| Summary | |
| Owner | MITOC Gallery Administrator |
| Creation Date | 2007-06-13 01:00:07 UTC-0400 |
| Description | Polly Anikeeva Woody Hoburg Half Dome, Yosemite Valley, CA Snake Dike, 5.7R A 15 mile hike combined with 8 pitches of climbing mean we're allowed to hit the all you can eat buffet afterwards. That's really what motivated us to move fast. The runouts are long, but the climbing is secure (big juggy dikes). It's true, sometimes there's only one bolt between anchors. On one short pitch, there was no pro from leaving one anchor until getting to the next anchor. A few times Polly had belayed past halfway on the rope before any pro appeared. But, the climbing is easy so it's all just a head game. The scariest part we felt was actually the 3rd class slabs above where the book says the climb is over -- we stayed roped up for a few extra pitches because it felt a little steep and exposed to us. Oh yeah, I also forgot to mention the fire ants we encountered while getting lost on the approach. What a silly situation -- polly and I inside a bush, in a steep rock corner, with ants all over us, doing a combination dance, yell, thrash, and squirm out of the bush, up the rock, and back onto where we were supposed to be. Polly's comments: Sorry guys, I forgot my camera that day, so there's no pretty pictures of Woody on 100' runouts. Waterfalls, love them, just gorgeous. Pine cones in these woods are way huge, never seen anything like it. And in general, everything there felt so big - trees, rocks, pine cones... I felt like a little child lost in a fairytale forrest. Magic was everywhere. Back to reality, I had to run after Woody while he was walking, so I ended up doing a lot of trail-running that day. Snake Dike is like a natural ladder up the Half Dome, just amazing, and pretty freaky considering the exposure and amount of pro. But slabs on top were the worst, we stayed roped up for a while after the "official climb" was over. On the way back I had to run after Woody again, but my motivation was strong - "all you can eat" buffet in Curry vilage and shower, one more night of mac&cheese would have mentally destroyed me. |