Yosemite Facelift (TR)

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bluering

Trad climber
Santa Clara, Ca.
Topic Author's Original Post - Oct 1, 2007 - 02:15pm PT
Bishop's Terrace (nice Russian gal, Paulina, who also plays some nice guitar)
Me on Bishop's Terrace
Me higher up on Bishop's Terrace
Murcy on pitch one of C.S. Concerto
Murcy again
Me cleaning after Murcy
Murcy and me back at the truck. The Volvo wagon behind Murcy belonged to none other than Royal Robbins. I thought he looked familiar so I went over and said hi. He was just coming off After Six with another guy he had taken up. Turns out Crimpy was climbing Nutcracker with Ed, that's her ride next to my truck. Small world!
Back at camp we run into Karl Baba and company. Left to right it's Diana (Karl's girlfrined), Karl Baba, Me, A. Crowley, Nita (hidden behind stzzo), and Stzzo.
Shooting the breeze in camp. Me, MisterE, and Andy w/guitar.
Out came the guitars! Me and Paganmonkeyboy at the table, Stzzo in the brown hat, Andy standing, and MisterE on drums.
Crimpy and Murcy.
My buddy Jeff who doesn't appear in too many pics because he was taking 'em all. Thanks Jeff!
Me and Paganmonkeyboy discussing something or other.
Saturday night Sushi!!!!!
Sunday morning coffee....then beer. That's the notorious Ablegable over my right shoulder. Kick ass!
Chilly morning around the fire.Standing around Crimpy are Fattrad, Crowley, Me, Crimpie (sitting) and Ed Hartouni discussing something that had nothing to do with politics...I swear. Jstan (w/hat) and MightyHiker (?) sitting at table looking on.


Feel free to add your own pics here too!

Edit: This has been edited to include names.
Prod

Social climber
Charlevoix, MI
Oct 1, 2007 - 02:24pm PT
Hey,

Eric is the guy in the red down jacket. Andy (Nita's husband) is the guy in the green fleece playing the guitar. Both great guys.

Prod.
nita

climber
chico ca
Oct 1, 2007 - 03:24pm PT
Big -SHOUT-OUT- to the Facelift crew!

Ken is sooo damm modest saying," I think it went pretty well". It was an Amazing Feat and Damm Hella fun!! Hey Ken, How much trash was picked up? You are da Man! Thank you;-)

Big Shout- Out too:

Nature! For his fine food, fun, and entertainment. Nature set's the scene and the magic happens. Thanks Nature!!!!!!

Sergeant Anders, Thanks for keeping the ball rolling and whipping us into shape.

Breakfast Tim, The pancake man...Thanks for the company and the hardy breakfast eats..gracias!

It was soooo fun to meet the Taco gang! Everyone was so friendly, and we picked up lots of trash...some of it was very grosero.
Diapers with poop, underwear with poop, condoms, mainly lots of paper bits, glass, plastic, metal, and lots-O-t.p.& cigarette butts.

The day time temp were perfect, and the fall colors were starting to show up. The river was very low,although you could still swim and fish if you wanted. It was pretty quiet- until the weekend. Yosemite sure has it's share of bad drivers,and bears.

Seeing my old friends was da big boom Bomb and Camping in Yellow pines is totally- da biggest Bomb. Thanks everyone, Great to meet you!! See ya next year!

p.s. Have someones- little blue plastic bowl- k.r on bottom.





Joe

Social climber
Santa Cruz Mountains/Los Gatos
Oct 1, 2007 - 03:31pm PT
great photos, great time, good job by doug on the fish.

the russian woman was Paulina, from Boston, doing a road trip before heading back east for a post-doc.
Jaybro

Social climber
The West
Oct 1, 2007 - 04:45pm PT
Anyone know the time/network for the TV coverage?

bluering

Trad climber
Santa Clara, Ca.
Topic Author's Reply - Oct 1, 2007 - 04:54pm PT
Hey Jaybro, it was good to finally me you and your daughter, and Ed too!
Jaybro

Social climber
The West
Oct 1, 2007 - 06:57pm PT
You too.

there was a lot of that positive interaction with physical analogs of internet avatars, kinda stuff going on, this weekend!
Ouch!

climber
Oct 1, 2007 - 07:03pm PT
Did you guys really skin PMB? What are you gonna do with the pelt? Tan it for a rug?
murcy

climber
San Fran Cisco
Oct 1, 2007 - 08:08pm PT
thanks, bluering! real fun climbing and hanging with you. and with jeff who
took many of those pictures--but who because of healing ankles had to stick
to fourth-class scrambling to photo stances--it's to his credit that he did that
without a single grumble. we were lucky to be able to pretty much hop right
on those popular climbs on a perfect september saturday. bishop's terrace
was pure fun, and bluering was solid on the lead. as i read the topo, we
diverged from the first pitch of cs concerto and ran it out over the slab to a
tree in the gully/chimney on the right. i was *completely*
casual about it, but just for the heck of it i sunk two small cams as soon as i
reached the one little placement in what was literally dozens of inches of
*easily* fifth-class no-pro climbing.

