It all started reasonably well. My friend and housemate Tommy Rokita helped me hike a couple loads up the night before and also belayed me on the first three pitches of this 15 pitch route. It was Tommy's first time jugging (ascending a rope with mechanical rope clamps) and he was cruising.
Tommy jugging...like a boss.At the top of pitch 3, Tommy rappelled to the ground and I was on my way. This was my first time hauling a bag on a wall. Dealing with that was enough distraction that I forgot to take more pictures on that day.
My one and only solo night on the wall was anything but uneventful. The first event was the howling wind that nearly turned me into a human kite, the second being a medium-sized rodent that found my sleeping form interesting and was hell-bent on collecting nest material from midnight til dawn. Little sleep was had by me.
The next morning on my spacious stone perch was beautiful, despite the lack of sleep.
Looking down at the base of the (now dry) Upper Yosemite Falls. Can you spot the people?
The view from the top of pitch 5. You can see my haulbag just to skiers left of the large ledge.My first pitch of the day (#5 of the route) went pretty terribly. The information from the guidebook was incorrect and then once I figured out what was wrong, the rest of the pitch went very slowly. The previous day I had take 50 minutes to lead pitch 4; pitch 5 lasted 3 hours. After a little calculation and deliberation, I decided to retreat.
The guidebook suggested I pendulum off this. No thanks.Bailing went surprisingly smoothly, until I arrived at the ground. Hiking down with my full haulbag turned out to be horrendous. And then it started raining. Remembering that part of the descent was a steep unprotected slab, I stashed the haulbag in the bushes and took off down the scree with my two ropes. I fixed them on the slabs, scurried down, and ran into Tommy coming up the trail.
The next day I went and retrieved the haulbag.
How can someone bailing look this happy?Next week, I returned with my friend and housemate Eric Bissell to do some reconnaissance of the upper pitches of the route. This time we had much more success.
Eric scoping pitch 9.
A little bit of rain and the falls start trickling again.
Sometimes all you need is food, cool rocks, and good company.
A privileged view: Rare cloudcover in the Valley.
Playing peekaboo with Half Dome.Here we are on our first day, enjoying a break in the clouds:
All in all, a few good days of fun.
Chicken wing! Generator Crack, (5.10c). 
