Yosemite

After NorCal I spent twelve hours in the R-Side before leaving again to Yosemite. Ah, my fingers were still recovering from splitting four pads at the tram earlier this week. Got in Friday night and stayed with this strapping ranger. Ladies, from what I hear he's free. Let me know if you want his number. Who can resist a man in uniform?

There was a big crew, and we didn't stray too far from the beaten path. John, Shannon, and Casey were all present for Shannon's birthday - she turns 30! Wooo! We partayed at Ranger Rave '08 in federal employee housing. Nothing puts a damper on festivities like having two cop cars parked on your street.

Climbing wise, the trip was a little...eh. I opened up a pad in the first hour, and tape helped make Thriller nearly impossible. Not that things would have been otherwise without it. I flashed the Force (V9), a sexy little climb next door. To be fair, I'd tried it once a few years ago, but come on, that doesn't count, does it? The next day was the next day, so we weren't quite to spunky. Justin and I had an epic contiguous pair of sends on the King Cobra Sit Start (V9), a climb that was much harder than it should have been.

Yosemite is 7 hours away, so I don't think I'll be making that commute again soon. Or course it was worth it, both to see old friends and to celebrate Shannon's 30th. Everyone let her know horah!

Lurking Fear

Since Riverside is a shit-hole, I had to get the hell away for the weekend. Yosemite was the place that found me. Saturday happened some bouldering with Justin, Peter, John, Shannon, Vicki, Taylor - like a Davis reunion or something. Things were tired on my end, so I took it easy. But baijiu came out in the evening, and I'm pretty sure I saw some head-butting, the baijiu rage speaks. I had to leave the bottle with Justin, I think he's found a new friend.

Sunday was the big one. Alex and I did Lurking Fear, that pink line on the far left of El Cap. The rig goes free at 13c, but we were french freeing it for the speed. 10 hours and twenty pitches, then the summit. And let me just put this out there: "aiding sucks." That's the moral of the trip. It's slow and miserable and not any fun.

While driving in the valley I saw a little black bear cub, and all I could think about was shooting it full of tranquilizers and cuddling with it in my arms. Where's my ketamine at?

I leave you to ponder this. I'm not sure either. Something about it is christ-like and something about it is gay. Here we go, the pose and Alex, in that order.

UPDATE: One final shout out to Alex for freeing the Salathe, linking the headwall. Sweet.

God Damn That's Cute

I used to think my heart was a frozen wasteland - devoid of flora, fauna, and love. Then I saw Justin cradling a baby black bear and it all just melted. That is so fucking cute. It gets even better. The bear was drugged so they could tag it, so its little head was rolling back and forth in a super cute way because of the tranquilizers. Ooooooooo I want one! I want a black bear now daddy! They probably get bigger and less like a ball of fur though, don't they? Can I lease one? Cuddle with it until it gets big enough to maul me and then release it back into the wild of SoCal.

The picture comes from Justin's blog of course. He's my hookup in the Yosemite Forest Service, so if anyone needs, I don't know, help tracking a large animal, let me know and I'll see what I can do. He owes me a few favors; being a philosopher has its perks.