Paradise Regained

Off-Road Jim and Carl rolled in around 7:30pm in Jim's "new" 4-Runner. We set up the tents and warmed a pot of chili for a quick dinner. The rest of the evening was spent around Darryl's campfire listening to Carl and Darryl spin tales. At 12:30am Richard, Patsy, Colleen, Jane, Mike, and Tom arrived and politely camped in Darryl's campsite adjacent to ours. Darryl was expecting family to join him, but was probably a bit surprised at how large his family had grown. During the night I heard the distinct sound of a VW engine pull in to camp and maneuver for a minute or two, but the morning revealed no VW with Pete and family inside. Pete must have seen the sea of tents and decided to not subject his two daughters to our corrupting influences. Who knows, they may have picked-up a Scottish brogue or a wry sense of humor!

We awoke on Saturday to a cloudy sky that cleared by mid morning. At breakfast, the rest of the SF Bay area contingent was missing. They must have missed the campground during the night. After much gnashing of teeth over breakfast and what to climb, the group decided to try a few routes on Chiquito Dome, within walking distance of the camp.

We chose three routes next to each other, Cheeseburger in Paradise a 4 pitch 5.7 corner/crack system that Carl and Mike led with Colleen following, later to be followed by a second party consisting of Fred and Dean. Patsy and Tom climbed a 5 pitch 5.8 face/crack climb called Jigsaw Puzzle, which lived up to its name with respect to finding the bolts. Richard, Chad and Amena made up the next party on the climb. Off-Road Jim, Jane, and I climbed the 5 pitch 5.9 face climb Acolyte, which is bolt protected for the first three pitches and uses a thin crack for pro on the last two pitches. A slight amount of rain threatened us half-way up the routes, but quickly blew away bringing the sun back out. Everyone was climbing well and enjoying the solid granite and warm rays of the sun.

The remaining SF Bay area contingent, Audrey, Brigit, Filippo, Molly, and Rich found the camp shortly after we left for Chiquito Dome in the morning. In the afternoon as we were descending from Chiquito Dome via a duck-marked trail and old logging road, Audrey, Filippo, Molly, and Rich were on the bush-whack approach to the dome. They eventually made it to the base and climbed a crack route in the center of a large flake, just left of the three face routes we had done earlier.

Almost everyone brought nearly enough food to feed the entire group, so there was an abundance of good food every night. Dinner this evening included roast turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, stuffing, corn, cornbread, green salad, ... . An inviting fire was started after dinner and we ringed the flickering light with chairs and well-fed bodies. Everyone was in bed early, probably due to the margaritas Richard and Tom prepared. I was told the recipe included pouring the tequila in a container and waving the rest of the ingredients over the top of the container.

Yosemite Jim joined us sometime during the night, fresh from several days in Yosemite Valley. On Sunday morning, the group was split on where to climb. Harder crack climbing and the shorter approach of Jackass Dome appealed to several people, while several others were interested in the moderate mixed crack/face climbing on Squaw Dome. Since Jackass Dome is on the way to Squaw Dome we decided to meet at Jackass Dome to allow people to make a choice once they had seen Jackass Dome. When we arrived at Jackass Dome we found the road going on to Squaw Dome blocked by Forest Service barricades even though the road was obviously free of snow. We felt it was far more dangerous for vehicles to attempt to drive up the steep slope at the base of Jackass Dome, so we moved the barricades to a faint road cut leading up the slope. We had done our good deed for the day and were rewarded with access to the road to Squaw Dome. Unfortunately we met 2-3 feet of snow covering the road 2 miles from Jackass Dome, still one mile short of Squaw Dome. Being heat-seeking moisture-avoiding climbers (at least a few of us) we chose to return to Jackass Dome instead of trudging through snow-drifts and whacking manzanita to get to Squaw.

My description of the approach to Jackass Dome was a slight understatement. The hike up the loose slope was not exactly 'park and climb', but it was shorter than the Chiquito Dome approach and much shorter than the Squaw Dome approach -- trust me. ;-)

We divided into three groups, each in a different area. Yosemite Jim lead a strenuous one-pitch leaning crack in a corner called Puck. It is rated 5.9+ in the book, but seemed to be mid-10 to me. The crack had great hand jams and a sharp edge to layback off. The face to the right was slick and vertical, which made smearing interesting. Patsy managed to stem most of the pitch, which was pretty amazing given the lack of edges and the slick rock! (It's NOT luck Patsy!) We set up a TR on the crack for everyone to play on. Jim later left a stopper behind to back-up the two pitons that constituted the rap anchor. He remarked at dinner that night that he wished he had a hammer when setting up the rap, not to secure the pins, but to take them out! (He was low on pins.)

