Judy Rittenhouse & I, heading up to Yosemite again – what a treat. We’re finally going to try a big wall. We arrive late Friday night, at around 1:30 am. It’s cold and dark, but plenty of campsites are empty at Camp 4.

Saturday we get up early (7:00), thinking we’ll do a little free climbing before setting up on Sunday to do the wall. It’s beautiful weather. We do a driving tour of the valley looking around and wasting most of the morning. By early afternoon we decide it would be prudent to get on the wall on Sunday, while the weather holds. After spending a couple hours organizing stuff, and realizing that the 10,000 cubic inches in a haul bag doesn’t include room for much of anything, we parked near the Ahwanee Hotel and started hauling our gear up to base of climb. Well-dressed hotel guests out day strolling watched us with curious amusement, although one woman looked quite displeased at seeing such claptrap so close to their luxury accommodations. It was around a 1-mile hike. The gear felt like it weighed in at 100 lbs. It was the longest mile. Scrambling up the boulders with the haul bag was even more fun and excitement. We found a nice site near the base of the climb and set up our bivy. We opened our delicious MREs (military Meals Ready to Eat) and ate cold beef stew for dinner. By then it was almost 8:00 and dark and cold – we decided to turn in so we could get an early start.

Sunday We got up at about 5:30 am Sunday. Beautiful weather again. We cleaned up camp and headed to the base of the climb. After repacking the haul bag, we started up the climb. Judy took the first pitch. The topo describes it at 5.7 /5.8 free. It went mostly free with some aiding. The clock is now ticking, and the day is moving on. Judy hauls up the light pack on the zip line. This pitch is not very vertical and the bag doesn’t cooperate very well. It hangs up numerous times. Then comes hauling the pig (the real haul bag). Judy set up a Z pulley system. Hauling on the Z pulley works well. The pig hangs up a couple of times, but not too bad. Sloooow overall. The pitch ends on a giant ledge and we have to walk the gear over to the next belay about 100 feet away.

Pitch 2 is next. We climb the 11b variation, rather than the 10a. The pro is not very good for first 25 feet. Several pieces blow out while testing them. It felt scary, although I didn’t fall. The going is sloooow! Meanwhile, back at the belay stance Judy thinks she hears birds, then winces as two medium boulders whiz pass the station at missile speed. Finally, I get to belay and haul. Pulling up the zip line with the small pack generates a cramp in my arm, since I decided I didn’t need to put it on the wall hauler – dumb. Hauling the pig using the body counterweight system works ok for me, since I’m considerably heavier than Judy.

Pitch 3 is again rated at around 5.7 / 5.8. Judy leads the pitch mostly free, with a couple of aid moves. Judy set up a Z pulley again. I jumar up the pitch quickly and am able to help with the hauling. Judy hauls half and I haul half. We're on Dinner Ledge! The pitch ends at one side of the ledge and we haul our gear across the ledge to the actual bivy site. The ledge is huge – easily 20 feet wide out from the cliff and close to 100 feet long. The camp spot, where all the rocks are cleared is 15 feet in diameter. Honeymoon Ledge above is also nice to camp, but much more exposed. It’s only big enough for two, but has a much better view of the valley. Two haul bags from other parties are lying there, but no one is around. Hurray! By now it' close to 5:00 pm and the light is fading. We spread our gear all over the ledge in the process of setting up camp. We sit down for another delicious MRE meal – cold chicken chow mein. Life doesn’t get much better than this. Meanwhile, it starts raining rocks from above, our erstwhile companions from the haul bags are descending via rappel. We don helmets and move to the side and continue eating dinner, while more rocks continue to come down. We figure it’s better to get hit with a rock with a full stomach than hungry. Two climbers show up on rappel at around 6:00 or so. They’re coming down to head home. They made about 8 pitches of the 11. The tell us that two more climbers are still above. They’re on the top couple pitches of loose rock and have been knocking stuff down. Those two head down and we are soon snuggled in bed (tired from a long day). The other two climbers finally show at around 8:30 or so and head up to Honeymoon Ledge to bivy, since we've taken over the main ledge. They were very courteous about being quiet, especially when you consider we had taken over the whole bivy site.

