Crest Jewel 5.10a

Our weekend began well with a great ascent of Half Dome (see trip Report from Nate)http://www.supertopo.com/tr/Regular-Northwest-Face-of-Half-Dome/t11583n.html. After a day of recovery, and more brownies we decided to test our skills on a little simul to face extravaganza on Sunday.

Neither Nate or I had really simul-climbed before, but we decided to simul-climb Royal Arches to get to the real prize, Creast Jewel. Neither of us had climbed either of the climbs before, and I had heard from another friend how run out Crest Jewel was. I was also a little worried about the July heat and sun for a fully exposed face climb. My right shoe was also developing some extra air-condition under the big toe (hole). The guy in the climbing shop said, 'ah, should be okay, go early', so we decided to give it a shot.

Our friend Dave was kind enough to drive us over in the pre-dawn calm. Smartly we scoped out the start the day before, so we walked up pre-racked, I slung half the rope over my shoulder and Nate started up (he's the chimney guy) on the first block.
He lead the first four pitches and turned the gear over at the begining of the 5.7 hand crack. All excited I started up, and regardless of what Nate says, I put in an acceptable amount of gear. A couple times I wasn't sure where to go, but between pin scars and chalk I made my way to the top of pitch 8 (just before the 10 face). This section was by far my favorite on Royal Arches. Great hand crack! What a joy!
Nate took the next block including the 10b rope swing. It seemed a little slippery to me, but alas, there is the rope swing just in case.
This section after the swing is a little discontinuous and he had to hunt around a bit to get to the next section. I took over lead again at the beginning of P14 and walked the slabs to the top.
We made it to the top by 8:30a, much faster than anticipated (2.5hr), and had a leisurely breakfast (bars). We then started the hike over to Crest Jewel, first along the rim trail than trending up along the big slab. The start was actually a lot easier to find than I expected!


We were racked up (10 draws and three cams) and ready to go by 9:30a. Nate lead out the first 5.9 pitch onto the smooth face.
I followed up and we swapped leads the rest of the route. This truly is a sensational climb.
There are just miles and miles of not-too-steep, just-sticky-enough, just bolded enough rock. It is very run out, but bolted in just the right spots. When you need a bolt it's there for you. Skip the gear.
The views are great all around the valley. Since we climbed Half Dome two days prior (and looked at North Dome for many hours), I couldn't resist a picture looking back across.
We noticed with one pitch to go that we could top out before noon, so we blitzed the last pitch in 4 minutes flat. We topped out at noon (11:58a actually). ...three hours ahead of my planned time.
As suggested by the climbing shop guy we (Nate) brought a second 8mm line and rapped both routes. We were back at camp enjoying a beer by 3p.

Monday, Nate and I headed out to Serenity Crack and Sons of Yesterday with our other friend Megan (almost a valley local). Nate got all the glory and lead the entirety of both climbs. They're so good!
Tuesday we headed back to the usual paper pushing of the office. Hmm... what a good weekend, and now I've replaced the Half Done topo on my work bulletin board with The Nose. H3