They say that good things come to those who wait. For me, they don’t until I’ve managed to chase them down and stomp on them a few times. After first roping up in 1998, in 2011 I finally managed to scrape of Half Dome and a few other long routes, which you can read about here if you have time to kill. For a moderately-talented east coast punter like me, it was a great season and the fulfillment of a few of the dreams I’ve coddled along since I started climbing (<- softcore).

It’s hard to know when you’re ready to try something you perceive as “big”, one reason being that it’s such a relative measure. I’ve always stuck to the “one-step-at-a-time-build-up-to-it- slowly” adage that seems to take some folks everywhere and others nowhere. The problem with “one step at a time” is the latter word: time. If you’re not careful, pretty soon ten years have gone by and you’re still “building the foundation” and are “almost ready” to jump into the fray. But, when all is said and done, the ticklist has yet to grow shorter and you find yourself scratching your head, wondering where the trail skidded off the track.
Top of HD

Bryce on Higher Cathedral Rock

But in the past few years, I’d orchestrated my life to allow for summers in the valley, something I’d always wanted, and was starting to finally see the history I’d read so much about firsthand. Zipping up Half Dome with a new friend was a surprising experience in that, contrary to almost every big wall trip report I’d ever read, one thing was different: I wasn’t scared. Not even a little. I felt so comfortable that while on big sandy, I kept checking my pulse and tie-in to make sure I wasn’t dead. It may have taken way longer than the average person, but it seemed I was definitely ready for the big routes.
Bryce and I had hardly touched down when we starting chatting about the Salathe Wall, which he’d always wanted to do. A year later found me pulling into the Mono Lake territory for the umpteenth time, always a highlight of the drive from Maine.

Mono Lake
Wall of Late Afternoon Light.

Bryce had climbed the Freeblast before during his ascent of the 3D. Due to logistics it made sense for me to climb it with another partner and blast a day later with Bryce. I finished teaching for the year, hopped in the car that afternoon, drove four days to Yosemite. A day after arriving in the valley found me wandering C4 looking for a partner, something a love/hate doing. After my umpteenth picnic table, I found a winner.
“Shoot, I’ll do it,” a scraggly 50-something local named Mike spat after hearing my plea. The next day found us at the base of the first .10c pitch. I hadn’t climbed anything on El Cap before, and was half expecting to be electrocuted as I lay my hands on the stone.
Photo from MP.com

Linking the first two pitches got us off to a great start and before long we were at Mammoth without a hitch. A few hours later we reached the base, finding Bryce ready and waiting to blast the next afternoon.

Saddle up, yo.

Bryce’s last words before jugging: “I bet you didn’t know you were climbing with a sex symbol.”

Leading the last bit to Lung, were we planned to spend the night.
The climbing went quickly, and even when I botched it by stopping too early at an optional belay, we found ourselves making good time as we approached the Ear. Everyone I had met described this, not the Hollow Flake, as the spooky pitch on the Salathe. Bryce had dispatched the Hollow Flake without issues, and now it was my turn to tackle the Ear.

Approaching the Ear.
Hayden Kennedy, Will Stanhope, Bryce and I hanging below the Ear. Will/Hayden, fresh from attempting Freerider IAD, are attempting to persuade me that I’m not about to eat sh#t on the pitch above. Fortunately, it was all good. Cheers!

Bryce jugging to the top of the Ear
[Click to View YouTube Video]

Bryce leading the corner above. Mentally and physically fatigued, this pitch took awhile and it was nearly dusk by the time I led the finally OW to the Alcove. We had hope to make the spire, but the Alcove is a great bivy and after all, it’s El Cap!

Next day, Bryce was pretty beat and we decided to call it.
Which we later regretted, of course. 20 pitches up, should have kept going fer Chrissake!! The day was filled with rappels, a nearly stuck rope, shenanigans reversing the hollow flake (good times) and Yogi greeting us upon mercifully hitting the deck. You win this time, Captain!

I had a blast on the Salathe and was feeling really good, but after that sort of cratered and my climbing went downhill. Still, I managed to scramble up a few things during the rest of the summer:

Cragging at Pratt's Crack, Cardinal Peak and TM with Wedgie.
Pratt's
Wedgie on the West Face (or something close to it) of Cardinal
Direct NW on Lembert

West Ridge of Conness

Eichorn's Direct

Side Trip to Big Sur

SFWC-IAD

Cathedral Traverse (solo)

TBolt-Sill Traverse

Someone has a sense of humor
About to get a wee bit off route.

Time for a beer.
Here's to next year!