on sunday crimpie and i took on el cap! well, base-cragging, but it is neat to
be on that rock. the crimper led pine line for a warm-up, which again we were
pleasantly surprised to discover completely empty. some brief top-roping on
the face below the pine tree yielded mixed results, and by the time we
retrieved our anchor, there was another party on the route and others waiting.

we gazed uncertainly at the first pitch of the salathe wall, which several of you
told us we MUST do. and we would have, too, but somehow i kept walking
and we found ourselves instead at little john right, the first pitch of which i led
in a novel form of aiding, wherein one jams one's knee high into a crack, pulling
alongside it a few cams on one's gear sling, ensuring such a secure jam that
considerable effort is required to dislodge the assembly. it became apparent
during the jammed rest, however, that the needed move is actually nothing like
that. i set an anchor at the belay, rapped to the nice, shady ground, and crimpie
top-roped the pitch. since its cracks did not fit her as snugly as they did me (and
since she lacks the crucial knee-gear-jam expertise) this was not her favorite
route.

the wait at moby dick looking long, we waited for a bit for la cosita right while a
stanford pair (why do there seem to be more stanford people in yosemite than
at stanford?) was doing laps on it and adjacent routes. as part of some
unfathomably complex plot to bring our rope up for us, one of the stanfordites
climbed la cosita left, and loved it so much that she said we MUST do that one
instead. which we did. and we both found it super fun too (i believe crimpie had
climbed it before). that ended the climbing day, as i was off for home, and
crimpie to the face-lift wrap-up fest.

it will come as no surprise to the supertopo forum afficianado that crimpergirl is
a really fun climbing partner. it was improbably good fortune to luck into great
last-minute partners for a sweet handful of routes when i wasn't sure i'd get in
any climbing at all.

great chatting with you all around the fire. props especially to all who brought
something to the table: sushi, guitars, pancakes, firewood, etc., etc.
spyork

Social climber
A prison of my own creation
Oct 1, 2007 - 08:59pm PT
Thanks for the TR. I am jealous as my many responsibilities kept me from climbing.
susan peplow

climber
www.joshuatreevacationhomes.com
Oct 1, 2007 - 11:33pm PT
Nice shots thanks for posting. Background people/Honorable mentions include but not limited to: Jingy, Anders, Ricardo, Natures Pop up camper....

Crimpie I know you were packing a camera. Post up!

~Susan

edit: Hey Erik, you left Reno. STOP SMOKING! this concludes your public service announcement.
Ricky D

Trad climber
Sierra Westside
Oct 1, 2007 - 11:40pm PT
Crimpie's still in the Valley - not heading out until Tuesday.

The person we need to post some pics is Ed Hartouni - Facelift's official stealth photographer. This is the man with the evidence.

And don't be ragging on Mister E about the cigs - this man kept the fires burning at Fort SuperTaco with his truck load of wood.



Edit: The Russian girl in the first photo is named Paulina.
cragnshag

Social climber
san joser
Oct 2, 2007 - 12:50am PT
Merced: A Wild and Scenic River!
Grenny and Charles with some facelift booty that took us a half hour to pry out from between some rocks.




Saturday's Crew.




Local contribution to Sushifest.
Ed Hartouni

Trad climber
Livermore, CA
Oct 2, 2007 - 05:00am PT
Yosemite Facelift Trip Report
September 25-30 2007
Ed Hartouni


Here is what I have... I shot 7 rolls of film, roughly 250 images. This is the first time I used my new flash (Nikon Speedflash SB-28) extensively in a shoot, so I learned quite a lot, fortunately there are some acceptable images.

Starting off from Livermore around 1pm on Tuesday, the goal was to get to the Yellow Pines campground, simple as that. I was taking Debbie's old Honda, a quick stop off at my mechanics yielded the information that he was going to start that week on the TDI installation on 510OW. But everything fit in the Honda, and not much more. The trip was relatively quick, no real traffic.

I arrive to find nature has his Sushi tent up and Brutus of Wyde and Nurse Ratchet getting ready to make sushi. As darkness falls we find them along with Ricky D starting to feed the arriving masses, mostly a SuperTopo affair, but news travels quick in the ditch...

Ricky D, Brutus of Wyde, and Nurse Ratchet preping for the sushi-master

Many people arrive from all parts of the world actually gathering for this event.

pagenmonkeyboy, Christa and M3 meet and discuss

Dawn and jstan

Zander and Mighty Hiker collaborate on opening a bottle of wine

nature gets in the groove

Paulina gets some Miso with Maysho in the background

from the left around the table: nature, stzzo, Zander, Ricky D, Guy Yager, Brutus of Wyde

stzzo and Mrs. Yager looking on, k-man is digging in too!

k-man digging it, davidji looking for the serving plate

Andy and elcapinyoazz drinking beer, and talking 'bout something

to the left of nature, JesseM and his bride... congrats again kids!

