Calling GMIAU staff

This is just a quick message to all at GMIAU, to ask if any of you have received any emails from me since I've been away. I've sent a few, and I can't believe that none of you would reply! And I was very happy to receive birthday wishes from you all, and touched that you remembered. Maybe my emails have been stopped by GMIAU's officious anti-spam software? More photos on the blog and stories of what we've been up to soon - the reason for the slight hiatus is that our camera broke, and we have only just got a new one. Ruth

Yosemite

We've just left the Yosemite after spending the last eight days in the park.

We've been kinda looking forward to Yosemite as one of the 'big' destinations of our trip, so it was a bit of a shock to arrive at the gates to the National Park only to be refused entry! This was on account of a snowchain restriction being in force on the roads (we don't have snow chains for the RV!). All of this a result of yet another winter storm coming in late season, and depositing a good few inches of snow all over the Sierras.

So our first day in Yosemite was spent waiting to see what was going to happen with road access. Luckily the weather cleared and the roads became passable, and so we got into the park after a few hours of waiting at the entrance gates.

Now I was almost bored of hearing people tell me about how awesome the Valley is when you first drive into it and see El Cap, etc. I'm invariably sceptical on hearing things being so hyped up. But, yes, ok I'll agree - The Valley is awesome when you first see it, and every other time you drive down the road for that matter.

One of the nice side effects of all this precipitation the Sierras have been having is that all the waterfalls in Yosemite are absolutely thundering with water. Some waterfalls which normally start to dry up about this time of year are still flowing with massive amounts of water. Also, there is still quite a lot of snow on the higher peaks, which makes the landscape look even more impressive.

All of this made our trip to the valley incredibly picturesque, but it wasn't really conducive to our climbing aspirations, especially on bigger routes. We did manage to get some good days out on the cliffs - even if it did entail crossing snow slopes to get to the base of the cliffs, and even on one occassion tunnelling under snow on the descent!

Definite high points included climbing The East Buttress of Middle Cathedral Rock, which is one of The Fifty Classic Climbs of North America, and getting to the top of Serenity Crack seconds before the storm we'd been watching come up the valley finally hit and forced us to retreat. Both are world class climbs, for sure.

In the end it was the National Park regulations/access that has moved us on. Its really hard to get a campsite in Yosemite at this time of year, and even if you do get a site it is now restricted to a maximum stay of 7 nights (that includes Camp 4 these days if any climbers out there are thinking of visiting), or 14 days in total for all sites in any one year. Oh well, I guess its an inevitable consequence of so many people wanting to visit what is a very small area of land.

Anyway, we've moved on. We're starting to head North now. The sun is getting so strong these days that at some point soon it has to see off the last of the winter/spring storms and summer has to come now (surely?). I think we'll stay clear of mountain areas for a few weeks yet though, and just seek out some lower level destinations.

We'll let you know how things go, but in the mean time above are some pictures from the last week in Yosemite, which are:

1) Day one at the entrance to the Park;

2) Yosemite Falls;

3) oh, go on then... here's a picture of El Cap - Ansel Adams eat your heart out ;-)

4) Ruth and shadow pitch 4 of Central Pillar of Frenzy 5) Black Bear

Since Innes' last update we spent another week in the Bishop area. Matt and Anna had to go home at the end of April - unfortunately their plane was not delayed by volcanic ash. We spent a week sport climbing at the Owens River Gorge. No photos I'm afraid - now that we are on our own there is nobody to take them. Also our camera has stopped working properly.

Then we spent a slightly surreal evening in an RV park watching the UK election results come in over the internet. At least we didn't have to stay up all night to find out that nobody had won, as we are 8 hours behind the UK. I can't really believe that the Lib Dems will do a deal with the Tories, but you never know. If there is a Tory Government will I have a job to come back to?

The day after the election we moved on to Lake Tahoe, which is about 200 miles north of Bishop and on the other (west) side of the Sierra Nevada mountains. It is a complete change in climate - much colder but also a lot greener. We enjoyed the absence of sand and dust, the grass and the big trees. However we didn't get that much climbing done in Tahoe, because for the first time this trip the weather got bad. We managed two half days climbing at a place called the Sugarloaf, and then it started raining. After that it started snowing, and didn't stop for 24 hours. So we decided to cut our losses and head to Yosemite a couple of days early. Now we are ensconced in an RV park about 30 miles from Yosemite Valley, and looking forward to our first glimpse of El Cap, Half Dome etc tomorrow.

