Trip Report: South By Southwest, Hotline, EPIC!
As many of you know, my climbing partner Justin and I epiced on our trip to Yosemite a few weeks ago. Here's a trip report for that weekend. Pictures are all from Justin's camera.
Day 1: Justin and I met up with Cory and Laura at the rockpiles bivy outside of Yosemite on the 140. Our objective for the day was "South by Southwest", a classic 5.11a that ascends to the summit of Lower Cathedral Spire. Depending on how fast we moved, we were also thinking about running up "Braille Book" (5.8) on Higher Cathedral rock.
South By Southwest, first climbed by the late Walt Shipley and Keith Reynolds in 1993, is a beautiful and exposed route to the an aesthetic summit. The first two pitch is forgettable, but you quickly get to the business: a short 5.10d finger crack to an exposed hanging belay, followed by a wonderful 5.11a traverse. Protection is super solid and the climbing is great. Cory and Laura climbed ahead of us and Cory did an amazing job making the 5.10d and 5.11a sections look effortless. Justin also did a great job leading the stout and tiring moves right off of the belay before crusing through the 5.11a underclinging section. I'm always amazed at how easy the people I climb with make things look!
The four of us gained th summit with impressive views of El Capitan and the rest of Yosemite Valley. It's a great little summit and well worth the effort. On the way down, we decided not to go for Braille Book. It was hot, and the hike up the approach gully had really drained us --- a dip in the cool, snow-melt fed waters of the Merced seemed more and more enjoyable. On the way to the bridge, we bumped into a friendly bear and met a guy who had just soloed the Muir wall -- impressive!
We then made our way for beer and pizza at the Curry pizza deck -- a great way to end a nice day of climbing. Over pizza, Justin convinced me to give Hotline (5.12a) a try. I was somewha anxious, but he assured me that we could easily aid through the hard stuff. Plus, the third pitch is reputed to be the best 5.10 handcrack in all of Yosemite Valley --- even Ron Kauk has called Hotline the definition of classic. It was hard to pass up!
Day 2: After a cup of coffee and breakfast at Degnan's, we headed up to the valley rim on Highway towards Hotline on Elephant rock. Ordinarily, Hotline is approached by crossing the Merced river. However, during peak snowmelt, the river is hard / impossible to cross so the recommended approach starts from the valley rim and heads down a steep canyon towards the river. The approach was heinous, like skiing down a steep slope where every step sent showers of dirt and pebbles downhill. To top it all off, poison oak was everywhere!
The climb itself was beautiful. Justin made short work of the difficult and strenous fingercrack crux of the first pitch. When I followed him, it felt a lot harder than "5.10c." The next pitch is the hardest part of the climb -- 5.11d fingers, followed by a 5.12a traverse. Since neither of us was strong enough to climb it free, Justin aided through it. I was pretty impressed at how easy he made it look! I made a feeble attempt to follow the pitch free but eventually resorted to pulling on gear and tension-traversing through the 5.12 section.
The third pitch was amazing -- a 150 foot handcrack that seemed to go on forever. No wonder it's such a classic! Justin was gracious enough to give me the lead and I was happy to lead through this amazing crack. I then flailed my way up the next 5.9 section -- I definitely need to improve on my wide crack technique. Thankfully Justin, master of the old-school, burly, and wide cracks that characterize Yosemite climbing was there to give me pointers, patiently waiting as I groveled up the crack. The last 5.9 pitch was Justin's and he easily floated. We then rapped the route, arriving at our packs at around 2pm.
Here's the first fateful decision that eventually led to our epic and forced bivouac. Having gone through the poison oak once, we somehow formulated a crackpot plan. Instead of going back uphill the way we came, we'd head down towards the river. Our plan was simple: we'd try and find a place to cross and hitchhike back to our car which was at the valley rim. If we couldn't find a place to cross, we'd just keep going until we hit the bridge some 3 miles away. One way or the other, we'd get across and hitch a ride back. At the time, the plan seemed reasonable. Our belays high up on Hotline had given us a commanding view of the river and we spied a few places where the river widened into calm pools.
