South Face trip report:
We got a late start and I drove the whole way up. We got to sleep
maybe around midnight, but were planning on waking at 4am. I had the
biggest anxiety attack that night and couldn't sleep at all. I paced
and thought and sweat bullets the whole night worrying. We hiked in the
next morning; the plan was to spend two days on the wall. We were the
first to hike up, but there was another party with fixed ropes up four
pitches, and another with fixed ropes up 2 pitches. The lower party was
very slow, even compared to us, and we were stuck behind them most of
the day. Carl lead the first pitch which went free at 5.8. It was a
messy corner, but he handled it well after working up the courage. We
had to wait at the base of the second pitch for quite a while. There was
a nice big ledge. A british guy was soloing up behind us. I was meant
to lead the 2nd pitch. I had got 5 or 6 moves up a perfectly easy crack
when my sleep deprivation caught up with me. I was on the edge
physically and emotionally and was just freaking out. My brain wasn't
working, and neither were my limbs. I came back down in shame and Carl
led the rest. We waited a long time at the top of the second pitch as
well. Then Carl lead the third pitch which had some free bits. I hauled
on the third pitch, one of the dirtiest and rockiest of the climb, and
learned what a drag (literally) hauling can be. Dinner ledge is at the
top of the 3rd pitch, so that is where we left our haul bag. We had to
wait at this ledge for more than 2 hours. Scott lead the next pitch,
which starts out free and then goes into the Kor roof. He had to wait at
each placement for the party ahead of us; perhaps he was a bit hasty
getting off the ground. Scott opted not to stop at the intermediate
anchor and joined the crowd at the top of the pitch where a person or
two, plus two full haul bags were waiting as well. Carl cleaned the
roof, a task more difficult than leading it. He got caught in the wind
and went spinning about under the roof. Cleaning it was epic; in his
struggling he had a bolt pop out on him!!! Finishing the fifth pitch
that night had been our goal, but it was getting dark, and we still had
the slow party to contend with. We claimed the best spot on Dinner
ledge, ate dinner, and went to sleep. We were sharing the ledge that
night with two German guys, and the three guys in the slow party (two of
which opted to sleep on a portaledge). The next morning I jumared up to
the top of the fourth pitch. Scott jumared up behind me and lead half a
pitch, a traverse, before fixing lines for Carl. I had a bit of a time
cleaning the traverse, but made it in the end. Carl jugged up to join
us there and Scott lead the second half of the 5th pitch. Carl lead the
nice clean crack of the 6th pitch, which was to be our last
pitch, and I cleaned it, learning along the way how to clean weighted
nuts without a wall hammer. We knew by this hour that we couldn't make
it to the top without an epic, so why not get an early start home. We
rapped down, but the third pitch ate Carl's rope; it is a very diry
pitch with lots of corners to get stuck in. We rapped a fixed line down
the first pitch to join Scott, who'd been rapping ahead of us with the
haul bag. We'd retrieved a stuck rope belonging to another party so we
had enough ropes to do this. We had pizza in Curry village with the
owner of the retreived rope, and then headed home.