The first problem was a lack of climbing partners. I placed an ad in rec.climbing and suddenly - presto! - I was hooked up with Bruce, another wandering climber from Minnesota. Unfortunately, he didn't have Friday off, so I was on my own.
Friday I was in JTree. After coming up empty trolling the campground for partners, I headed out to Echo Rock. I started with a roped solo of The Black Tide (5.7). Not having a soloist, I simply tied a loop into each bolt as I passed. Worked pretty well.
Great day but still no other climbers. I decided to head out to the Wonderland and find some of those obscure climbs that nobody ever does. Hiking out past Barker Dam, I passed the Astro Domes and headed for the Bighorn Mating Grotto, home of many *'s in Vogel. Sure is easy to get lost back in there! The map in the book is very approximate. AFter wandering randomly a while, I spot a landmark! The grotto is just around the corner. Hmmmm. Seems hard! I damn near kill myself soloing a short wall you have to climb over to get to the grotto. Time to change shoes! Takes a while to figure out which routes are where - no picture in the book, just 'first crack', 'second crack', ... Finally figure out there's a 'crack 1.5' and everything snaps into place.
First route is `Dangling Woo-Li Master', **** 10a. I string a TR, rap down setting a few nuts to keep thr rope in line, and am all set. The basic technique is to knot the rope as I climb. I refine this a little by running the rope through my belay device - won't catch a fall directly but allows me to belay using overhands in the line. Also, if I start to fall I can lock the ATC off if I have a hand free.
Anyway, the climb is really good. Very gym-like: outragously shaped dinner plates to swing from here and there. Each crux requires a little bit of runout since I can't pull in the rope until the next rest stance. The crux is a wide chimney - my kind of climb. No falls or hangs - not bad for a out of shape dude from Connecticut.
Next I want to try `Caught Outside on a Big Set', ***** 10b. There aren't many ***** routes in Vogel and the only one I've done was Illusion Dweller, which really was worth the extra *'s. But first, I need to get to the top of the climb. There's a lot of possible routes up to the ledge at the top of the route, but I keep wimping out soloing on grainly rock way off the deck. On the third try, I find a way and set the rope. This route is a slightly overhung wall with a handcrack for the last 20' and lots of huecos lower down. Unlike the previous, no real rests.
My solo technique turns out to be much less effective here. I had placed a couple of pieces to guide the rope and I could hang on these while knotting the rope, but elsewhere I had to tie them one handed. The lower part went fine but the upper jam was the crux. The crack flared and narrowed repeatedly so there were only a few good jams to use. I could pull the crux OK but kept freaking out fiddling with the rope and hanging off the ATC. It's possible to work the knots while hanging but you still have to face a bit of a fall. Eventually I conquer my wimpiness and finish it. I would have been a lot easier to lead this on regular gear! The route was OK but not ***** in my humble opinion.
Another mini-epic ensues getting back down. My route up is too exposed to comfortably down climb so I wander around looking for a better way. Finally find a chimney and all is well. It's late and I'm ready to head back.
That evening Bruce and I successfully join forces at `Harvard', a sleezy one building `town' catering to tourists. On to Vegas! Bruce has never climbed in the Red Rocks and is excited. Our bivi is at the Super 8 - how civilized. We get to the rocks just as the gate opens and head to the Oak Creek trailhead. The plan is Buelah's Book (5.9) followed by Solar Slab (5.6). This is 14 pitches by the guidebook, but we had my 60 meter rope and were willing to simulclimb a little on the easier ground.
The approach is short and easy by RR standards. Nobody else around but there's a rope handing down the first pitch! Actually, two ropes. As I climb, I find the knot joining the ropes jammed behind a chockstone. I unjam the ropes but we leave them hanging for their owners to retrieve. The first pitch is easy (5.6) but I'm climbing slowly trying to get used to the feel of the sandstone. A bolt has been chopped but there's gear so I'm OK. The next pitch looms above: a nasty looking overhanging offwidth in back of a chimney.
Fortunately, Swain is much better at suggesting gear than measuring pitches. The #4 Camalot is bombproof and I have at it. Turns out to be a mini-Epinephrine. We tall folk can simply chimney the whole thing and the crux is soon past. Easy for me, 5.9 for everyone else. I haul the packs and continue the lead. Above is the 5.8 layback. Oops - no advantage being tall here!! I play with the start but generously decide to let Bruce share the glory and set up a hanging belay. Bruce storms up the layback (my hero!!) and we're over the crux pitch - nothing harder than 5.6 from here.
A long 5.6 pitch leads to a huge ledge at base of Solar Slab. Climbers not doing the 5.9 start have to climb a 5.3 gully to get to this point. It's about 11:30 and we relax a bit on the comfortable ledge.
Next pitch is an enjoyable 5.6 crack - Bruce has no problems at all. I lead a 5.5 chimney and Bruce gets another enjoyable 5.6 crack. The 4th pitch is labelled `tricky' in the guidebook. Oh no! Actually, it really *was* tricky. I wasted a lot of time futzing around on insecure holds placing poor gear but eventually I made it. The tricky part is only 20' and really is 5.6, especially if you're not the leader! Above, another nice belay ledge. From here there's no more hard stuff. We stretch the next lead, a 220' long crack, to the next big ledge. Fun fun fun. From there, it gets even easier and we're limited only be our lack of energy. We combine the 7th and 8th pitches but I decide to belay below the final pitch and take hero shots of Bruce. He quickly leads through and we're up at about 3pm. Weather is still perfect. A really excellent route!
The only beta we had on the route is to avoid the infamous `gully descent'. Instead, we head over to the Painted Bowl and get a great view of Levitation 29. A long ledge leads left to a rap anchor. I head down and soon realize the rope doesn't reach the next anchor. We expected this, though, and I was able to swing left and reach a ledge. The 60 meter rope made this really easy - on a shorter rope you really would need to knot the rope ends and swing for glory! Two more raps and we're down. Except for the interminable streambed. I lose all credibility as a leader by jumping down some of the bigger boulder drops. Bruce wisely stops following me blindly down the drop. Slow going, but we eventually find the trail and hit the car around 5:30. I needed to get back to San Diego so we drove straight back without hitting Vegas again.