With Veteran’s Day landing on Hump Day, three friends and I headed up to Shuteye Ridge for a 24 hour blitz. Rain and possible snow were forecasted (although not much materialized from it all) so we didn’t expect blue skies and sunshine.

This picture shows the Balls and the high Sierra above what we think is haze from a controlled burn. However, the skies were sort of icy all day, with high clouds being the norm.
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On the hike in, you just can’t pass up hopping on a boulder or two (or three or four), even if you’re not into that sort of thing. It offers a nice break from the hike in.
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Of course two of our group were late showing up (stuck at Starbucks) so I had to leave directions on the back of my truck. It worked. Notice the map on the bumper. They ended up buying us pizza and beer later that evening so I’m glad they caught up with us.
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One route we put up climbed a fun arête. Nothing hard, but the rock was great. Void of knobs, we used cams and bolts. This is my nephew following the first ascent of The Rainbow Oyster 5.7.
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Here is my nephew doing the short second pitch to Edge of Sleep 5.7. Another first ascent. It wanders all over the wall, threading through a sea of knobs.
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This is my favorite picture of the bunch and shows the true beauty of Shuteye. He is following the first pitch of Edge of Sleep.
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Matt Geyer cruising up Sleepwalker 5.8 (anyone know who did the FA?). This was the first route on the wall. It was marked with a bolt near the base. We did a variation with just a nut.
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Here I am (next two pictures below) doing the FA of Edge of Sleep. The rock on the upper slab is highly featured and just blows your mind. Too bad it wasn’t steeper.
One route (Cosmic Rodeo 5.7) required one nut and slings only for a full 130’. All you had to do was lasso knobs. Glad I read Munge’s thread on slinging knobs AFTER we got back. You can turn this route into a sport route if you sling enough knobs. There are so many, I bet you could tie off at least 15 bomber ones. Any maybe only half would break?!? Safety in numbers.
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This is my nephew following me on the FA of Sunset Shamen 5.8, which climbs a water groove. Great lieback moves.
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And of course no Shuteye trip is complete without a radical sunset picture. Not bad for 7 hours of climbing on a short, California winter day mid-week. When I got back to work on Thursday I kept thinking it was a Monday. Shuteye wiped the slate clean. It has a way of doing that.
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Hope you enjoyed the views.

NOTE: This was in the forum. I moved it over to Trip Reports for reference. Sorry the kind posts didn't move over with it! I find TRs helpful, especially when planning trips. Hope this inspires you to get out there.