never aided a roof. i wish i could tell you all that this went with out any hitched for myself but this is not the case. I went through every emotion in the book trying to lead this pitch, the worst part for me was trying to not pee my pants because of how scared i was. it took me almost 2 hours and alot of whining and telling myself i couldn't do it, but for some reason i pushed on. I wasn't able to complete the whole pitch because i had ran out of the proper gear but lucky for me there were 2 random bolts that i was able to build an anchor off of and lower back to dinner ledge. With this pitch fixed it was the end of the climbing for the day, we made dinner, watched the sun set and went to bed. In the middle of the night i was awoken by what i thought was a large squirrel trying to run off with Jared and Stevens food but found out in the morning that it was a ring tail cat!

Tuesday May 22nd

So since i did not completely finish the pitch the day before it was my job to get back up there and finish it out, this time around i felt much more confident about aiding and sailed up it pretty quick. Sadly before we started in the  morning another party that showed up late the night before woke up ahead of us and started climbing first , so both Steven, Dan, Jared and I were delayed for almost 3 hours! We got really bored and started taking pics and videos...

By this time we were already realizing that we were probably not going be able to finish the route but Jared and Steven were set on finishing so they pushed on. we continued on through 1 more pitch, I was reluctant because I was required to do a mini pendulum but after all was said and done i was very excited that i did this because it was my favorite part. From the top or the 5th is where er retreated at about 2 in the afternoon. we took our time going down because we knew we were gonna have to wait for Jared and Steven  We got to the base of the climb and tried climbing Jo-Jo 5.10, i wasn't able to do it but Dan 1 hung it which was quite impressive.

We started worrying about where Jared and Steven where at because we hadn't heard from them until nearly 8pm. They had finished the climb but were so tired that they decided to stay another night on the ledge. Dan and i continued on to take showers and eat a 4 star meal at the Ahwahnee. 

Wednesday May 23rd:

REST DAY!!! we did nothing which was awesome. we hung around Curry village and reorganized gear while Dan and Steven planned on going up the Prow tomorrow. We layed in the meadow for 5 hours and just watched climbers on the captain. Jared and i got interviewed by a gentleman who was doing a motorcycle tour around the west( Stephen Craig Tavella/ heart-sign.com). 

Thanks for reading so far! I hope to be able to post twice this upcoming week but again service is bad and we are constantly on the move! <3 - WILL BUTT

ps sorry for spelling errors and punctuation. too tired to edit :P