We started down and arrived at the Merced pretty quickly. Unfortunately, the 'calm' pools that we thought we had seen from the belay were actually raging with snowmelt. Undiscouraged, we started hiking towards the bridge. Unfortunately, our path was choked with poison oak, thicker than we had passed through on the way down. Our 'plan' was quickly unravelling. After negotiating the rough, poison-oak choked terrain on the riverbank, we came a place where the river split into three streams, flowing around several small islands.
The first stream wasn't too bad and Justin swam across pretty easily. We set up a Tyrolean traverse between the island and the bank, shuttling our gear across. At this point, we were all very optimistic. The flow wasn't really that bad, and we were confident that we could negotiate the other two. We quickly packed up our gear, and started wading through the second crossing. Unfortunately, the flow on the far side of the island was strong. After much deliberation, we decided that it was foolhardy to attempt a crossing, especially as darkness was falling and we were soaked from wading and swimming in the river. The section of river was no more than 40 feet across.
Given the circumstances, we thought it best to bivy on the island. It was our first forced bivy and we spent it huddled in the dirt next to a fire we had built to stave off the cold. I spent the night with my legs stuffed into my backpack and one of our ropes for a pillow. Not the best of circumstances, but we made the best of it. The most maddening thing was listening to traffic on the far side of the river all night long -- the road was literally 100 yards away.
Day 3: We woke up the next day eager to get out of there and back to civilization. We knew that people were expecting us and that they'd probably be worried. We swam back across the river and began walking towards the bridge. Unfortuntely, the rugged terrain was so steep that we couldn't pass through. Swallowing our pride, we realized that we would have to hike back the way we came. Our shortcut has cost us an entire day.
We reluctantly started back, even trying to cross the river once more at another point. Eventually, we were resigned to the long hike back up. I was thirsty beyond belief. The 90 degree temperatures, lack of water and food, were beginning to take their toll. Desperate, I filled up my Nalgene with water from the Merced and drank it. The risk of contracting giardia was worth it if it kept me going. Justin did without. We ate the last of our trail mix (our only food) and hiked back up.
Arriving at our car, we found a note from the Yosemite Search and Rescue (YOSAR) --- we had been reported missing and overdue. We drove back down to the Valley floor, stopped off. I ran into the shop and bought two scoops of ice cream and 2 liters of gatorade. We called YOSAR and told them that we were all right before calling our friends to tell them that we were safe.
A stop by Taqueria El Agave in Oakland, our traditional post-climbing
stop, finished off a somewhat-longer than expected weekend.
Aside: This experience made us realize how lucky we are to have friends that care -- as soon as Justin and I were overdue, they sprung into action, calling around, figuring out what climb we were on, notifying the search and rescue squad, and working to find out where we were. We later found out that YOSAR had sent some people down the gully to see if they could find us. Having not found us, they were on the verge of initiating a much larger and wider search before we called them. Thanks to them, and the great community of Stanford friends who were all worried --- sorry for that! =)
1. Cory leading on South By Southwest (5.11a)
2. Admiring the view on the summit of Lower Cathedral Spire
3. Justin and I
4. Laura and I
5. A small brown bear by the El Cap bridge
6. Can't beat taking a bath in the river ..
7. Justin aiding through the 5.11d + 5.12a section of Hotline
8. The best 5.10 handcrack in the Valley!
9. Justin leading the last 5.9 pitch
10. The Merced, raging from snowmelt. Not calm at all!
11. Vince does not like poison oak
12. Justin negotiating the first crossing
13. Success!
14. Shuttling gear across via a Tyrolean traverse
15. Can we make it across? My smile seems optimistic!
16. Back at the car, safe and sound
17. The island in front of the tower was our home for the night
