Ascents in Sierra Nevada as Retreat

We got off route!!!

Bailed at the top of pitch 6. We had hiked in 2 loads and fixed the first pitch in the evening. The next day we jugged and I went to haul however sandbagged myself with the anchor set up and it took almost 2 hours to haul that first pitch! Lessons were learned. We managed to get to the top of the 4th pitch by the end of the first day through a mixture of aid and free climbing, all of which was spectacular. We set up the ledge. I had every intention of leading and fixing pitch 5 at night however after a brew and some food all motivation was lost haha. Pitches 5 & 6 went relatively quickly the next morning though we were still on the slow end of the scale. When I got to the anchor Andy said his back was quite sore. We had 3 options - push on and top out probably Saturday night; set up camp and climb as many pitches as we can before night then descend in the morning, or go down. When Andy mentioned the pain was such that he really had to concentrate not to make a mistake with the rope systems we decided to go down which definitely turned out to be the right call given how he felt the next day. When we descended we met a keen young Brit who was planning on soloing the route in a day. We brewed him a cup of tea and chatted while he waited for a party to descend who were climbing and fixing to pitch 3. We ran into him again the next day as he was hiking back to camp 4 and he had indeed soloed the route in under 18 hours, doing it in 7 monster pitches! And onsight to boot! An absolutely amazing effort. The climbing was definitely not the crux and we both learnt a lot in terms of systems and efficient hauling. Would love to come back and try and do this a bit lighter and quicker. Beta if you want to fix the evening before. Climb the first 3 pitches and haul straight to 3 via the rap route. That first pitch is the worse hauling on the route.

Howling wind sure makes this climb feel extreme. We chose to back off after the first pitch rather then continue.

Did the first 3 pitches and then had to bail from Dinner Ledge as there was already 11 people staying that night. Freed all 3 pitches with one sit on the rope on pitch 2.

Hahahahaha classic visiting climbers, we got spooked at the slab with no topo and no gear so we downclimbed the first couple pitches and went home! Apparently we are too chicken for 5.5 slab!

Really fun movement, but the crack below the roof is pretty dirty and chossy. Ran out of small gear, bring as much as you can

was scared of the roof traverse but eventually got it clean. but despite my best efforts, rope drag got so bad that I could neither move up nor be lowered mid-dihedral, and had to backclean to the roof

First ascent after winter, first ascent at altitude. More gardening than climbing, and I bailed after the hard bit in need of air and water.

nervous on 5.9 part due to proximity to ground but got through it, then two slightly ledgy falls from steep 5.8 hands section: a fumbled downclimb retreat, then (probably sensibly) backing off trying it as a greasy layback without more gear or enough stability to bump gear. ankle was already a bit cranky; promised Cody the remainder could be stitched up and he kindly agreed to finish the lead with more gear

adventurous but brief: got a few droplets while Shane led p1; agreed to go until we got rained off. low crack transfer on p2 looked vegetated so i spent a while contemplating the big committing slab traverse higher up, not liking the friction or potential swing (or invert if i stepped on the sling). thankfully the weather escalated before i had to wuss out. the granite was soaked before i started lowering, and we were getting lashed with hailstones by the time i was at the belay.

getting off was the priority so i started the rap down p1 without looking at the topo. tried to think heavy thoughts as i sorted out the rope; kept going given the thunderstorm and knowing i had a full rack. turns out a 70m won't get you to the ground from p1 anchors but will get you to pinscars ~3m up where a #.75 and #.1 will hold even submerged in a minor waterfall, which will get you off the rope to work out next steps. not necessarily saying my decisions were good but they were deliberate and (quickly) considered, with risks and contingencies in mind

Unfortunately didnt get a chance to get further than 6 pitches up the shnoz this season. Anthony and I did a 'dolt run' to practice speed climbing. I went with antons 'intermediate clove hitch' method of breaking up the death loop as opposed to the self belay because im not stoked about lead falling onto a device im wearing. The only sketchy moment was forgetting to undo one of the cloves and pulling a nut out from above. It was my only piece and i couldnt place above so i had to shimmy down and replace the nut. After that i just waited for tony to get up and put me on belay. Ultimately more research on this as well as the route itself would be needed for the holy 'niad'. A 3 or 4 day ascent might be a prerequisite.. Or 2 days with hammocks and only bars and drinking peoples piss off the wall to avoid hauling? Still stoked to get up on the 'best rock climb in the world' and look down the dawn wall with howling wind to juice up the exposure even more.

spent a lot of effort getting second bolt clipped, took a look at the next sequence, sat, came down. apparently I now find climbing on bolts absolutely terrifying??

