Southern Yosemite

After organizing camp and saying "Hi" to Dave, Bridget, Carl and Jim, Fred, Dean and Fred's son, we set off mid- morning to Chiquito Dome, the only dome within walking distance of our campsite. Dave led Jim and Jane up Acolyte, a 5 pitch 5.9 face route, after waiting for two other climbers to clear the route (the only other climbers we saw the whole time we were there). Tom and Patsy started up Jigsaw Puzzle, a 5 pitch 5.8 face and crack route, while Mike, Carl and Colleen headed up Cheeseburger in Paradise, a 4 pitch 5.7 face and crack route. Chad, Amena and I followed behind Tom and Patsy, while Dean and Fred followed behind Mike, Carl and Colleen. Mid-route, a dark cloud loomed overhead and it began to spritz on us. Nothing very serious though and the sun soon reappeared to dry off the rock.

On arrival back at camp, we met Audrey, Molly, Filippo and Rich, all from the San Jose area. Margaritas with ham and turkey dinner and the after effects of the long drive the previous day soon had me sawing logs.

Sunday morning we found another Jim in camp, "Pyro Jim", and we all headed off in the direction of Squaw Dome. Unfortunately, the road hadn't been plowed that far and we ended up at Jackass Rock instead. After arriving at the rock, we had some difficulty in orienting ourselves with respect to the topo but finally figured it out. Tom and I headed round a corner and found Patsy starting up Vicious, a 2 pitch 5.9 face and crack route with a bolt ladder to start. I started up Don't Look Back, a 5.8 3 pitch crack route but at the top of the first pitch, I followed a bolted variation that led to the first belay of Vicious where Tom and I joined up with Patsy and Jane. Pyro Jim appeared on the scene and Patsy belayed him up to our stance. Tom led off on the second pitch of Vicious with me following. Jane led after us with Patsy and Jim following. The fourth class walk-off was more like fifth class, so we rapped off and joined the others, where we tried our skills top-roping on Pyro Jim's lead of Puck, a 5.9+ crack in a left-facing open book. Many were called but few were chosen.

Fearing a redux of margarita-induced drowsiness, we avoided this excellent but soporific mix on Sunday night and whiled away the evening with stories and back rubs, following an excellent dinner of Dave's home-made chili and Chad's meatball-spiked garlic dish.

Monday we headed over to the Fuller Buttes after some 4WD'ing. After parking atop a knoll, we headed over toward the Buttes (thanks to Tom's compass). The guide said to follow the cleft down between the Buttes, which we faithfully did ... for a short while. We were actually climbing down through the trees in this vertiginous gully and after some time, confronted with a vista of never-ending descent through this tortuous jungle, we said "enough", to paraphrase but a little.

Dave and Audrey set up top ropes on which some folks climbed while Tom, Patsy, Pyro Jim and I hiked to the top of the western Butte. What a view! Jim swore to return the next day with his 60m rope to rappel down from the top of the eastern Butte following a soaring crack, which he planned to climb using his GriGri for belay. What was the scoop, Jim? We took off back to the cars and drove up the road for some snow with which to prepare the less potent slushy Margaritas.

Following more ham and turkey dinner, Jim entertained us with stories of Moose turd pie and a rendering of Sam McGee. We took turns reading Robert Service's poems and were especially enamored of Audrey's renditions.

Most people took off early Tuesday morning but Tom, Patsy, Mike and I headed back to Chiquito Dome for a shot at Acolyte. We climbed three pitches in two teams and then rapped off, heading back to camp to finish packing and eat lunch before the long drive home.

What a great weekend! The scenery was inspiring and everyone was climbing well. There were few mosquitos and even fewer people. Special thanks to Dave for suggesting this rendezvous, reserving us the campsite, making the chili and bringing all that wine. Thanks to everyone for climbing safely, being fun to be around and bringing all that good food, which ran the gamut from ham, garlic meatballs, turkey and taco salad all the way to a bag of corn niblets; "good though."