Ascents in Yosemite National Park by Scott Godwin

A major dose of reality. Alpine start to get to the base early. I started up the first bolt ladder at about 5:45. Feeling nervous and shaky from the start. Short fixed p1-4 while Dave jugged. Whipped on p3 when a brass wire blew. Caught by a fixed copperhead. Passed by Pete Whittaker and partner at top of p3 who were speeding up the west face on their 'rest day'. No other parties on the tower or at the base, which was very lucky considering what was to happen later. I led the scary, loose 5.7R pitch to the intermediate belay below the beak seam, which involved transitioning from free to a hook above a questionable black alien to reach the bolts. By this stage I was pretty spooked and wouldn't have argued if Dave had suggested bailing, but it was his lead and he seemed psyched. Dave did a great job leading the beak seam and continued short fixing up the next few very steep pitches while I cleaned. Around p8 he called down to warn me about a big loose block, so I stayed put under a small roof and clipped myself to a nest of gear while I waited for him to get past it. For at least half an hour all I could see were two feet dangling almost comically over the edge of the block, while bits of sand and gravel rained down. Eventually he pulled over the top. Almost immediately I heard a terrified yell, followed by repeated shouts of 'ROCK, ROCK, ROCK!'. I think he managed to call at least six or seven times in the time it took for the block to spin through about 350 metres of empty space before exploding directly on the approach track. It was about the size of two washing machines. Once it was confirmed that everyone was still alive and Dave had nest of gear in he finished the pitch. Retreat was mentioned but discarded as a sensible option because of the crazy steepness that we'd have to bail down. Dave sacked up and led the last pitch. Topped out at about 1:50 am. Back at the car around 5. About 20 hours on the route, about 26 hours car to car.

Free lead to chains just for fun. Slippery as hell but nice locks in the pin scars

Short fixing practice

In a day with Dave. My first grade V in a day. I led p1,7,8,9,10,11 and 12. Dave short fixed the more aidy pitches 2-6 while I jugged behind. Decent via the Royal Arches raps which went pretty smoothly once we eventually found the first anchor. About 12-13 hours on the route, about 19 hours car to car. Great day with perfect weather and nobody else on the route. Lots of fixed manky heads with enough good ones to make progress fairly smooth. Took a painful daisy whip on p8 when a small cam ripped, otherwise pretty uneventful. Amazing views of Half Dome and the upper valley, and great top out with North Dome behind.

Amazing. Worth waiting in line for. Crux was powerful but very secure on bomber finger locks. Pretty happy to get the onsight. Rapped after serenity because of the huge crowds on Sons.

Seconding Nate to squeeze in one more pitch before he left. Foot slipped on the glassy rock. First thing I fell off in Yosemite, and it was a bumbly classic.

About seven hours car to car. The raps took almost as long as the climb.

Awesome, fun varied crack climbing. We were third on the route but it took all day due to a very slow party in front.

Aided through the slippery bottom section with the drilled pockets. I led the crux second pitch clean. Really good. Glad we did this before serenity crack.

Raced up this at the end of a long day. It was snowing ash from the Briceburg fire as we were climbing.

Really good. Felt harder than knob job.

Realisation of a long term dream to climb El Cap. This was our second attempt after the aborted effort a week earlier. Cheated a little bit by jugging fixed lines to Sickle, thereby skipping the first four pitches that we had already climbed the first time. Hauled to Sickle on a warm day, then waited for the cold weather to blast off. I was questioning our strategy while jugging the fixed lines in the cold rain at 2 am, but it blew over and we had great sunny, cool conditions for the next four days. Lost about four hours on the traverse into the stove legs when I got the lead rope stuck in a lower out sling. Had to wait for a couple of slow Canadians behind us to catch up and free it. Other than that it was smooth sailing to the top. Only saw two other parties on the route. A couple of fast Swiss guys passed us at camp IV, and Thomas and Christoph the crazy Germans climbed behind us from the great roof to camp VI, then went in front the next day. The bivy on top was magic, made even better by the deep sense of satisfaction that came from finally achieving a multi-year goal.

Climbed accidentally. thought we were on the grack. Only to top of fourth pitch. Run-out friction slabs are scary. Nice climbing though.

beautiful

Jumped on this because the Central pillar of frenzy was super crowded. Not very enjoyable. First pitch is loose and dirty. Accidentally did the 5.10 variation past the manky fixed wires, which was pretty pretty demanding. Second pitch was also a bit loose, and third pitch had good rock but was full of dirt and leaves. Had enough by then and rapped from top of the third.

First attempt at the Nose. After climbing and hauling to sickle we waited a day before blasting off. Ended up behind a couple of other parties which slowed things down a lot. Bivied on Dolt first night. Ran into a traffic jam on top of the Boot Flake and had to wait ages, then struggled with the King Swing. Tried maybe 10 times before taking a bad swing back into the wall and injuring my hip and ankle. The party in front of us threw me a line so I could pull on to Eagle ledge. Spent a very uncomfortable night there. Climbed two more pitches the next day, but gave up due to pain in my hip. Rapped to Dolt that afternoon, spent the night, then rapped to the ground the next day.

Simulclimbed with Andrew.

Fantastic climbing. One of the best pitches I did in the valley.

With Laura. 1st five pitches went well and were done in 2 or 3 hours, then my upset guts started to get the better of me. Climbed the next five pitches in blazingly hot conditions while carrying a reeking poo bag and getting increasingly sick and dehydrated. Pulled on a lot of gear in the final pitches. Pitch 10 looks awesome, but by that stage I was reduced to aiding almost everything, so I didn't get to find out what the free moves were like. I'll be back to climb this again in better style.

With Laura. Pitched the whole thing in about 9 hours. Would simulclimb most of it next time. Super classic route. The swing was heaps of fun.

Laura led p1, then we bailed due to approching storm clouds. Downclimbed 1st pitch.

Got completely shut down on lead and decided to top rope instead. Way harder than it looks.

Top roped for offwidth practice. Bloody hard! Got the hang of the stacks eventually and managed to thrash my way up it.

Fun.

Really fun climbing. A bit chossy at the top.

Contrived.

Top roped by climbing "second thoughts" first. Seemed pretty hard.

Got a late start, made it to dinner ledge on first afternoon. Spent a beautiful clear night under the stars watching the lights of other climbers on half dome. Climbed the kor roof pitch the next day, but Laura had a lot of trouble cleaning. After two hours hanging in the harness struggling to clean the lip it was time to retreat. More lowerout and steep cleaning practice required.

1st route in yosemite valley! Great intro to slippery Yosemite laybacking and friction.

Freezing cold!

Freezing cold conditions. Couldn't feel my hands!

Got rained off. Bailed from the 1st bolt of p1.

With Laura. For some dumb reason we decided to do this on saturday of the memorial day weekend. Route was uber crowded, but still ultraclassic.

With Laura. 1st pitch only then bailed because we didn't bring enough warm clothes!

With Laura. Really cool, slippery slab climbing. Would be testing on lead.

With Laura

With Laura. Awesome route. Nice laybacking and slab climbing on upper pitches. The slab descent sucks though. We left a nut and rapped off it rather than commit to the slippery wet death slab.

First route in Tuolumne.