Bill's Route (5.8). Malcolm thought it was a lot of fun, maybe his favorite climb ever. It was interesting to move from under the roof into the corner above.
Broemel's Route (5.8+). Felt hard. Lots of crack climbing.
Both of the above climbs felt harder than I expected.
Thin Pockets (5.8+). Short but fun. Sparse protection at the bottom with plenty higher up.
Unfortunately it started to rain when Malcolm was only a third of the way up Thin Pockets, so we had to leave after this one.
We went to Yosemite and stayed at the Moonstone June 7-11, 2021. Malcolm and I climbed June 8-10 with Nate. Weather was perfect, with highs in the mid 60's.
June 8 Malcolm and I followed Nate up The Nutcracker Suite (5.8). I felt that the infamous mantle move near the top was fun but not overly difficult. We were stuck behind two slower parties for a good portion of the day, although Nate passed one of these parties between the last two pitches. Malcolm did a great job keeping up and only hung on the rope a few times. In the afternoon, Malcolm took a nap while I tried to climb some harder stuff. I tried to lead Haley's Comet (5.10a) but fell three times at the crux between the first two bolts. This is definitely a climb where the falls are potentially dangerous. Nate put it up for me, showed me the beta, and I did it on toprope. Very thin slab moves! Then I toproped Jump for Joy (5.9 R) trying to figure out good gear placements. Despite comments on Mountain Project to the contrary, the solitary bolt near the bottom of the climb was in place, and I repeated the climb, this time on lead.
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| Malcolm and Nate at the top of The Nutcracker Suite. Half Dome peeks around the mountain in the distance. |
June 9 Malcolm and I followed Nate up Munginella (5.6) as an approach to Selaginella (5.8). Munginella was a nice warmup for what came next. Not a single boring pitch on Selaginella! A wide variety of climbing including cracks, chimneys, and the wild, exciting, very exposed traverse left near the top of the second-to-last pitch. That traverse was definitely the highlight for Malcolm.
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| Malcolm heads up the first pitch of Selaginella. |
June 10 Nate put up topropes for us and Calliope. I toproped Coup d'Etat (5.12a) and was pleased to get the onsite on this route! The crux was a semi-dynamic lunge to a great jug near the top off of small/slabby footholds. Then Malcolm and I drove into the park and climbed Nurdle (5.8). It was a fun, relaxing lead, but by this point Malcolm was too tired and sore to really climb much more, and we stopped for the day.