Ruth

Photos:

1. Me seconding Fracture 5.10d at Sugarloaf, Lake Tahoe

2.Innes and big tree near Lover's Leap, Lake Tahoe

3. Snowy Lake Tahoe

4. Campsite at Owens River Gorge

Bishop Photos

Just a quick blog to upload some photos from the last 3 weeks. Lots of good times have been had, and I think that everyone who came out had a good time - ask them about it, and I'm sure they'll update you with the all the stories when they see you next. In the mean time - in order above:

1) Matt - Bouldering Team Safety Officer;

2) At the Buttermilks;

3) Important public information at Owen's River Gorge;

4) Rattlesnakes emerge at this time of year;

5) Anna tops out at the Pollen Grain boulders;

6) The Gramdma Peabody boulder!;

7) Ruth sticks the top hold;

8) Innes pocket pulling;

9) The hillbilly telephone.

Red Rocks and Bishop

Apologies that it has been so long since Innes' last post. We've just been having too much fun to seek out an internet connection.

After leaving Arizona we spent just over two weeks in Red Rocks, which is near Las Vegas in Nevada. Red Rocks is a set of sandstone mountains and canyons which are literally about 3 miles from the edge of Las Vegas. There are all types of climbing available there - long multi-pitch routes, sport climbing and bouldering.

Our time in Red Rocks was pretty sociable, as when we arrived there we caught up with Tom and El, and later were joined by Kimm, Amy and Sheona. We had arrived at Red Rocks with aspirations to do a lot of long routes, but somehow that didn't happen. This was mainly because it was pretty cold and windy most of the time, and we didn't fancy trying to abseil off any of the big routes with our ropes flying horizontally and getting snagged everywhere. However, we did manage to get one of our big ticks done, which was a long route called Epinephrine. We knew about this route before arriving in the US, as it features in various selected climbs books. It is 2,000 feet long and the first half goes up these incredibly smooth chimneys. I've never climbed anything like this before - the sheer effort involved just to stay in one place was incredible, and making upward progress was very difficult. Afterwards I was tired for days. The whole route was brilliant - it definitely lived up to its reputation. Apart from Epinephrine I also did a classic route called Chrimson Chrysalis with El. This was also brilliant, and we were very proud to get up it without our boyfriends!

During our time in Red Rocks Sheona and I went off for a little holiday within our holiday to see some of the non-climbing sights. We went to both Zion National Park and the Grand Canyon. Zion National Park has the tallest sandstone walls in the world. I was glad we weren't climbing, because it all looked very hard. At the Grand Canyon, we walked from the South Rim down to the river and back up. This was a bit like climbing Ben Nevis in reverse, and going down through the layers of rock and geological time was very interesting. There were lots of warning signs saying "do not attempt to hike from the rim to the river and back in one day" and "what goes down must come back up". We decided to ignore these, as we figured that they were aimed at people who never walk anywhere, and who try to do it in the middle of summer. In fact when we were there it was pretty cold - there was snow on the rim at 7,000 feet, and at the bottom at 2,000 feet it was just pleasantly warm.

Then Sheona and I returned to Las Vegas to meet up with the others, who had been enjoying the delights of the Las Vegas strip in our absence. Kimm and Amy had to go back to the UK, and we set off for our next destination which was Bishop in California. To get there we drove across Death Valley National Park. This involved going down to 190 feet below sea level, the lowest point in the USA. It was actually less arid than I expected, with the desert floor being carpeted with lots of tiny yellow flowers. To get out the other side we had to climb from below sea level to a pass at 5,000 feet. We were proud of the RV for getting up this hill without overheating.

When we got to Bishop we met up with Matt and Anna who had just flown out from the UK. Bishop is in the Owens River Valley, on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada mountains. It is in the rain shadow of the mountains, meaning that it is dry and sunny about 300 days a year. There is world class bouldering here, on both granite and volcanic tuff. We've been here about a week now, and have all managed to wear out the skin on our fingertips. The bouldering is pretty hard - some of the V0's are savage. However after a hard days bouldering you can go and relax in one of the many hot springs in the area, which is pretty cool - hot water, cold beer, view of snowy mountains - what more could you ask for?

