West Cracks 5.9 on Daff Dome - September 25, 2010

Our good friends Paul and Crystal had been holding our aid climbing gear for us at there place in San Diego and we had arranged to meet them in Tuolumne Meadows on Saturday night so we headed up there from Sonora about a 2 hour drive.

When we got up to Tuolumne it was a pretty busy day and we decided to head over to West Crack on Daff Dome.  It is a nice 5 or 6 pitch 5.9.  We headed over there from the car at about 2:30 pm.

 Daff Dome in the background the route is on the far left side of the face.

It was about a 30 minute approach and we found Skater Dave at the base climbing with someone he had meet on rockclimbing.com.  At the time a party was just finishing up with the first pitch so we charged up behind them.  The first pitch has a slippery 5.9 face move protected by a bolt that is a tad low and is then pretty cruiser.

Skater Dave's friend had his wife waiting back at the road so they were only doing the first pitch.  

 Dave's friend leading the first pitch

 

Dave following the first pitch.

The second pitch pulls a steep 5.8 roof and then links up with an amazing 5.7 crack for about 1.5 pitches.  Then the dome angles back and it eases off to 5 easy and 4th class climbing.  Ken lead the first pitch and then Anja led the 2, 3, and much of the 4 pitch as one long linked pitch and then Ken lead to the top as the third pitch.  We were on the summit looking for the rap anchors at 5:20 pm.  It was a really fun climb!

Nice featured 5.7 crack.

Anja at the top of her long lead.

The top of Daff Dome.

Fairview Dome (as note Daff Dome stands for Directly Across From Fairview) on the left and just the top of Cathedral Peak on the far right (we climbed earlier that month)

The party we passed coming down the hanging rappel.

We headed to camp and Skater Dave made it over to our site and Paul and Crystal showed up at about 9 pm.

Rest days - September 23 and 24, 2010

We were feeling under the weather on both days so we did some long term planning. 

Anja enjoying the hammock at the Burhoe's

We first made our arrangements to fly into Baltimore for Thanksgiving to go to Pennsylvania to see Anja's Grandma Bach.  We were excited because we were able to fly Southwest to Baltimore from Denver for cheap.  Then we booked our tickets back from Vermont.  Ken got a cheap ticket since he is flying December 13.  The real excitement came when booking Anja's ticket which would have needed to be December 25 or December 30 to be remotely well priced.  The 25th would make Christmas a mess and the 30th she would miss a ski hut trip in Colorado.  While looking at booking the ticket Ken realized she had 30,000 frequent flier miles so instead of a $250 one way ticket she got a $5 ticket on December 26!!!

After those tickets were booked up we made travel arrangements to go to Key Largo to see Ken's Aunt Sharon January 13-17 and go to Fort Myers for a few days with Rick and Linda.  Since we didn't see a point in flying back to Denver to then fly to LA to start our world travels we just booked a flight from Fort Myers to LA so when we head to Florida we will have to be packed to go travel the world.

We also played a good bit with the Burhoe's dogs Goose and Gander.  They love to chase the laser pointer and go crazy when you just say "Do you want to play dot?".

Goose looking for the dot to come out

The climbing area's name who shall not be spoken - September 22, 2010

So we went to a climbing area today that is on private land so it will not be reference by name but it was an amazing area.  However the warmup was 5.11d so we didn't manage to finish a single climb there.  It was a nice hike in and except for the pair of climbers there the first 30 minutes we were alone all day!

 What a formation!!

 Ken using the best hand hold the chain attached to the bolt.

 Ken climbing wow that is steep!  Anja made it just one bolt short of the anchor.  Rough.

 Anja made it three bolts up the column on the right.

 Then it got crazy steep!

Burhoe Machine, you couldn't ask to put a better guy in charge of your molds.

Lover's Leap The Line - September 21, 2010

Our good friend Adam had recommended that Traveler's Buttress was overrated and The Line (5.9 three pitches) was the climb not to miss at Lover's Leap so we got up with the goal of doing this climb today.  We climbed out of the van at a leaserly 9:30 am and our new Boston friends (Romi, Jerry, and Dan?) were packing up to head to Yosemite as they had planned.  Ken was saying hi to them and passing on the blog address when who rolls by but Val.

