Crest Jewel 5.10a

I have wanted to climb Crest Jewel for at least 5 years. I never got around to it. As time goes by, my goals and dreams seem to march farther and farther out of reach. Maybe I could actually get one of them done!

It seemed like everyone I talked to had done it already, (and probably thought I would stick then with the hard leads)

I sent out a request last week to a bunch of local climbers for climbing in the Meadows, with Crest Jewel on my list, and Linda replied 'Crest Jewel isnt in the Meadows'. Well, technically its not, but I was planning on approaching from the top, so it *kind of* counts.

David replied he was interested, and I offered up that I would take the crux pitches. Heck, I wasnt even 100% that I could lead them.

Off we go!

Why do people build these large cairns?

Taking a shot of half dome...

The cathedrals, look at all the smoke in the valley.

Finally the top of North Dome in sight. Notice the smoke in the background.

We drop extra stuff at the top of the dome, and head down. I made a mistake that morning, I should have brought an extra liter of water and dropped it at the top. I ran out late in the climb, and begged water from some hikers halfway back to the trailhead. "How are you? I am thirsty, that water looks awful good"

We ended up bushwhacking a bit. I made a mental note to go farther right and lower next time. Finally above the start.

There was smoke over on half dome now.

The valley was looking very smokey.

I linked P1 and 2 together. The climbing was well protected, but the 5.10a on the second pitch did feel hard. The view from the 2nd belay...

David following Pitch 1 and 2:

David led off P3. Here he is after doing the traverse.

These are possibly from Pitch 4 or 6. The cam placement shown in the topo on Pitch 4 has either blown out or I totally missed it. My 0.5 " camalot was dead weight. I just climbed past the roof to the next bolt.

David leading pitch 5 (or 7)

Looking back on the crux traverse. This pitch was very fun and kind of heady to lead.

Summit shot with Half Dome.

The smoke shown in an earlier picture was a portent for helicopter water drops later in the day:

Clouds rest shot, for no good reason.

Then we hiked out. Dinner was at Lembert Dome parking lot. I tried to catch the Alpenglow with this shot.

Steve

Pictures taken with a Nikon Coolpix P100. Too big for climbing really, but its the only good camera I have right now, I wear it on a waist pouch. The telephoto on the camera does pretty well with the chopper shot I think.