Sheona left today to fly back. We hope she will be able to get on her flight, as we were shocked to discover last night that the whole of Europe is under a cloud of volcanic ash. Looks like we picked a good year to go away. We're also not sorry to be missing the general election campaign.

The pictures are from top to bottom:

Innes on Iron Man Traverse, Buttermilks

Anna making a cool shape on Buttermilks Stem Me in one of the chimneys of Epinephrine

Innes at the bottom of a route in Red Rocks called Unimpeachable Groping

Rainbow Mountain at Red Rocks (can you guess why they called it that?)

Ruth

Homage to Vermin

No blogs for the last while; this is mostly due to the fact that we've been busy for the last few weeks, and mostly staying overnight at trailheads in Arizona, far away from civilisation and internet connections.

Our time in Arizona has been divided between two places - Jack's Canyon, and 'The Pit' (a.k.a. 'Petite Verdon', which sounds a lot nicer). Both places are actually really beautiful limestone gorges, surrounded by pine forest and at an altitude of around 7,000 ft, either on high plains or in the mountains around Flagstaff.

Its been bitterly cold at night with temperatures down to -7C. But, the sun is so strong that when it hits the crags it's been T-shirt weather by 10am each day; or, "sun's out, guns out" weather as the locals say.

The cliffs are really nice in Arizona. Perhaps not world class, but as I've started to say a lot on this trip: "If these cliffs were in the UK they'd be the best...". You get the message.

Ruth and I have been climbing until our arms drop off most days, and the extra altitude in Arizona has definitely been helping on that front. So, we are starting to get fitter, which is very satisfying.

Most of the climbs in Arizona tend to be quite steep, and very powerful. One in particular that I was really pleased to get up is a pocketed wall called 'Energiser' at The Pit. I didn't quite get up it first go, and fell off a few metres from the top, which sounds quite impressive until you realise that the whole route is only 12m high. The reason I'm so pleased to have eventually climbed it, is that it was first put up by John 'Vermin' Sherman.

Climbing historians, those that know their climbing literature, and bouldering dweebs will all recognise the name 'Vermin' - he is a famous American climber, writer and photographer. Vermin was a bit of a teenage idol of mine back in the day, so it was great to do one of his routes.

The route Energiser is everything it should have been given its originator - a grossly undercut start, the first hold an undercut above your head, powerful and aggressive, with big dynamic moves all the way to chains. A perfect problem.

Vermin = Genius.

If any of you ever get the chance, and have the inclination, 'Energiser' is a fantastic little challenge, which is sure to amuse.

We are in Red Rocks now and racking the routes up. Eight days 'on' in a row, and a bit of a storm coming over mean it's a rest day today. We'll write another blog soon.

Innes

Now we are in Flagstaff, Arizona. It took all day to drive here from Joshua Tree, but the novelty of driving in America kept us entertained. Driving in the US isn't really like driving at all - the roads are almost entirely straight and empty, so you don't have to do much. The landscape is pretty empty as well. At one point we drove for 100 miles without seeing anything apart from arid desert. There were no signs of human habitation at all. The towns also take a bit of getting used to - I don't think I really understood what people meant by sprawling suburbia entirely dependent on car ownership until I saw it. I don't think I have seen a building that has more than one storey since we left Los Angeles.

We've spent the last three days climbing at a place called Jacks Canyon quite close to Flagstaff. It is steep well-bolted limestone in a very pretty gorge. There is still quite a lot of snow on the ground, which surprised me, although the weather is getting warmer every day. It's cold at night because Flagstaff is on a plateau at about 7,000 feet. We camped at the top of the canyon - a very quiet spot with no facilities.

Today we planned to have a rest day as we were exhausted from the steep limestone. Just as well because the exhaust fell off our RV, puncturing a tyre in the process (the breakdown cover now seems like dollars well spent). We've sorted both these things out with not too much expense but it's taken most of the day.

Next we are headed to another limestone venue called "The Pit" which is just outside Flagstaff. We plan to stay there for a few days before heading to Red Rocks near Las VEgas at the beginning of next week.

Ruth