We introduced Val to the Boston folk and he was as friendly as ever.  Always good to see the Bulgarian.  As Val was tearing some bread from his awesome home made bread Romi asked, as he dug his fingers into tear the bread, "did you wash your hands"; "No, but that is what makes you stronger.  Here have some; very good!"

 Anja pulling through the 5.9 face climbing start of The Line.

 Anja higher up enjoying the horizontal dikes Lover's Leap is famous for.

 Anja topping out pitch 1.

 Grabbing some water at the top of pitch 1.  Where did the great looking water bottle come from?

 Ken headed up the start of pitch 2.

 Ken somewhere near the top of pitch 2.

 Another great view of the valley by Lover's Leap.

Ken heading up to the roof to string in pitch 3 through the roof and the top of the climb.  After the climb we rush out believing Anja had a conference call at 4 pm.  It turned out it was scheduled for next week but she addressed a few things and moved the formal call to Oct 8.  We then made a stop at Big Lots for cheap food and drove onto Sonora to Aaron Burhoe's house and driveway.  Seeing Burhoe and Val and great 5.9 climb, what a day!!!
Climbing at Lovers' Leap, day 2 at EveryTrail
EveryTrail - Find the best Hiking near Lake Tahoe, California

Lover's Leap Bear's Reach - September 20, 2010

After a stop at the post office to mail our wedding clothes to Keith in Boulder we headed to Lover's Leap.  We got there at 4 pm so we settled on a quick 3 pitch 5.7 named Bear's Reach.  This climb was elevated to ultra classic when Dan Osman free soloed it in 4 minutes 25 seconds.  If you forgot:
http://www.broadbandsports.com/node/203&gvsm=1
Well we didn't make that climb but we finished before darkness and got back to the old pony express high way at the base of the cliff easily.  The climb was really fun.

Anja leading up the start of the first pitch

 Anja past the slightly runout 5 easy.

 A side view of Lovers Leap.  The famous route Traveler's Buttress is on the far sky line.

 Anja now high on the first pitch

 Anja following the second pitch

 Anja leading up the third pitch.

Anja heading up the 5.8 direct finish

Ken at the top at sunset.  3 hours and 20 minutes after leaving the van.

When we got back to the van we started making a little dinner and befriended a climber who had bailed off of the second pitch of Traveler's Buttress.  They were there with a group of three from Boston and were headed to the valley after the Leap.  They made some great burritos and after Ken shamed them for mutilating an avocado and prepared the rest of the avocado for them the shared some beer and burrito and Ken and Anja attempted to be the best dirtbags they could while having a posh van park 100 yards away.
Climbing at Lovers' Leap at EveryTrail
EveryTrail - Find the best Hiking in Nevada

Headed out to climb - September 19, 2010

We headed out from Truckee to climb. We are planning to stop at Lover's Leap and then on to Yosemite and hopefully give the Nose on El Cap a shot.

Grandma showering the baby with attention and she changes diapers!

Thanks Bill and Leslie for putting up with us. WE HAD AN AWESOME TIME HANGING WITH YOU IN TAHOE!

Bill and Leslie looking cute with baby attended to.

Donnor Summit and Leslie's Party - September 18, 2010

We went climbing at Donner Pass before the party. We went up to an area called Road Cut I remembered from when I lived in Susanville. I remembered a nice 5.11 sport route I thought Anja would really like. We got there and Anja thought it would be a good idea to warmup on a 5.10a crack called Crack A No Go. We then top roped a 5.10a called Herring Breath. After we finished climbing these cracks Anja was too tired to fire off the 5.11a and we were running out of time to get back for the party so we headed out.

Great views of Donner Lake.
We got back to the house and got ready for the party.
Skippy.
Party in swing on the back deck.

Ken cooking up black beans and veggie taco "meat"
Birthday girl