By: Zee van Zyl
When an opportunity like this comes along you grab it with both hands.
I was sitting in Virginia talking about climbing with my father who suggested I go look at the climbing in the Appalachian Mountains to which I replied that, if I had to go on a climbing trip in the USA, there would only be one place I would go to, Yosemite.
Now there were a few things that I needed to make this happen. The flight to San Francisco was easily booked online but I needed someone to climb with. I immediately called Daniel, an American I met in Cape Town, who went on a trip with me to Namibia where we climbed to the summit of Spitzkoppe. Unfortunately he had prior work arrangements and could not take time off, but suggested I chat to a climbing friend of his in San Francisco who might be interested. And so it was that I was introduced to Xunshan Ding who was as excited as I was to go climbing in Yosemite. A few problems though. Xunshan was more of a boulderer, he had done some sport climbing and owned a rope and a set of quickdraws, but he had no multi-pitch and no trad climbing experience. On top of this we had no trad gear as my rack was back in South Africa, although I did have my shoes, harness and chalk bag. Not enough for the big walls of Yosemite. Well, at least not for me. After some discussion, Xunshan assured me he would buy the gear we needed as soon as I arrived in San Francisco. He was that committed to becoming a trad climber if I would, literally, show him the ropes.
After 7.5 hours of flying I landed in San Francisco on Monday afternoon. I met Xunshan outside, and after the “how are you’s” and the “nice to meet you’s” we were off to the outdoor shop REI to get the gear we needed. I didn’t want to make it too expensive for him so I chose just enough gear to get us through the week we would spend in the valley and get him started as a trad climber. And so I picked out 1 set of nuts, a nut scratcher, 12 cams from size 00 to size 3, 12 snap gate carabiners, 10 slings, a bandolier, a 10.5 X 60m rope, some prussic cord and hand tape. The cost was almost $1500.
The next morning we quickly packed the car and were off. We got out of the city and onto the 120 east which would take us, in about 4 hours, all the way to the Yosemite National Park. We did have a short stop at Walmart on the way to get the rest of the things we needed. I was buzzing with anticipation as we got to the entrance of the park. We paid our $10 each and made our way down through the huge pine trees toward the valley. I was constantly looking through the gaps in the trees hoping to get that first glimpse of the rocks we had come to climb. We rounded a corner and there they were.
I was almost out of the car before it stopped, snapping away with my camera like a possessed tourist at Half Dome which stood far away at the end of the valley.
On the left of the valley I could just make out the top of El Capitan. We continued on down the road, through a few stone tunnels, and eventually we were on the valley floor. Elevation 4000 ft. We parked underneath the towering monolith of El Cap, Its vertical granite walls rising 3000 ft straight up from the valley floor. I was filled with so much emotion that I could not control myself, and driving away with tears streaming down my face, I felt so privileged to be in that place. It was truly a dream come true.
We had booked the first night at the Upper Pines Campground. After setting up camp we spent the rest of the evening chatting to the locals next door and drinking beer around the fire. We didn’t get much sleep because the rangers spent most of the night shooting off their noisemakers to try and scare the bears away. We lay in our sleeping bags, our only security the thin walls of our tents, listening to people shouting and banging pots till the early hours of the morning. And a bear still walked right past my tent. He spent some time sniffing around, but luckily for me, didn’t feel like eating Capetonian take-out that evening.
We were up, as planned, at 6am the next morning. We packed up, and made our way to stand in line so we could get our spot at the famous Camp 4. It is a walk-in campground and you can’t reserve a spot. You have to stand in line, for a few hours, and try not to upset the ranger who runs the campground. She is very strict and is quietly referred to as the ‘Camp 4 witch’. She’s not that bad, and Camp 4 is, in my opinion, the best campground in the valley. It is where all the climbers stay. The tourists and families with noisy kids all stay in the other campgrounds. By 9am we had our spot. We set up our tents, packed all our food and toiletries into the bear proof box and made our way to do our first climb.
