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Archive for May, 2012

TR: East Buttress of Middle Cathedral Rock

Posted in Climbing, Yosemite National Park on May 23, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Date: Saturday, May 12, 2012

Location: Middle Cathedral Rock, Yosemite Valley

Climbers: Cuauh, Jon & Nick

Photos: Jon & Nick (as noted)

Synopsis: With a great weather forecast and climbing season back in full swing, Cuauh, Jon and I headed to Yosemite Valley for a quick day trip to climb the East Buttress of Middle Cathedral Rock (5.10c) in Yosemite Valley. Included in Fifty Classic Climbs of North America by Steve Roper, the East Buttress is an extremely popular route and actually offers two variations with some chances to pass folks. The “50 Classic” Variation includes a 5.10a traverse that bypasses the 5.10c bolt ladder.

Cuauh had climbed this route before and wanted to try his land at leading the 5.10c bolt section and 5.9 roof above, so we went with that variation.

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TR: S.P./C.C. Linkup & Haystack – Lover’s Leap

Posted in Climbing, Lover's Leap, South Lake Tahoe on May 9, 2012| 9 Comments »

Date: Saturday, May 5, 2012

Location: Lover’s Leap

Climbers: Jon & Nick

Photos: Jon & Nick (as noted)

Synopsis: Since climbing the Northwest Ridge of Four Gables with Jon in January, I have not posted any trip reports as it has been a non-eventful winter in Tahoe. That is not to say I did not get any skiing in – in fact, I got a handful of great powder days in. However, all of the days I did ski were entirely spent at Alpine Meadows or Squaw Valley. I just never seemed to time it properly for any backcountry touring as the snowpack was either (i) non-existent or (ii) dangerous due to the persistent weak layer we had all winter. Meanwhile, the weather in the Bay Area all “winter” was nothing short of spectacular, and I mostly hung around and did a TON of road biking in the Coast Mountains (and have generally been training for a couple of triathlons this upcoming summer and fall).

The great thing about the lack of snowpack this Spring will be the climbing access it affords. As of this writing, both Tioga Pass and Sonora Pass are open to the Eastside and many High Sierra climbs will have very quick approaches that are otherwise inaccessible without skis/snowshoes for much later in the season. Further, I suspect the alpine ice season this year is going to be nothing short of phenomenal.

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