Monday 5:30 am. Up and at 'em. We arise, still groggy to overcast and cold. I start up the first pitch - free climbing a crack at 5.6. Near the top it steepens and I pull out the aiders. The first fixed piece builds my confidence already - a copperhead located just under Kor Roof – despite my unease it holds fine. I aid up over the overhanging Kor Roof, which is not as bad as I had feared and up to the belay. I’m feeling good, thinking this pitch wasn’t too bad and we made pretty good time. Judy follows - 4 hours have already elapsed!! - Much too slow, where did all that time go? Judy is on lead on the second pitch and struggles with the opening roof. After making the roof, she is hesitant about a top step and reach - could it be a hook move? Judy backs off and I start to lead. The top step move leads to a pretty good placement in a horizontal and then up to a fixed pin, not nearly as bad as it looked. The book says A2, but I felt it wasn’t too bad. A stretchy roof traverse with a couple of fixed (not anymore) stoppers describe the next section. This part ends with several fixed pins set up to lower out to a crack. It’s only about 15 feet down and doesn’t look too bad. I lower out (on somebody's brand new quick draw) and continue up another traversing roof. I follow the crack to an inobvious and somewhat dicey traverse (partially free at 5.7 or 5.8) and I'm at the belay. Judy starts to second and halfway up the trail line is stuck in a crack below on Dinner Ledge. Judy raps down to the end of the rope but still can't free the line. I down aid and meet her halfway as she is reascending. We set pro, tie off the trail line, and both jumar back up to the second belay station, leaving the trail rope fixed on the slings. It looks like it's time to bail for the day, as it's now late afternoon. Damn this goes slowly! We rap to the station below, picking up the trail rope on the way. As we retreat we decide to leave the ropes fixed for the first 1.5 pitches to the rap station belay. We’re both exhausted and hungry, but have only a few snacks left. We debate on heading down for dinner, but decide we may try to summit again on Tuesday. We dine on a can of chili and tuna fish - somebody else's leftover food. We can probably tough out another day with our dwindling food supply. We bivy for the night.

Tuesday we wake up at a leisurely 6:30 or so, and putz around trying to decide if we should go up or down. The weather has deteriorated to colder and more overcast since the previous day. Finally we decide to go up, albeit reluctantly. I start to jumar up the fixed line. It’s going slowly; soon I'm hanging free. It's cold, I'm tired and the jumaring isn't going well. I decide it's not a good omen and head back down to Dinner Ledge. We set up the raps. Rapping with the pig was interesting, but not too difficult. It was set up with the pig rapping on one sling to the rappel device, while I was on a second sling to the same rappel device, with the sling to the pig being slightly longer. The basic technique is similar to an assisted rappel used for rescue. As we head for the ground we realize we've learned a great deal, but not totally succeeded at big wall climbing.

We have a leisurely lunch reorganizing things and talking about plans for Wednesday. Late in the afternoon, we decide to head up to Church Bowl to check out Bishop’s Terrace, one of the classic Yosemite 5.8’s. We arrive at the base of the climb, with a little beta from locals standing nearby. We decide to do the single pitch variation. We third class to the base of the route and get set to go. I lead up about twenty feet and have trouble figuring out which way to go. The pro stinks and the climbing looks to be 5.8 or so. Finally, after fiddling around I get in a good piece and move on up. It wasn’t as hard as it looked, maybe 5.7. The climbing is really nice, but moderate through the middle section (fairly low angle 5.7). If I had carefully read the route description I would have brought a larger cam or two (#3-4).

At about 90 feet out, the route steepens and the crack becomes a sustained steep 5.8 crack, mostly hand crack, with some wider sections. Jams are great and the feet are good in the crack too. By the time I topped out I was glad, as fatigue had definitely set in. The rap is designed to be a two-rope rap, while we brought only single rope, of course. I spied a rap station off to the left only about halfway down. I rapped to the station and checked it out. Two knots wedged in a crack with a bolt and a stopper, interesting. We decided it looked safe enough and headed down to the ground. That night we went to bed thinking that maybe we would do some easy free climbing on Wednesday. During the night, however, plans changed.

