Region: California, Yosemite
Style: Trad
Grade: Royal Arches 5.10- Variation / Super Slide 5.9
Length: 16 pitches, ~600m (2000ft) / 5 pitches, ~150m (500ft)
Style: Onsight, Shared Leads
Warm-ups
Was back in California for work so I extended the trip through a weekend to try to get some climbing in. Was really fortunate this trip to find a great climbing partner (Ryan) on the forums. We did a couple warm-up/meet-n-greet climbs on some valley off-widths through the likes of a TR on Generator Crack (5.10c) and then a lead of Trial By Fire (5.8). That came about per my request to do some off widths as I had next to no experience with them and wanted to get some under my belt. Luckily Ryan new the Valley well enough to make those recommendations and man did I get my fill of cursing and sweating up grades I’d normally walk up. It was a blast!
Super Slide
After doing the off-widths we decided to hit something bigger before the day was over and Ryan suggested Super Slide. Sounds good to me! Even though I spent 5 years in the past living in SoCal, as a weekend warrior I rarely went to the Valley, preferring calmer places like Tuolumne Meadows and the East-side Sierras. All that to say that I was happy doing just about anything in the Valley.
After getting down from this one we threw some ideas around for a longer day tomorrow. I don’t recall how we settled on Royal Arches, but it was probably because neither of us had done it and it was just such a classic.
Royal Arches
It was going to be a pretty decent day weather wise so I opted for t-shirt n shorts. Little did I know that I would be spending countess minutes in the shade or with a cold wind whisking away all my body heat while waiting after other parties. I suppose this should have been obvious given the popularity and grade of the climb, but I guess in my mind there were going to be more opportunities to pass slower parties. So when we did come across a chance to pass some parties I was happy to take it up and get on the move. This occurred at the pseudo pendulum (or aided traverse) which is pitch 9 on this mountainproject topo. There were multiple parties queued up to do the traverse and another party already at the belay station after the traverse. However, staring at me while I sit huddled on a ledge half shivering was a nice looking crack/layback that lead directly to the belay above. Watching the slowness of the queue in front of me it didn’t take any convincing for me to offer leading up it. I didn’t know what the grade was, but it didn’t seem that bad (say 5.9). Off I went and as I got higher the the crack closed in the nice full hand holds dwindled to laybacks on finger tips (later learned this variation is 5.10-). I have to admit it was more effort than I was expecting but thankfully not more than I could handle. Before too long I was up past the queue of people waiting or doing the traverse, then the party at the tree belay were kind enough to waive us onwards so I passed them and setup belay a little higher. That basically got us past the bottleneck and from that point onward I don’t recall waiting after other parties.
Since I spent most belays with my arms wrapped around me to conserve heat I didn’t snap many pics…
Links
Rock Climb Generator Crack, Yosemite National Park
Rock Climb Trial By Fire, Yosemite National Park
List of Yosemite Off Widths
Rock Climb Super Slide, Yosemite National Park
Rock Climb Royal Arches (5.10- or 5.7 A0), Yosemite National Park