High Sierras Peak Bagging

Yes that's right, the real deal!

Getting bored of the limited sport climbing or bouldering the Bay area has to offer over the hot summer months, I decided to take up an offer from a friend and sample the more famous climbing in Yosemite Valley, or Tuolumne Meadows to be precise.

View of Echo Lake from the middle of the climb

Yosemite Valley, or just the 'Valley' as its popularly known, is a world class destination for big wall and traditional 'trad' climbing. While I'm not a traddie by any means, I've been curious to check out the climbing in the valley. Climbing feats on El Capitan is the stuff of legends, and have inspired climbers and ordinary people alike for generations.

During the summer, the Valley is quite hot (highs in the 100s), so we decided to set our ambitions on climbing at Tuolumne Meadows which 3000 ft higher, at 9000 ft is a pleasant summer destination. At about 4.5 hrs from San Francisco its a doable drive for the weekend. While I have enjoyed the scenic drive through Tioga Pass - which cuts right thru the heart of Tuolumne many a times on the way to climbing in the Eastern Sierras at Bishop - I had actually never stopped yet for any adventures in Tuolumne itself.

So this past weekend Sean and I got the typical early climber's start (butt-crack in the morning at 6 am). Early, but definitely not bright after staying out too late the previous night. We picked up food on the way in Oakdale and made good time to reach Tuolumne at about 11.30. Our plan for the day was to climb Cathedral Peak. A 5 star classic climb and one of the '50 Classic Climbs of North America'. A description of the route at Super Topo http://www.supertopo.com/rockclimbing/route.html?r=tucasout:

"Cathedral Peak is one of the most aesthetic routes in Tuolumne. The climb consists of five pitches of easy and moderate crack and face climbing on perfect rock. The first few pitches are on low angle terrain that gradually steepens and becomes more difficult. Because of its quality and moderate grade, this is one of the most crowded routes in Yosemite. Luckily there are a number of variations if you need to pass a party."

So after hiding our food in bear shelters (didn't want Sean's car to be explored by hungry bears!), we huffed our way through a long 1.5 hr long approach hike to reach the base of the peak at about 2 pm.

Yes, the approach is almost over, about to reach the base of the route. Cathedral is surreal looking fin-like sharp granite monolith. I've never seen so much granite in my life as in the high Sierras!

Owing to the long nature of this route at 700 feet, most folks embark on the climb early morning. Owing to our late start we lucked out by having the route mostly to ourselves, except for a party slugging away a couple of pitches up the climb. The only worrisome part was the weather....cloudy skies with thunder in the distance. While the safest option would have been to bail, we took our chances and decided to climb on, however quietly decided that Sean would take the lead climber's role. With his greater experience with trad climbing, we were assured of a fast passage up. We managed to keep the thunder and after about 4.5 pitches of moderate slab and face climbing, made it to the top about 4.30 or so. Unremarkable descent, sore knees from the long hike back, but a raging thirst for a chilled celebratory brew!

Belaying from pitch 2

Lunch at the top was most delicious!

Despite hazy skies, here's Half Dome in the distance.

A dreamy sunset marking the descent back to the trailhead

Memorial Day Trip to Bishop CA

Quick weekend trip to Bishop with my friend Yen. We were not terribly productive given the rainy weekend, however we had a great time with the few bouldering problems we tried, as well enjoyed generally cooking and slacking around the campsite ! A few photos:The master chef at work
Topping out on a morning warmup

One of the 'strong' kids on Evilution

Working Go Granny Go

On another warmup in the morning

My Dad, the Globetrotter!

So my dad is off on a wild trip indeed - to the exotic, beautiful, remote and COLD land of Antarctica this winter. He leaves in about a week's time for an entire summer (the seasons get reverse up there), about 3.5 months worth of stay. Pretty proud of him we all are, not to mention just a little nervous given that Antarctica is a little more than just another trip overseas. But hey, I'll shut up about it and let the man himself fill you in. Check his diary out at http://himalayanadventurer.blogspot.com. Wish him luck thru the next week of crazy prepwork.

