http://www.supertopo.com/tr/fun-times-on-west-face-of-the-tower/t12016n.html
We baked in the heat on that wall, and after we finished we swore of walls until the fall when it cooled down...Well then a week later temps were forecast to be in the low to mid 80s. I sent Mickey a text... "Skull Queen on Thursday and Friday" and of course he was up for it. We just couldn't stay away!
Always stoked at the start!
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 Credit: briham89 |
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Bikes on the first part of the approach was definitely one of my better ideas!
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 Credit: briham89 |
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King snake on the approach
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 Credit: briham89 |
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Me leading pitch 2...after my 3rd time up this pitch I think I'm going to take the left free variation (sub 5.11) next time.
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 Credit: briham89 |
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Stuck behind a damn haulbag finishing up the pitch.
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 Credit: briham89 |
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Staying stoked!
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 Credit: briham89 |
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Enjoying a nice break on dinner ledge.
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 whitemeat Credit: briham89 |
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Me leading the Kor Roof. Man that is a fun pitch!
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 Credit: briham89 |
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 Credit: briham89 |
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Shout out for another "Hudon" style anchor. Bomber and CLEAN!
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 Credit: briham89 |
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Enjoying the view!
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 Credit: briham89 |
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Mickey cleaning the Kor.
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 Credit: briham89 |
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Infamous Column wind!!!
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 Credit: briham89 |
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Dinner on dinner!!!
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 Credit: briham89 |
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 Credit: briham89 |
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Dinner of champs.
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 Credit: briham89 |
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 Credit: briham89 |
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Mickey heading up on pitch 6 which he linked with 7. Unless you want to get eaten alive by ants at the top of 6 LINK THESE PITCHES!!!
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 Credit: briham89 |
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The wide section on pitch 7.
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 Credit: briham89 |
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Cool shadows of the Column and Half Dome in the morning sun.
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 Credit: briham89 |
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The c2+ section on pitch 8 was cruised by with 3 camhooks in a row!
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 Credit: briham89 |
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I managed to slice the end of my finger open with a nut tool, while I was cleaning pitch 8. That thing bled a lot!
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 Credit: briham89 |
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With the first aid kit back on dinner ledge we had to improvise...
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 Credit: briham89 |
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Mickey cleaning pitch 9. After the steepness of the West Face before, I was top stepping all over the place on this route, which is much less steep (although technically the aid was harder). By this pitch I was in the groove of things and was stoked at how fast we were moving.
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 Credit: briham89 |
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Looking up at pitch 10.
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 Credit: briham89 |
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It took me a second to figure out what I had to do / where I had to go on the c2+ section, but once I found the placement it wasn't hard, just awkward. I won't spoil what to do here for anyone else...
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 Credit: briham89 |
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Up higher on 10 I got to have some fun!
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 Credit: briham89 |
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Including my first every hand placed beak. The thing was bomber!!!
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 Credit: briham89 |
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Mickey removing an utterly useless copperhead (there was a bomber cam right below it) with a Mark Hudon made butter knife.
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 Credit: briham89 |
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Looking up at pitch 11. Such a pretty crack. I wish I hadn't split my finger open because I wanted to free climb it!
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 Credit: briham89 |
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If this was on the valley floor there would be a line waiting to climb it.
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 Credit: briham89 |
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Mickey practicing the fine art of screwing the second haha. No worries dude I would have done the same thing!
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 Credit: briham89 |
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 Credit: briham89 |
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Major stoke on top!
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 Credit: briham89 |
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I wonder where the glove stops...
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 Credit: briham89 |
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Victory pizza!!!
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 Credit: briham89 |
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Overall we had a great time on the route. It was one of the first times we both finished a wall and weren't just totally drained, but were ready for more. I'm not sure if it was the particular route that did it, but more that we had our systems dialed and worked well together, which left us excited for more and bigger climbs to come.....speaking of that, I emailed Mickey to send me pictures for this trip report and he was on the nose so I had to wait hahaha dude is killing it!
