Ascensions dans Sierra Nevada comme Tick

Absolutely phenomenal line, up there with the Spartan for the best 5.7 in existence. Except this is 3 pitches of equal quality climbing. Sick corner and roof on p1, absurd runout arete face climbing exposure on p2, a chimney that you wish went forever into a pretty scary traverse on a single bent up piton into 40m of jug hauling on p3. P3 traverse absolutely scarier on second with the lack of pro but J powered through after hauling the pack through the chimney - smiles the whole way up the jug haul.

I absolutely butchered the route finding on p2 when trying to link pitches, rope drag defeated me on the solable terrain just shy of the summit - linkup with corro corner

Rope was getting in the way

Epic day out in an absurd position with Yosemite falls putting on a show with peak flow of the year after all the snow melt.

Ethan and I brainstormed this one the night before and decided it sounded like a good idea - no real beta to go off we just took everything and went. 3500ft of elevation with a big pack was a slog, had a lot of tourists in awe of whatever we were doing.

Crazy amount of fixed ropes at the top (6) definitely needs a garbage disposal job. Fixed the 80m rope - which was clutch, a 70m would've required coming off rappel onto some extremely suspect traversing. Mixture of free and aid on the first pitch - 3 x #4s were again a good call. Second pitch was the technical aid, which is absolutely eased of all hooks by God's greatest gift in Yosemite - a rack of totems. Trusting a half engaged totem took a hot second, but it's bomb as the package says. Also turns out carrot bolts (rivets) back in Australia aren't so special, they exist here too - but they don't take plates, just nuts or actual rivet hangers which of course we didn't have. Sick position on the pitch then a bolt ladder to finish.

Got to the top, figured neither of us have ever rigged a tyrolean before but it was pretty easy to figure out. The rope access course I did before coming here actually paid off here in making it easier. Jugging the tyrolean was the hardest part of the day. Everything went perfectly??? We were both shocked.

Yosemite animal bingo was on fire on the walk off. Saw a Marmot, peregrine, brown bear and cub, California king snake, Alex Honnold on his bike at camp 4.

Does it count as a clean send if you undergrip on mega jugs on a 5.8 then fall 2m onto a ledge standing and your belayer doesn't even notice?

Sick Yosemite intro - p6 was the scariest thing I've ever led, 2 pitons and one worthwhile cam placement over 30m of traversing while still not totally trusting the granite smears - the handholds were the equivalent of pulling on a stale arnotts lemon crisp at points.

Felt like I went through a footwork class over 10 pitches and it finally started to click by the end. Shit's rough in the valley.

Linked 1/2, 3/4, 7-8.5 then ran out of rope.

Just another route to add to the list of things that might make you a believer. I had the pleasure of jugging/climbing/shenaniganing behind Sam on his glorious 22 hour all free ascent of El Corazon (the El Coraziad).

Brittany, Victoria, and I jugged to Mammoth the night before to try and maximise our sleep then the next morning Adrian and Sam simuled to Mammoth and collected their pre-rigged belayers (Brittany and I (Victoria just came to hang out and talk shit bc she’s a legend)) and Sam and I started romping while Adrian and Brittany chilled on the ledge to give us some time to create a gap so Adrian could start his attempt without us being in the way. Pretty classic scenes on the big stone if you ask me.

Highlights included: - Listening to multiple Lorde albums in full - Jugging the Nietzsche chimney and being rewarded with a lie down on Babsi’s portaledge - Taking a whole bunch of fucked up pendulums cleaning Sam’s gear to save time (“should i lower out or just take the fall?” “nah you’ll be fine there’s nothing to hit just take the whip”) - Sam firing every pitch like an absolute machine with only one fall on the Beak Flake - Jugging with two back packs - Down aiding the end of the roof pitch because Sam forgot to back clean his gear and i couldn’t lower out and also did not want to take the 15mpendulum whipper into the Tower - Having a chorus of 10 or so people from different routes cheer Sam on as he sent the roof traverse as the sun finished setting - Arriving at the tower and being handed a cup of tea that had been made by Miska and her partner who sent Golden Gate - Honestly just the whole thing. Supporting your friends to achieve their dreams is the fucking coolest thing ever.

I won’t forget this day for a long while. Thanks Sam.

Some hiking

For the descent take care, it might not be easy to locate it especially in the dark.

After topping out you follow a trail and a bunch of cairns down. Then you continue walking down on some slabs The rap station is as you walk down facing the valley to the right hand side (Skier's-right) A chain on a ledge with usually some fixed ropes, We did 6 raps (the last 2 were short)

Do NOT go left! Do NOT rap from the tat and old rings that are on a very dead looking tree.

After the raps follow a long but obvious trail through the trees and back on the road

Unbelievable route. I fell off the Alien Roof pitch which is one of the coolest cracks I’ve climbed after a decent onsight effort that got me on to the face after the roof. I also had to take and lower on the offwidth pitch because I left my #5 behind like an idiot and then got too scared to run out the whole top half of the pitch. Otherwise did everything else. What an awesome collection of steep splitters.

the most in over my head i've been. had (mostly) mentally prepared for the approach, adventurous/old-school style, steepness, offwidth, but not the squeeze chimneys, nor the exposed bottomless #5/#6 crux. led about the first half of p3; was a terrified gumby; Owen was a total champ.

back at cars 2:45am. brought and placed both #5s; a #6 may have been useful if not completely necessary, but neither of us have one anymore for the exact same reason :p

Very good Route!

Heaps of chossy rock to look out for though

Made me feal a bit that I was climbing in the mountains...

We linked 3-4 easy

And 7-8 in a mega 70m long pitch

I would suggest not linking 1 with 2

The start of 2 can be a bit commiting, Nicer to have the belayer next to you, to stop you for decking

We aided the bolted pitch

Could have been fun to try climb it, but not fun if we wasted that time and got caught out in the dark for the last couple of pitches

Especially when you need to do 12Raps to get out Rumor has it to better Rap that do the walk off..

First proper day in the Valley and we get sandbagged on to this by Adrian. First pitch was a rough warm up and I got pretty scared. I took an exciting fall on to an abysmal flared cam that some how held and that set the tone for the pitch. Pretty amazing though. The rest of the climbing was also hard and rad and scary. We bailed from the base of the crux as Adrian and Vic were back on the ground and we were ready to come down. Worthy.

Learning the hard way how to crack climb! Ooof

Happy to have had the route to ourselves except one soloist. Everything I expected from Tuolumne - great protection, stunning views high in the alpine with a proper sense of adventure. Got a little bit confused at the top - probably better to stay right of the summit block? Start early and bring a headlamp (: One of the best days I’ve had in the mountains.

fell during lead onsight attempt. Toprope send.

Day 1 we climbed to pitch 5 and fixed back to dinner ledge. Stoked to get the redpoint on pitch 2 this time. Day 2 we climbed to pitch 9 however bailed due to running out of daylight before the last pitch. Great adventure.

mega fun adventure, worth the crowds. tests your ability to climb everything: splitters, boulder sequences, steep jug haul, chimney (p5, p8), committing to balancy mantle above a first bolt/ledge (p4). pitch breakdown was arbitrary but worked out well: I somehow got the bouldery pitches (p3, p7) and not the reachy ones (p1, p6)