Rich was looking for a more challenging crack to lead, and we found an 'interesting' crack system just 30' left of Puck that is not in the guidebook. The lower 15' is an arcing, flaring, vertical offwidth, which transitions to a small ledge. Next comes a 2" crack that tapers down to a seam about 20' out. Several feet of face moves bring you to an 8" wide crack 10' long that leads to a horizontal ledge and crack where Rich set the belay anchor. Since we left 'Elvis' the #5 Camalot in the truck, Rich opted to use a chimney to the left to bypass the flaring offwidth. Once positioned at the beginning of the hand/finger crack he gracefully lead the rest of the route, placing 1 Cam and 3 solid nuts in the crack. Assuming he did the FA, we encouraged him to name the route, and after several suggestions he chose Rich's Rather Rich I-Scream, which is a play on a SF Bay area ice cream shop name.

While Rich was tasting I-Scream, Carl led a 5.5 corner/crack climb just around the corner to the left called Nick Bottom. Just another walk in the park for Carl.

Filippo, Molly, and Rich left for home shortly after dinner which was primarily pasilla chili and meatballs in garlic sauce. We all assembled around the flare-lit campfire to chat, stare at the flames or sky, and slowly fade to black. I remember staring up at the sky and thinking that the stars had imprinted me with their patterns of brilliance. I felt it would be hard to go home, but not so hard to go to sleep after a good day of climbing and making new friends.

Monday morning, Memorial day, and a new moon will be out tonight which makes after dark hiking rather difficult without a flashlight.

We piled into the 4WD vehicles, equipped with 2-meter radios, and managed to get within a mile of Fuller Buttes, our climbing destination for the day. Off-Road Jim broke-in his "new" 4-Runner on the old logging road we followed, cruising around a large berm, over a pine cone covered road and up a semi-rough hill lined with bushes.

The hike in to Fuller Buttes from the end of the road was relatively flat and very pleasant, with great views of the high snow-covered peaks to the east and Shuteye Ridge to the west. We followed the ridge to a gully between the East and West Fuller Buttes and began our descent after checking on an alternate way down around the west side of the west butte. After hiking just a short distance down the gully it became apparent what a difficult time the ascent would be later in the day, and since the planned climbs seemed only moderately interesting, we all voted to abort the descent and find something to climb near the top of the buttes.

Jane and I set up two TRs on the east face of the west butte that proved to have very nice 5.8 to 5.10 face climbing and even a 5.7 lieback crack. Off-Road Jim, Audrey, Patsy, Jane, and myself spent the rest of the day climbing several routes on this wall. A small 3'-5' headwall halfway up the face provided some interesting challenges and caused some loss of soft tissue.

The hike out was as pleasant as the morning approach and we were back at the vehicles in no time. On the drive back to camp, Patsy stopped at Jackass Dome to retrieve her #9 hex left behind the day before.

Once again dinner was great, with pasta, broccoli, turkey, and just about everything else since this would be our last dinner in camp. Yosemite Jim used his patent-pending method of starting the fire with a flare, a dead lizard, and a temporarily-live stinkbug.

Tuesday morning Audrey and I packed up our gear and said reluctant good-byes to the remaining folks. Off-Road Jim, and Carl left for home at the same time we did, while Richard, Patsy, Tom, and Mike headed for Chiquito Dome to do the first three pitches of Acolyte. Jane hiked after them to document the trip with a few photos.

Thanks to everyone who shared this short but wonderful experience, and especially to Richard who organized the great group of folks from San Diego. I will remember this trip with pleasant memories for a long time to come.

Chiquito Dome
5.9 face5-pitch	Acolyte 5.8 face/crack
5-pitch	Jigsaw Puzzle
5.5 corner system
4-pitch	Cheeseburger in Paradise
Jackass Dome
5.9 face/crack	2-pitch Vicious
5.8 crack	3-pitch Don't Look Back
5.6 corner/crack	1-pitch Nick Bottom
5.11- crack	1-pitch
Rich's Rather Rich I-Scream	5.9+ crack
1-pitch Puck
West Fuller Butte
5.9 face TR
5.6 lieback crack TR
5.8-5.10 face TRs