Wednesday – 6:00 am, we wake up and it’s a winter wonderland. It snowed about 6 inches during the night. We decide a lodge breakfast sounds good. Many other people have the same idea, but we finally ferry trays of hot breakfast to a table - marveling at their mind-bogglingly entropic cafeteria organization. We spot Grant's pancake chef whisking bottles of syrup off tables, many still occupied by surprised guests. Wednesday has now become our rest day. We spend the day hiking around the valley and exploring a bit. We check out Half Dome from Mirror Lake – awesome sight. We decide that Thursday will be a good day for Royal Arches. I looks like there’s not too much snow on the route and the waterfalls are passable according to the guy at the Mountain Shop. We turn in early again.

Thursday – 6:00 am, we eat a quick breakfast and head to the Ahwahnee. As we gear up numerous people come over to quiz us and watch. Are you really climbing? Isn’t it too cold? Isn’t there too much snow? I used to climb up here back when…

Finally, we set off. We hike right to the base of the route, having explored the approach the previous day. Thankfully, we had obtained Xerox services of the topos from the lodge personnel. The first pitch is a wet slick 5.6 chimney. I’m sketched out and starting to wonder how good of an idea this trip is. The next few pitches are great. We simul-climb for several rope lengths, until we hit the 5.7 cracks at the 5th pitch. We swap leads up the next couple of technical pitches. On pitch 6, I can’t resist climbing a beautiful 5.8 crack. It looks like it may not quite be on route, but how could I resist. When I top out I realize that I now have mostly unprotected face climbing for the next 40-60 feet. Damn, I should have had more willpower. I got in placements to protect the two cruxes, and soon was at the next belay. Judy agrees to lead the next short easy section – pitch 7 - .up to the pendulum traverse. After a little scrambling she finds herself in yet another wet chimney. This one is even better than the last, since many of the holds and placements are ice covered, requiring chipping off ice on holds or to place gear. Finally after that adventuresome pitch we’re both at the pendulum. The pitch looks intimidating. A climbing rope is fixed for the swing – it looks fine. The next 130 feet are all under a waterfall – it looks wet and portions of it are under 3 feet of snow – hmmm. Was this really my idea? I swing across on the rope and grab the ledge – not bad. I set a quick piece of gear to protect Judy for the traverse. Soon I’m standing in water and placing my next piece, underwater. This is fun now. I’m glad to have my rain jacket as my feet are mostly under water or in running water and I’m constantly in a spray. Downclimbing steep snow banks on 5th class rock isn’t supposed to be part of Royal Arches last I checked, but here it is. Finally, the pitch is over. Judy follows, commenting that it was the most fun she’s had all day. It was almost as good as the ice chimney pitch. We’re both wet now, but thankfully have lots of warm clothes on. We continue upwards for several more pitches. We elect to simul-climb the last pitch to avoid setting an extra belay. Soon we’re at the rap station. We’ve brought two ropes so we can easily rap the route. We decide simul rapping will expedite our descent. Things are going well, until about the third rappel, when we decided to skip a rappel station and my rope doesn’t quite reach the next station. Oops! I place gear and lead down to the belay, with a quick belay from Judy. We continue downwards to the ground uneventfully, successfully soaking both ropes in the creeks at the bottom of the climb. It’s been a great day, but dinner at Curry Village sounds good. Over dinner, we decide to go work on the Ahwahnee Buttress area the next day. We’ll go back to our wall climbing.

