cool. Yeah, this was a last minute decision to just go for it after the original group plans lost critical mass.
Trip Report...
A 4am start. Yep, great idea. That will give me enough time to drive, hike in, check out potential lines, and maybe, just maybe do a nice little slab on the right side of the formation.
1am, morning of, wide awake. Change alarm to 5am.
3am, wake from sleep on couch, go upstairs, lie down.
5am. alarm. gah
5:20am get moving throw stuff in truck, half asleep. Double check to make sure I have essentials. Beer, shoes, chalkbag, chapstick, sunscreen, hat, approach shoes, some food, and sunglasses. Good enough.
Morgan Hill. Stomach growls, caffeine calls. Stop.
Hwy 152 starting to wake up. Not much traffic at this time of morning. Make good time.
Gas up in Madera. Use Drive Here app, and get pulled into a back way on Auberry road which seems to cut the 168 loop out nicely. But there are a lot of cyclists in the central valley pre-heat morning. attention is key.
The road to Shaver and up to Wishon is all paved, but long and winding. Eventually rock comes into view...
likely untouched problems...
I get a little turned around near the Rancheria TH. But eventually drive past Elderberry bushes to the gate on the Western slope of Hoffman. In 2008, Brutus, Nurse Ratchet and I made a long weekend happen establishing Burninator.
Such a good time. Great memories.
A slow pack of the bag, clothing choice, footwear choice, and a look at the 7.5 minute map I picked up at the Prather Ranger station, and I'm off like a heard of turtles. Relatively cruiser FS road elevation changes take me to road's end at a lovely meadow with a striking stone set in the middle. The meadow is filled with orange and black butterflies flitting about from flower to flower doing whatever it is that they do with pollen.
From here, I think it's about a half mile to a mile cross country to the approach trail that was established many years prior by the Woodchuck Dumbclucks, a wild and nefarious bunch of First Ascenders who put up many of the first routes on the big South Face.
As I break through the forest, the main formation comes into view.
Amazing in it's color, as well as texture. The routes here are high quality affairs that in the interest of time, often take advantage of natural protection of the chickenheads, and yet also have bolt protection as needed since the majority of the climbing is on face features. Aside from Morningstar Chimney and the Leversee route, most climbs utilize predominantly face features for ascent.
The 8400 or so foot elevation and the Rim Fire air conditions grind me down in the direct sunlight of the south face approach. It's almost 1:30 or so and I haven't eaten much, and in the excitement I've neglected to drink as much as I should. Typical.
I'm also eyeballing the crag like its the first time there. Everything looks soooo climbable. It's hard not to want to look thru the binos at every square inch. I've already scoped out the next lines I want to do and I'm looking at working my way right to left in the next year. Today though I look for a start to an easy line. I've been thinking about the features and what I wasn't or was willing to do this far in the front country. But as I get the base and fuel up and recharge, the obvious choice is a bottom to top "LFC" (left facing corner). The only concern is a headwall at the top. There are ample options to escape right, but doubt exists with whether I'll make the line go as I want.
The climbing looks relatively easy and ripe for someone averse to a ton of risk, like myself. I tell myself, that I can just "Croft" it. Which means, not that I'll send without question, but rather I have a measured approach. Anything I go up, I should be able to downclimb. Not that Peter ever said that expressly, but it's certainly implied in other things he's said in interviews. I can only imagine that Peter has already been out here. But if he has, he was kind enough to let me bag the First Recorded Ascent.
I load up the pack on my back thinking that I'll walk down the opposite, West, side and check opportunities there on the way out. Up I go. About 100' up or so, I get a nice ledge to wiggle my toes, and take a couple pics..
looking down...
looking up...
The upper headwall is still steep, but options still exist despite the fact that some spots of the corner are fairly large and do not permit an easy step right.
In one section down low, despite the chossy look, the rock is amazing in color and solidity.
The shadows are starting to move faster. I'm at the base of the headwall and letting my eyes adjust to what was just a shadowy wall looking up into the sun until now. The features look good. Pancake flakes with chickenheads yield a perfect topper to a couple of great pitches of climbing.
Above the headwall, some low angle slabs with loose granite make up the final 50' to the summit trail. From here I change shoes, and take it in.
Finger Rock to the East with more great climbing
To the north Courtright Reservoir invites with it's huge reserve of water. Behind that, Dogtooth Peak. Another objective.
To the south, the prime objective in the region. The Obelisk.
Completely satisfied with hitting the summit, I plan my descent to avoid dropping down and having to rehike the uphill back thru the meadow and the last mile of the road. I head west and down a ridge to join the road further down. This might make for a good approach and alternate camp site, except that water sources are scarce. Perhaps a direct climbers trail could be established with minimal elevation gain or loss.
Hitting the dirt road I finish my last beer and target some Elderberry bushes in the hopes of adding them to pancakes this weekend. 2lbs later, I load up and head home stopping at McKinley grove of Giant Sequoias.
Again, the winding road out is somewhat tedious, but I'm rewarded with a glorious sunset from the Rim Fire haze as I drop down the grade below Shaver Lake.
I take a wrong turn into the town of Auberry trying to retrace the route in. In the last light of the setting sun I reverse my path and just take 168 back out.
The Rejuvenator 5.4*** Probably 2 long pitches. So named for the great day I had there, and how a great day in the Sierra can bring you back to full power when life gives you the little things that can really irritate beyond their real importance.
