| Summary | Dana's adventures :-) |
| Owner | Dana Sulas |
| Creation Date | 2009-08-17 00:43:59 UTC-0400 |
| Description | "This is my philosophy: I used to like climbing all this hard stuff that scares you, but now I'd really rather just float up the wall in zen and harmony." --Chris
...This summer, I met a boy who likes to float up rock faces. We did some "floating" in Yosemite valley, Lover's Leap in south Lake Tahoe, Mt. Diablo, Castle Rock, and Tuolumne. Every minute of it was the best moment of my life. Some highlights: Yosemite Valley -- I met Chris at the mountain store, we had a 15 minute conversation, and we decided to go on a 3-day trip to Yosemite together. He brought the food, I brought the tent, and I picked him up at his house at 4am to head out. Sketchy? Maybe. I didn't even know his last name or where he was from. We got a spot at camp4 and headed over to Swan Slabs for a couple 2-pitch climbs. It started to rain, and we spend the rest of the day riding the Yosemite bus in circles, watching a climbing movie, and hearing news of helicopters going after people who were slipping and sliding all over Half Dome. The next day we took a hike up to the base of El Cap, found an alcove with a fixed rope for swinging, and did a few more climbs over at Knobb Hill. Lover's Leap in South Lake Tahoe -- I randomly met some more climbers who invited me and Chris up to Lover's Leap for the weekend. The group turned out to be very strange and entertaining. Most of the entertainment came from a delightfully awkward boy named Eugene who was obsessed with strawberry pancakes and happened to witness many unusual things, such as bears mating in the trail. Chis and I climbed a couple routes on Hogback the first day, and the second day we went over to the East Wall, where we froze our butts off on the East Crack (the wall is in the shade basically all the time... I was convinced that we would both go hypothermic while it was like 100 degrees in the sun). After that we climbed a route named something like a Soda Pop Bottle Rocket (??). I made up a new name for it every 5 minutes, and Chris paid no mind and just went on singing songs about milkshakes bringing girls to the yard. Mt Dana -- It's my name, so I have to do it. Michael Crockett (a nerdy engineer from my work) and I took a walk up Mt Dana (in Tuolumne at Tioga Pass), camped right outside the park, went to Mammoth Lakes to check out Crystal Crag and visit the trail crew, had some famous pie served by a badass climber with a climbing cat named Norman Clyde, and wrapped up the trip by chilling in the hot springs. Tuolumne -- Good God, how fun. A friend from out east came to visit, so I took him hiking and skinny dipping in Tuolumne. He headed out, and I was joined by 4 manly fishermen, an ecstatically happy hippie climber (Jack), and Chris. Chris, Jack, and I started the day climbing a route on the Stately Pleasure Dome, which overlooks Tenaya lake. We resisted the urge to jump off the top into Tenaya Lake, and rather hiked down the dome and then indulged ourselves in the lake. We then got some icecream at the Tuolumne store and laid in Tuolumne meadows and admired the yellow flowers. We then climbed a rote on Lambert Dome, took and unnecessarily long hike down, and played some frisbee in Tuolumne meadows. The next day, Chris and I climbed Cathedral, which ends in a lightning rod summit about as big as a car. During the last 2 pitches, we listened to thunder and watched a big black storm head our way... Luckily, the storm kept it's distance, and we had a nice (barefoot) hike down. Because I lost my camera, I don't have many pictures... I'll be adding more as they are sent to me :-) |