The Nutcracker is a 6 pitch 5.8 route on the Manure Pile Buttress. Feeling confident, I decided to try the alternate start graded at 5.9. The climb started with a beautiful finger crack running up the granite wall. The rest of the route was a mix of smearing, jamming and laybacks till the top of the buttress. This was my first experience with Yosemite grading and I was in for a shock. As with most climbs in the valley you can immediately add at least 3 grades onto any climb established before the 1990’s. At first I thought I was out of practice, but the same was said by the other climbers I met in Camp 4 as well as the guys working in the mountain shop at Curry village. Xunshan followed me on every pitch of the climb. I showed him how to remove gear from the wall, how to set up belays and keep the ropes neat. He was a quick learner and later that evening I took him to the Swan Slab, which is a 5 min walk from Camp 4, to learn how to place gear in the wall. We were going to climb Snake Dike on the SW face of Half Dome the next day and I wanted him to be ready.
We got to sleep around 11pm and were up again at 3am. We had some coffee and breakfast as quiet as we could, so as not to wake the campers around us, and at 4am we were off. After parking the car at Curry Village, we loaded ourselves with the gear and walked to the nature centre at Happy Isles where we found the start of the trail. It was a beautiful morning, perfect weather with just the sound of the river below us and the tall pine trees beside us, guiding us as we slowly snaked our way up the trail. At the junction where the trail splits, you have a choice of either the Muir Trail to the right or the Mist Trail to the left. The Muir Trail is easier but longer, whereas the scenic Mist Trail is shorter but steeper and passes below and up next to Vernal and Nevada falls. Both trails meet again at the top of Nevada falls. We wanted the better views and so decided on the Mist trail, after all it was only 1.6 miles to the top.
It was absolutely gorgeous but steeper than we expected. Winding our way up the gorge step after step, our packs digging into our shoulders, we could not help but take a lot of breaks. With only 4 hours of sleep and with all the gear and water we had, it took us a long time to get to the top of the falls. Shortly after the top of Nevada falls we turned left off the tourist path and onto the climber’s path. This would take us up to the shoulder and to the base of the SW face. The path was not well marked and we had to do a bit of route finding here and there, mostly we were guided by the few stone cairns placed along the way by previous climbers. About 45 min along the climber’s path I heard Xunshan shout at me. Without stopping I turned my head and ask him what’s going on. “There’s a bear” he shouted, and as I turned my gaze back to the path I saw a huge brown bear about 10m ahead of me. As quick as I could I grabbed my camera and snapped off a shot but he had already turned away. “OY!” I shouted at him, and as he turned to look I was able to get a shot of his face. They look just like big teddy bears.
I guess he wasn’t hungry because once again he turned away and quickly disappeared into the trees.
On we went, up and up and up. There is a reason climbers call it Snake Hike, it just seems like you are never getting closer to the top. The path up the ridge is very sandy and you slip all the time. The heat was also so debilitating and we needed to make sure that we didn’t drink all our water while still staying hydrated.
Finally, after about 7 hours, we reached the base of the climb. We quickly geared up and I started up the first pitch, made a belay at the top and brought Xunshan up to me. The second pitch was an easy and short crack which I thought would be perfect for him to cut his teeth on, and with a bit of trepidation he grabbed the gear and set off on his first ever trad lead. He was a quick learner and did a great job in placing gear. He was a bit slow with setting up belay stations but it was to be expected. I lead the next two pitches and after that we alternated the lead all the way to the top of the climb. We didn’t have many problems along the way except for pitch 5 where I went slightly off route and had to down climb 5m with the only protection available 10m below me. It was a bit scary, but then again most of the climb has run-outs of approximately 30m with no protection.
Slipping on this climb was not an option as you would risk a slide of up to 60m down what is essentially a large cheese grater with your skin representing mature cheddar. Not a pretty thought.
After 8 pitches the guidebook says it’s an easy but long scramble to the top, in fact it says “3rd class slabs forever”, and they do mean forever. We were very tired and didn’t want to make a mistake so we set a belay every 60m and ran the rope through a carabiner, with no belay device, which allowed us to move a lot quicker. After 8 of those we packed up the gear and scrambled the final section to the top. We had made it to the summit, elevation 8836 ft. The view as you can imagine was incredible and we were so happy to have finally finished the climb. We took our summit photos, packed our gear away and after 10 minutes started our descent. It was 19H30 and the sun was already setting behind El Cap. It had taken us a little over 15 hours to summit and we still had to get all the way back down to the valley. Add to that the fact that we had finished all the water and I only had 250ml of ice tea left for the 6 hour walk back to the nearest water point. During our ascent I had a hard time getting Xunshan to sip water and not drink it, and so on the way down, I had to ration the supply and allowed ourselves to only take 1 sip each every hour.