Friday 6:00 am. We’re up and getting ready. We drive back to the Ahwahnee. It’s becoming a familiar friend. We hike up and check out the Buttress. We are mystified as to where the so-called Ahwahnee Buttress climb starts. After much discussion, we decide to aid the Serenity Crack. No one is on it and it’s cold and it’s mid-week. Soon we’ve hauled our aid gear up and planned to do the three pitches to the Sunshine Ledge above, where the Ahwahnee Buttress climb really starts. I get ready to climb and realize there aren’t any gear placements for the first move. Finally, reluctantly, I pull out a skyhook and do a hook move, confident I can make a good placement just above. Once I am standing in my aiders, I realize how nervous I am. Judy, on belay, isn’t much happier, half trying to spot me and half trying to belay. I place a tricam in a pin scar. It might hold. The piece shifts as I weight it, but it holds. So far so good, but I’d like a piece that will hold a fall. I gingerly place another bad tricam, thinking these flared pin scars are horrid. For the next 20 feet or so I continue to place marginal tricams, hoping none will blow, since I’m still not sure of any of the placements to the ground. Just below the single bolt on the pitch I find a beautiful cam placement. I’m overjoyed with relief to have a bomber piece in. I clip the bolt and decide to back clean all the tricams for the next section of pin scars. After back cleaning the first half of the pitch I continue to aid up. Good gear placements abound and it goes well. The pitch is long, however. About 20 feet below the anchor I decide the 5.8 lieback it too tempting. I free climb the last few feet. Judy, patiently belaying below, starts up. By the time she’s halfway up it’s snowing and blowing fiercely. As she arrives at the belay, the visibility has dropped to a few feet and the rock is wet. We’re both cold. Time to bail off, we decide. We rappel down and head to the car. Tourists are again asking – have you been out climbing in this weather? We go to the lodge to refuel, warm up, and talk about plans for the next two days. The snow stopped before any significant accumulation occurred. Late in the afternoon, we decide to head back to Church Bowl to do some bouldering / climbing. It’s reasonably dry, so I decide to lead Church Bowl Tree Crack (10b). I set out confidently and set the first piece, the offsets Gerry recommended have been a godsend here in Yosemite. After struggling mightily and setting a second piece I resigned myself and hung on the rope. Damn! Once I regrouped and shook out a bit, I moved through the next section with no problem. The climbing had eased considerably. The crux of the route is just before the chain rap station. I set two equalized pieces and proceed on to the ultra thin (10b) face and crack moves. As soon as the chains were within reach I grabbed them and clipped in. I would have like to do another clean free move or two, but my nerves were not up to it. Judy seconded the climb no problem, executing the bouldery start flawlessly. The crux required one hang, but after all it is the crux. It was dark by the time I cleaned the anchor and we headed back for dinner. We turned in early once again.

Saturday, 6:00 am. We’ll do free climbing today. We’ve decided to do Commitment on the Five Open Books and if time permits, we’ll head for the rim on one of the 5.8’s on the second tier. We gear up at the Lower Yosemite Falls parking lot amidst a gaggle of tourists. We hike up the trail and wind up too high. We scout a couple of routes and rap down to the base of Commitment. We look the climb over and decide to go for it. I decide to lead the first pitch. The opening move is difficult and I slip and fall. I’m shaken a bit, since this is only 5.8. I climb up the first pitch, impressed by the beautiful 5.8 crack. I’m soon at the belay – a really good pitch. Judy seconds uneventfully. The second pitch is a moderate 5.7 crack, with excellent feet on the face. Again, the pitch is high quality climbing. The third pitch, the crux, opens with "a dramatic 5.9 roof". It looks hard, but well protected. After setting a #2 Camelot I get a beautiful jam and turn the roof. It wasn’t nearly as bad as feared. The pitch continues up a small dihedral, mostly 5.7 and 5.8. The final move is a difficult 5.8 overhang, a fine finish to a great route. I had noticed a few snowflakes while climbing, but as I set a quick belay, the snowfall increased substantially. While Judy climbs it continues to worsen. By the time she summits, we have almost two inches on the ground and can’t see anything. The adventure is beginning anew. We hike towards the downclimb, trudging in the snow. I recall that the downclimb is not so trivial, but what else to do? Soon we’re at the 3rd class ledges, now under 3 inches of snow. They’re usually slick and water worn, but with snow? We carefully pick our way down the ledges using each brush-choked part we can to stay off the slick rock. After an eternity of nerve wracking down climbing we are back on the ground. It’s nice to be down. We head to Curry Village for pizza.

Sunday, 6:00 am We woke up to beautiful blue skies and sunshine. A perfect day it appeared. Of course, there is the two inches of snow on the ground, but it’s still nice. We decided to do another classic, with an easy approach, a second ascent for both of us. – Nutcracker, one of Royal Robbins routes on Manure Pile Buttress. The climb was damp in spots on the first pitch, but looked dry further up. The first pitch remains a beautiful arching crack – challenging at 5.8, but taking good pro the whole way up. The climb continues up through various 5.7 and a few 5.8 sections. The crux comes on the last pitch. I remembered it as being no big deal, reach for a jug and do a 5.8 mantle. When I got there, however, I looked down at my pro below me and realized it wasn’t quite as easy as my memory dictated. Once committed, the move went fine, nerves again. We topped out to a hellacious wind and decided to make quick descent before eating. A short hike down a descent trail brought us back to the base. After a few snacks, we headed back to camp to break down for the trip home.

Yosemite had again treated us to a memorable week of climbing.