Kathak with Tap Dancing!

Last month my friend Disha was kind enough to invite me to an amazing dance event called India Jazz Progressions. (More info can be found at www.kathak.org) Quite one of its kind, this performance consisted of an amazing 'jugalbandi', or fusion of sorts between Kathak, a very traditional North Indian dance form, and tap dancing, a fairly modern American style of dance. A little disbelieving that such different schools of dance could blend well, I decided to trust in my friend's smart taste and went along with some friends to see this performance.

I was blown away! There was such fantastic rhythm created between the metal tap dancing shoes and the ghunghroos (ankle bells) worn by the kathak dancers. The duets and solos showed amazing synhcronicity. Who would have ever thought? I'll definitely be in line for a ticket the next time this show comes to town. Here's to more such creative collaborations in the future!

Brush with Celebrity

About a month ago, the climbing movie King Lines premiered in San Francisco. The movie is incredible...the most slick, inspiring climbing footage I have seen yet. It's all about Chris Sharma though, which does get a little monotonous. I was lucky to actually win a prize during the intros before the movie actually started. The MC asked for Sharma's middle name. Before anybody had a chance to react, I leapt up and shouted out " OMPRAKASH!!" Dunno, if anybody else knew the answer, but I didn't get them a chance :) Chris Sharma was named by a Hindu Guru that his (hippie, and obviously enchanted with the mystic Orient) folks paid obeisance to in Santa Cruz, CA. More in Chris Sharma My friends are always surprised that the name Sharma is as common in India as the name Smith is in the USA. Anyways, I got a copy of the King Lines DVD and a yr long subscription to Urban Climber magazine for my efforts :) I also had a great idea for the 2nd event - doing a funny Sharma impersonation. But I thought I had had my share of limelight for the evening. Anyways later, my friend Tahnee was kind enough to shoot a pic of me with Sharma as he was signing a poster for me.

Talking of celebs...I managed to hang out, and watch some big guns climb at the RocTrip recently. More on that later.

The UN in rural Kentucky

That's right. During my week-long stay at the Red, I met climbers from Spain, Italy, the UK, Australia, Sweden, Phillipines, France and ofcourse from all over the US and Canada. Everybody who came was wowed. Including yours truly. Despite my limited experience with climbing destinations, I think I concur with climbing authorities such as Jens (owner of climbing megasite http://8a.nu) that the Red may simply be the best sport-climbing destination in the world. True the weather can be fickle, and rest-days are about waiting for the next climbing day. However if perfect diverse sport-routes, in all grades (from 5.8 - 5.14) are what you are looking for, then the Red's hard to beat. The New River Gorge comes close (given my bias towards the New), however I'm forced to admit that the Red is a more fun destination after all. My next entry will be a detailed trip report.

Jonesing for those pumpfests

So its Thursday morning...Mike and I fly out tomorrow night to Kentucky to climb at the Red River Gorge. Its going to be a long trip...red eye flight. Layover somewhere in the South, fly into Dayton, OH around 10 am Saturday...then drive 3 hrs to the Red River Gorge. But I'm sure not complaining, only too happy to escape out of silicon valley, to a familiar loved haunt in the South-East. I was talking to some friend last night and mentioned how strange it felt that a quick road-trip that I'd make on a whim when I lived in Charlotte, now took a few months of planning.

The rock climbing routes at the Red are long, overhung and pumpy (forearm lactic acid inducing). You fall not because you can't technically do a move, but you get really exhausted...sometimes to the point that your fingers do not close around the next hold. This pic taken of the Motherlode crag gives you an idea of how steep the routes can be. Stay tuned for more pics and stories of some pumpfests!


Last night I stayed back in South Bay and visited Planet Granite after a while. I would have gladly bouldered (since that is so awesome there) but I was lucky to run into my friend Andreas and got a partner to lead-climb with. All the routes at PG are hard! I got my ass-kicked on 11s and and a 12a. Mission Cliffs routes are definitely easier, I'd say by a full letter grade.

I'm in a work training class right now and better start paying attention.