Leaving the summit we first had to descend the cable staircase which in itself is a scary thing. Going down I could not believe that this was the route taken by tourists to the summit. It was scary. The rock is slick and the drop off to the left and right is enough to give you the fright of your life. One little slip and it will be at least 30 long seconds, if you are lucky, before you hit the ground below. At the bottom of the cables I found a pile of gloves lying on the rock, the only assistance that is given to help you ascend and descend this staircase from hell.
Getting back to the path was a bit tricky as there are no signs to show you the way. I knew there was a drop off to the left and the right so I kept us going down on the spine until finally we found the path, which was a huge relief as the sun had set and we had just started using our headlamps. For the next 6 hours all we could do was put one foot in front of the other, over and over again. Stumbling down through the trees with legs of jelly I kept thinking of the bear I had seen that morning, and so with a stick in hand I made as much noise as I could by hitting trees and logs along the way just to let them know that we were there. I had remembered reading somewhere that the worst thing to do was to surprise a bear.
By 12h30am we were back at the junction of the Muir and Mist trails at the top of Nevada falls. Not wanting to risk disaster we descended via the Muir Trail. It was longer but since it was the trail used by the rangers on horseback, which you can tell by the droppings, we knew it would be a lot easier and safer way for us to get down. An hour later we were at the water point, and after drinking our fill like 2 dehydrated camels, we stumbled back to the car, drove to Camp 4, threw some food down our throats and finally after 22 hours on the go, passed out in our tents where we slept like the dead.
We woke up around 10am the next day and had decided to take the day off. The day would be spent resting, showering and having a decent meal. While having breakfast we left our cell phones and camera batteries plugged in to charge at the Camp 4 toilets, which in itself was very strange for me as there is no way you would be able to do that in South Africa. To get to Curry village we used the valley’s own shuttle bus service which has about 21 stops at various locations. These busses are diesel hybrids and can be used for free which allows you to relax while moving around between the shops and the campground. Curry village is the best place to go as it has showers, at $5 per person, shops and restaurants. We even found a lounge that offers free wifi which is great if you have the patience to wait for it to connect. There is also a mountain shop that sells every kind of gear you would need for any climb in the valley.
Now you would expect everything in the valley to be more expensive, but on the contrary, all the prices at all the shops were the same as anywhere else and the food in the restaurants were sometimes cheaper than in San Francisco. The village store at Yosemite village has a bigger selection of fresh fruit and vegetables, meat and beer. For those who wish to eat out there are a number of deli’s and restaurants scattered around the valley. For those not there to climb there are bicycle or raft rentals, a museum, a gallery, an auditorium and theatre with various shows to keep you entertained on the days you are not hiking on one of the numerous trails.
The following day we were still tired and so went to try a small climb at the base of El Cap. Its name was Moby Dick and it looked like a good crack to climb. A single pitch 150 foot climb graded at 5.10a I was sure I would be able to get up, but with the knowledge of the grading in Yosemite I knew it would be harder than the guidebook said. And it was. The first crux is right at the start. A thin technical finger crack is followed by a sustained section of hand jamming. The second crux at the top is an off-width crack which was too big for the gear we had with us. You need a size 4 cam to protect this part and we only had a size 3.
After trying for a long time to get past this section I came down and Xunshan went up to have a look if he would have better luck. He didn’t. His hands and feet were smaller than mine and there was no way he could get anything jammed in the crack. Neither of us had climbed off-width cracks before and it was a technique we would have to work on. He came down and I went up again to try and retrieve the gear. Using the cams, I aided my way back down the crack until I reached a piton 10m below me. A quick abseil from a prussic I attached to it and I was back on the ground. Looking up at El Cap I felt like a cat with its scratch post, pathetically scratching at the base with one claw.
