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phylp
Trad climber
Millbrae, CA
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Aug 20, 2012 - 02:32pm PT
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phylp person obviously is out of touch with modern San Francisco 'scene
Oh, Vitaliy, you are completely correct! I'm really too old to be giving anybody dating advice. But you've spent a lot of time on the east side now. Have you noticed how many of the guys over there have the thinning hair/long scraggly pony-tail thing going on? Not a great look. Just sayin...
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Impaler
Social climber
Berkeley
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Aug 20, 2012 - 03:06pm PT
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Thanks Roadie! That was fun to read. I though the whole route was pretty mellow and secure and would be a nice solo. EXCEPT, of course, for that damn flake somewhere around pitch 1-2. I climbed the route in June and clearly remember not wanting to even touch it since it looked WAY loose. I'm pretty sure that was the crux for me. 5.10+ friction moves to dance around that thing, reachy, with gear below my feet (didn't want to plug anything behind that flake). That's a good reason why I'd never solo this one. It's probably ok to pull on, but I would really not want to trust my life to it. I would much rather solo the Harding route on Keeler. That's a lot more secure all the way through (-:
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crusher
climber
Santa Monica, CA
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Aug 20, 2012 - 04:39pm PT
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Roadie you are funny and I'm enjoying your TRs. The one about The Hulk had me spitting out my coffee.
I will agree that the Pine Creek trail is a b*(^*). I bonked pretty hard getting to Pine Lake last time we hiked up there which surprised me. Husband kept telling me beforehand that he remembered the hike as being no biggy. We were in fine shape but so much for memory, he was a lot younger when he did it last and plus we live at sea level, so...
The marmot description reminds me of one early October we were up in the Golden Trout Wilderness, hiking around the Cottonwood Lakes area below Mt. Langley - there's a big meadow there and it was the most bizarre scene - it was full of romping marmots. I can't describe it any other way - it was a like a HERD of marmots, or a very big family. Running around like dogs at play. Maybe it was a quick, last minute gathering (of food or a party, I don't know) before winter hit but it was pretty amusing and kind of surreal.
As for the girlfriend - go easy on the tats and piercings!
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dmalloy
Trad climber
eastside
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Aug 20, 2012 - 06:12pm PT
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^^^ - We also saw a "herd" of marmots around the Cottonwood Lakes when we were up there 4 or 5 years ago, after passing by 4 deer on the trail up. Shortly thereafter, we saw a mountain lion, which I would assume was both fat and happy.
And while Pine Creek is a tough walk, save the "toughest trailhead" awards until you have walked up Taboose or Shepherd. Beautiful piece of rock, nice work up there.
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Vitaliy M.
Mountain climber
San Francisco
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Aug 20, 2012 - 06:26pm PT
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Shepherd eh? How about George Creek?!
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cultureshock
Trad climber
Mountain View
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Aug 20, 2012 - 06:40pm PT
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Vlad,
We trundled some loose stuff on the early pitches of the NB back in July.
That one block may be gone but there were plenty of scary blocks on the rest of the route. I guess none of them were actively loose...
We also cleaned some rock from the Croft-Rands left route. It's really clean and the gem of Merriam. More people should do that route! Much better rock than the North Buttress and stellar climbing! At some point I'll have to go back to try the right croft route...
We were pretty psyched for cloud cover on the approach. Heinous switchbacks!
 Luke
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Impaler
Social climber
Berkeley
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Aug 20, 2012 - 07:54pm PT
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Luke, WOW! What did it take to trundle that thing? I think you'd remember which block I'm talking about. It's on the 2nd pitch, but was on 1st for us as we were linking pitches. Shield-sized flake about 1x2 feet. Jug on top of it, good side pull on either side. It was in a section of finger crack that otherwise didn't have a lot of features (not just sitting on a ledge). I asked my partner, who was following to give it a good tug, but it didn't go.
Two days later we were approaching to do the Croft-Rands right and got to the beginning right as Vitaliy and partner were screwing around placing gear behind that thing (-: Had to hide under a small roof for a few minutes waiting for the leader to get through that section... and we thought we were done with that flake.
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Roadie
Trad climber
Bishop, Ca
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 20, 2012 - 08:48pm PT
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The marmots up there are more like a gang, or a Mexican cartel. I'm not kidding.
I remain tat free and umperforated , thanks for the good advice, Roadie
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cultureshock
Trad climber
Mountain View
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Aug 21, 2012 - 04:15pm PT
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Perhaps your block is still there. There was one that moved but I couldn't' yard it out for the life of me. Seemed pretty well stuck despite being large and semi-mobile.
There was a barely attached one less than 5 feet above the "shield" that came out pretty easily. We were psyched the party above us didn't drop it. I would say the shield is good for a little while...
I thought the craziest block was the huge fin sticking out on the pitch before the crux. That thing was crazy and like 10 feet tall! I was nervous climbing over it but it was pretty well wedged...
Luke
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Roadie
Trad climber
Bishop, Ca
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 22, 2012 - 11:45am PT
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Its still there. I think coming from Utah I might have a slightly different idea of what ’loose’ is.
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fsck
climber
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Aug 22, 2012 - 01:43pm PT
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great tr, roadie. hope to see more of your writing here.
btw, we crossed paths on Infared one day a few years back. you were climbing with a red haired lady.
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Joe
Social climber
Santa Cruz
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Aug 22, 2012 - 02:18pm PT
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Vitaliy M.
Mountain climber
San Francisco
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Aug 23, 2012 - 03:07pm PT
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Vitaliy and partner were screwing around placing gear behind that thing
I know exactly which block you were talking about. I would call it a flake. It was my partner's lead, and as I remember he placed a #1 in a crack on the left and tried not to touch that thing at all after exclaiming "that thing is moving!" He did not put a cam behind the flake. I thought the flake was solid if you grab it higher up, rather than on it's end (where it was mobile). I do not think it needs to be moved. It is an alpine climb and climbers should expect to be cautious grabbing flakes etc.
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Don Lauria
Trad climber
Bishop, CA
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Aug 23, 2012 - 03:43pm PT
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Got to agree. "The Pine Creek trail is the most brutal trail in the whole eastern Sierra." Just got back from 5 day backpack over Piute Pass with 4 days of rain and out down the Pine Creek trail. It is the worst eastern Sierra pass trail - bar none. I been in and out on it many times and it just gets worse. Of course, I just keep getting older.
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Don Lauria
Trad climber
Bishop, CA
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Aug 23, 2012 - 04:07pm PT
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Malloy, you wuss! Taboose, Sawmill, Baxter, and Shepherd are long trails with lots of elevation gain, but they're not as debilitating as Pine Creek's switchbacks. The hardest part of Taboose is the road!
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McHale's Navy
Trad climber
Panorama City, California & living in Seattle
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I was there this fall after wanting to see the Buttress and left my mark as the small pile O rocks - Pikas' probably turned it into a base camp. Been down Pine Creek Trail twice now but never up it! Heavy to solo something like that!
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drljefe
climber
El Presidio San Augustin del Tucson
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I enjoyed your story Roadie!
Looks beautiful up there.
Thanks!
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brat
climber
El Portal
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Man, the Pine Creek Pass Trail is harsh, but it doesn't compare to George Creek down south.
Though I think my hardest day of trail marching in the Sierra was up and over Blackrock Pass from the westside to get into Big Arroyo by the Kaweahs. Holy crap that is a lot of sunny switchbacks.
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tom Carter
Social climber
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Nice job. Cool not knowing.
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ryankelly
Trad climber
Bhumi
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bump for a fun summer read in the winter
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