Ice Climb!

This is a retro report of a scorching day in August 2007, when Thanh and I climbed what turned out to be parts of a new line just to the right of Bridal Veil East - The Groom's Variation 5.10- A1. The route is one and a half stars out of three for route quality, three stars for location/view, possibly only climbable in a drought year, about 11 pitches (partly due to us being clueless), if you have a decent topo - should be not too hard to find. The true Bridal Veil East chimney route goes up the obvious chimney to the left. The BV East chimneys didn't look like fun, so somehow we convinced ourselves that the route we were on was actually a route. It was 90 degrees out, we didn't have enough water (3 liters between 2 ppl), we climbed up a few new pitches between existing stuff, and drank out of Bridal Veil Creek... and didn't get sick. Photos and a topo of sorts are available on my smugmug page. If this variation gets enough traffic this year (drought co...

January 17 5:15AM Wake Up, Breakfast 5:35AM In the car, driving from Oakland to Truckee 8:12AM Arrive in Truckee, meet Frank. We leave Frank's truck at the bottom of the trail head (we're going one way from Sugar Bowl down to the ice, and out Cold Stream Canyon.) 8:30AM Pack up in Sugar Bowl parking lot. Today's high is forecast for the low 50's. It's sunny out, not a cloud in the sky. We're going light. One pair of axes. Frank skied in and climbed the previous day - the ice was in, but too thin to lead without scaring the crap out of yourself. We ditch screws and draws in the car. The only gear needed to TR are slings, 'biners, and two draws. There are trees at the top of the cliffs to anchor off, no need for rock gear. It's only getting warmer - I take a soft shell top and gore-tex bottoms. 9:15AM Skis on, packs on back, we're on the Jerome Hill lift at Sugar Bowl. We bought One - Jerome Hill/Lincoln passes for $15 each. 9:30AM Top of...

Saturday of Memorial Day in Yosemite. A fifteen minute approach to a 12-pitch 5.10 route - we didn't see another climber all day... Lower Cathedral Rock doesn't get the attention that it's neighbors, Middle and Higher Cathedral Rocks, do. This is probably due to loose rock, harder climbing, past perigrine closures, and a lack of Supertopo coverage. This year, Lower Cathedral rock is not closed to allow Perigrine nesting ( according the NPS . The Access Fund's California Closures and Restrictions page incorrectly reports Lower Cathedral Rock as closed (as of this posting). Most climbers are probably not aware of this, hence an all day route with no crowds. We camped outside the Valley on a USFS road. Left the car at 7:30. Twenty mintues to the base. Ten minutes of racking up and we were ready to to. Micah and I had attempted this route before. We got started in the loose/dirty 5.8 chimney down and right from the East Buttress Route two years earlier. That mi...

We got snowed on in Vegas. WTF? Snow is better than Rain. And when you have good group of friends to drink a margarita with, it doesn't matter anyway. We did one route on the Solar Slab wall. Don't know the name - three pitches of 5.9-ish stuff up and right from Solar Slab. We approached via Solar Slab Gulley.