It was an early start again the next day, up at 4am and by 5am we were off to climb Royal Arches. Situated right behind the Ahwahnee hotel, it is a 5 star 15 pitch 5.7 A0 climb with 10 abseils to get back to the ground. Established in October 1936, it was at the time the longest climb in the valley. The route starts with an awkward chimney but then eases up with a few pitches of easy scrambling. Xunshan and I were alternating the pitches and then suddenly, on an easy 5.5, he slipped and fell about 5m. Pulling in the rope as fast as I could, his feet got caught and flipped him over backwards. He came to a stop 6 inches from the ledge and above him the nut he had just placed was firmly jammed in a crack. It was his second day of leading on trad and although his hand was ripped open and bleeding, we patched it up and off he went to finish the pitch.
The rest of the climb was good easy climbing with a mix of jamming, smearing and laybacks. I especially enjoyed the pendulum across a blank face to the top of pitch 9. The fall earlier on did slow Xunshan down a bit more and by the time we got to the abseil anchors at the top the sun was about to set on us again. Now we had to do 10 abseils in the dark and he had never done multiple abseils before. I ended up doing most of the rope work, but slowly and surely we got closer to the valley floor. It was a beautiful evening and our world was reduced to what we could see with our headlights. After a few hours we stepped off the rock and onto terra firma. Another epic, but this one only lasted 17 hours and the walk back to the car only took 5 minutes. We were back at Camp 4 in 10 min and after throwing some food down our throats again we were soon fast asleep in our tents.
We had planned a nice long route for our last day in the valley but the weather had other ideas. It was hot, Africa hot. We had hiked up to 5 Open Books, a crag just 20 min from camp, but we were sweating like crazy and the rock burned our hands after just 5 seconds. We retreated to the shade at Swan Slab, and cowering under a large oak tree we worked on some off-width cracks. The rest of the day was spent relaxing and catching up on emails to friends back home. I managed a bit of bouldering around Camp 4 when the sun went down and then spent a few hours chatting to our neighbors and drinking beer. It was a good way to end our last night in Yosemite Valley.
By 10am the next day we were packed and back on the road. Having stopped one more time under El Cap to say ‘good bye’ and ‘see you later’, we left the valley feeling content with what we had climbed that week. My flight back to Virginia was in 3 days, but since we were only allowed to stay in the valley for 7 days we had decided to visit a climbing area about 50 min away. Arriving in Tuolumne meadow, which is pronounced ‘Too-wa- lu-me’, it was a lot cooler.
Situated at 8.600 feet it is one of the largest high-elevation meadows in the Sierra Nevada. We got our campsite, set up our tents and again packed all our food and toiletries in the bear box. We didn’t have a guidebook for the area, but luckily for us our neighbors were climbers and had one they didn’t need anymore and so sold it to us. These guys were awesome, 4 Spaniards who had spent a month in Yosemite climbing all the big routes including the north face of Half Dome and the Nose on El Cap. Needless to say we stayed up late chatting about climbing, well at least we tried. Only one of them spoke English and we spoke no Spanish, but with an assortment of hand signals and body language we were able to keep the conversation going until it started raining and we all darted for our tents. We were told that it would be cooler in Tuolumne but this was ridiculous.
It was so cold during the night I thought I would wake up to a blanket of snow outside. Needless to say it took us a long time to get out of bed, and after breakfast and lots of coffee we packed our gear for the final time and left the campground.
We had chosen a 4 pitch route as our final climb and it was just what we needed. West Country is a 5 star 5.7 route on the Stately Pleasure Dome. You can almost belay the first pitch from the car and below us was the beautiful Tenaya Lake. The climb was a good mixture of slab, finger cracks and lay-backs with an easy scramble off the back to get down to the car.
I was content when we drove off for the final time along the 120 back to San Francisco. I still couldn’t believe I had just spent over a week of climbing in Yosemite, in fact I still can’t believe it.
It is truly one of those places where Mother Nature has outdone herself, and from the view of a climber there is no other place like it on earth. Driving out of the valley I had just one thought in my mind,
“I will be back”…
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