Summary

Description

Met Mike at 7am and rode with him in his brand new VW Jetta (running on bio-diesel) up to Pilot. We were trying to get there early to beat the heat and head home early. There were only a few other climbers there when we showed up.

I started off leading Mild Mannered Secretary. Nice route, fairly easy. Mike climbed it and cleaned it. Then I led Turkey Shoot. Much headier. I had to stop and think quite a few times, including getting up to the first bolt. After clipping the first bolt, my left leg was doing the Elvis to the point that I decided to hang on the rope for a little bit to calm down. (I felt nervous, but not as much as my leg was making it look like.) After getting back on, I lead on up to the third bolt where I hung on the rope again while I decided whether to go up right -- where it looked like easier climbing -- or straight/left through the overhand -- where it looked pretty straightforward. After a breather, I decided to go through the overhang, It was fun. Mike climbed it, then I climbed it again on top rope to get a different, less stressful feel for the route, then cleaned it and rapped down. We left just as the sun was starting to encroach on the amphitheater.

Mike wanted to climb a route back in the Three Bears area -- either Gentle Ben or Any Major Dude, not sure which -- so we headed back that way. We ran into Barry, Greg, and Jim on the way. Looked like they were having a good time, although, the wall they were on was getting full sun and looked hot.

When we got the Three Bears area, someone was just setting up a rope on the anchors Mike wanted to use so we kept on heading down the trail. It was interesting to see the major trail work that was in progress and had been completed down past the Three Bears area. Down by the lower cliffs at the western end, there are now large stone placed as steps and a better graded trail along the base of the cliffs. Looks like they are working their way east with the trail improvements.

We went up to the top and setup a rope on Hawaii Five-O and Body Surfin'. Mike pulled a really interesting move to get up through the first overhang on Hawaii Five-O (to the left of the obvious crack and right of the chimney). It was both awkward and elegant looking. He then traversed to the crack with some balance-y moves and climbed a little higher before coming off. I wanted to pull the overhang over at the crack, but I couldn't figure out how to start it so I went back to where Mike had mode his attempt and was able to pull the move on my second try. I came off when trying to make the traverse, though.

We each climbed Body Surfin', then Mike made another, aborted attempt at Hawaii Five-O before switching to climbing the chimney between that route and The Wave. From there he managed to get back on route by climbing through some very slippery lichen but didn't stay on long after that. I had a go at the chimney which was fun but opted not to try for the lichen traverse.

Mike had another shot at Body Surfin' before we packed up and headed to the top to break down the anchors and start hiking out. We stopped at the Three Bears gully to check to see if the anchor for the route Mike had wanted to get on was free, but it wasn't. So we kept on hiking out, getting back to the parking lot not too much after 2pm where we packed up and headed home.