I - Jack Seawright - solemnly offer my deepest apologies for displaying some of the most pathetic climbing this king line has seen in its proud 50 year history. I had convinced myself probably too easily that i had what it took to climb astroman while tony, fresh off a double rest day, was rearing to go. We passed some young hoofas on the trail that offered to let us go first. We accepted a little too quickly to be considered polite and then ratted behind their backs about how their mums would be angry at them for being late to school pickup. The tables swiftly turned as they onsighted everything behind us and patiently waited at the belay stations as we racked up the following highlight reel: pitch 2: tony fails to locate totem placement off the deck for boulder problem, rips poorly placed dragonfly out of pin scar with hand, then aids original choss corner. I accidentally king swing across slab above on second after sweating off crimp. Pitch 3 enduro corner: I sloffed up the pitch with 20 rests on lead after telling everyone i planned to onsight the pitch. Pitch 5: I bailed off the last section of the pitch due to what i still consider a pretty serious unprotected 5.10 face sequence, and we rapped down the route past the kids who certainly seemed capable enough to find their own way home after school. The only success was that we didnt have an epic on the harding slot!.. because we didnt make it that far. Back at the campsite i copped a 'free dinner and free pants, i just wish i could free astroman'. Yes, i now reuse my jokes in crag writeups.

World record! Most bails in a single day. Let me explain my rationale. The night before, tony and i had poured through the guide to decide on the ultimate 'big day'. We had decided to wake up at 530. Unbeknownst to us, this would serve perfectly to maximize bail opportunities. Tony even was ready on time in the morning. We started up royal and after i lost the route and accidentally simul climbed off route into a 10+ roof traverse, we got back on track only to see the rest of the actual route covered by a turbulent waterfall. To be fair, we had actually been told about this, but we thought it would be a 'japanese trad waterfall'. We retreated, and also let the opportunity to link into crest jewel via the hiking summit go to the wayside. 2 bails and its not even 10am. Luckily astroman goes into shade at 1030! Unluckily we forgot to borrow dylans rps. 3 bails. Drove to el cap for south by south west. Left the car, realised it faces south or south west or some combination there of and would be copping intense sun. East buttress was consulted but yosar was doing rescue training. 5 bails down, we spied the moratorium. Known for seasonal wetness on the last pitch, we were ready to climb wet 11b just to get something done. After 1 (albeit incredible and varied corner) pitch, i brought tony up. He gingerly clipped in and told me that he had shat his pants and needed to go down. We sat on this el cap standard belay ledge admiring the beautiful day that had somehow forced 6 multi pitch bails on us in the space of 9 hours. We went back to the camp 4 toilets so i could bash the mirror with my head and tony could bash the toilet with his insides.

Two laps to dinner ledge - both times slowed by parties on the Kor roof but got to practice shortfixing.

Dolt run. Averaged 50 mins per pitch until stovelegs traffic slowed us. Learned how to aid in a tree the day before.

Goal was to keep up with 3 French wizards who overtook us on the footstool (both their seconds freeing everything to Dolt). Mission was kinda accomplished.

We backed off due to extreme cold and critical sadness. Stout! We climbed to just before the raps. Even bailing was an adventure.

Nous avons grimpé en artif jusqu'à Dolt Tower. Sacs trop lourds et pas entrainés. Abandon cause physique mdr

This thing is 670m! we though it was only 500m ahaha. Our grand idea to try IAD starting at 1am made really good pace to the traverse pitches and I bricked it on Pitch 14 made for a wild rappel! I was the weak link on this route next time we will smash it IAD PEW PEW.

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.

Top roping in the rain. Expected it to be harder then last time..And got chewed up... again. I consistently get worse at this climb- great excuse to come back and get chewed up again.

Raining half way up. Not a good day!

Bailed from pitch 16 after two days. Will dropped the portaledge midbar and I was psyched out after witnessing the two guys fall off Freeblast

Climbed up through the easy blocky section, cleaning placements as I went. Looked at the harder, thinner, section; wasn't sure feet were solid; would have needed to clean thin crack for hands & gear; decided to back off. Down-climbed cleaning my gear as I went.

Could probably have struggled through, but others were waiting.

Retreated after I nearly killed myself in a rappelling accident on the Kor Roof.

Will come back to try this again someday.

NO idea how to get over the bulge. Had to bail at the third bolt.

We were trying as a team of 3, and following another team up so slow. Then one of our 3 got hurt on the first pitch and had to lower-off, more delays. So, I made the call to back off at the 3rd belay, rather than continue. Spang wanted to continue... but acquiesced.

I lead pitch 1, Spang lead 2 and 3.

with Jadian & Jonah. Our first big wall. Cloudy and windy, but the NOAA forecast was excellent. Jugged P1, led amazing P2 5.10b variation (and fell!), jugged P3. Lunch at dinner ledge. Racking up for P4 when a storm rolled down the valley. We and 3 others quickly bailed, sharing ropes and passing off haul bags. Rainbow across the face of Half Dome was unforgettable. Snow accumulated up the valley. At one point it snowed at one end of a rope and rained at the other. We'll be back!

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

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.

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

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