That was a wonderful night. The last thing I recall was nature stumbling off to bed in his truck as I was stumbling off to my tent.... those chopsticks in Zander's pocket in the picture above stayed with him through the night, that wine must have been good.

The next morning we are off to the Village to figure out where to go. We run into Werner at the deli and chat with him a bit... People are already returning with stuff, here, 45 pounds from the Mist Trail collected by JoAnn (?)


Zander and I go out to Wawona, pick up around the store, and along about 3 miles of Rt. 140. There is a heavy LEO presence. Sometime after lunch they find us... "what are you doing?"

"We're with the Yosemite Facelift"

"Thank you for your help with the cleanup. We are involved in removing a pot farm, we got two of the guys, but we're looking for two others. If you see a hispanic guy, this isn't racial profiling, dressed in dirty clothes and smelling like dope, could you call us?"

"Sure..."

We collect a lot of stuff off the roads. The grossest is the tissue paper that seems to be everywhere. This started just across the bridge from the store! somehow, people just can't hold it in...

Returning, we have Zander's truck pretty much full with stuff. Not a bad haul. We tell Ken that it probably isn't a good idea to send spanish speaking climbers down 140 to cleanup...

Zander has to split back to the Bay Area, I get a ride with stzzo back to camp, then head for the cafeteria to get dinner before the event of the night, a showing of the movie Sentinel, West Face with Royal Robbins and Tom Frost there to answer questions from a huge crowd.

Returning to camp again finds another set of the crew arrived.

nature and MisterE playing with knives, whoa!

The Doctor and k-man

towards the end of a long day, Pennsylvenvy dropping out of the conversation

elcapinyoazz, nita and khanom around the campfire

The next day I'm out on Rt. 120 with khanom, Leo Burke and jstan picking up... they were out there the previous day... the goal is to clean all the way to the park entrance... we fill khanom's van by the end of the day, and have a long way to go.

Rumor has it that crimpergirl is due in this day, we return and she is! along with Karl Baba. fatrad will be in later, as will Jaybro and Natalie... nature cranks up the sushi again, the event this night is Chris Sharma's King Lines, which I can't sit all the way through... I think it could have been a lot better but I'm just a nuclear physicist... not a Hollywood producer. Back to camp... sushi is full tilt and fatrad is pouring the wine

crimpergirl, nature, Pennsylvenvy (behind), fatrad, A. Crowley, and Murcy in a real life SuperTopo thread...

The next day is Friday. On the way to the tents crimpergirl and I run into Werner at the deli, their first in-person meeting. I'm back out on Rt. 120 with Leo, jstan and crimpergirl along with two other guys whose names escape me at the moment. We work all but 3 miles of the road, inaccessible due to construction. More trash, crimpy makes a big find,

"hey Ed, I need some help with this television"

it was rolled down the embankment along the road... yikes! it's huge but the tube survives the drop. We get back and have dinner, but not before Anders presses us into service to take money and give tickets for the Timmy O'Neal show and the Huber Baum movie with them present. That was wild, among other things we learn that the Huber's seem to be into shaving their body hair... Alex pulls up his shirt to the obvious satisfaction of the women in the audience... O'Neal is very entertaining but the movie seems a bit long, Crimpy is fading after the first couple of hours of the movie so we decide to split. In the men's room the guy I meet there asks: "do you think the actual ascent will be shorter than the movie?"

Back at the camp the party is in full swing...

Roger Brown, George and Grant enjoying a beer

fatrad, Diana and Karl Baba partaking of the fine red wines

It's crimpergirl's birthday on Saturday, so the party goes on 'till then and fatrad produces a huge cake... I've gone to bed by then, climbing tomorrow with crimpy and I'm just not in shape for multiple party nights!

In the morning we get a late start, but arrive at the Five Open Books before anyone else! I'm amazed, we jump on our first climb, Commitment 5.9 a Valley classic. At the top of the first pitch,


and crimpergirl is rockin', here she is pulling around the roof on the third pitch, she was making interesting sounds talking to herself down under the roof


she doesn't complain that I finished up the corner thru the little chimney and end up dumping sand in her face as I move out of the way. It's all good though, what a great climb.

Next we head over to Manure Pile Buttress to do another ultra-classic Nutcracker 5.8. Our luck with the crowds is not as good... everyone seems to be on this climb... but we go anyway, the crowds are a part of the Valley experience too...


here at the top of the third pitch, weaving over the team ahead at the tree... somehow she's scored a windbreaker from Dan in the party behind us. Crimpy moving the belay up and out of the way...


and topping out in the beautiful evening light


What a great day with a great partner. A little birthday present: a couple of classic Valley climbs; and a wonderful day for me on climbs done many times before.

Back to camp and more sushi! Here nature shows Megan some of the master's tricks


and displaying his gift from fatrad


The word is out in the Valley and more people come by.. I didn't get to meet these folks (Rick D is at the far right)


Here is a SuperTopo political thread playing out in three parts around the fire (ablegabel is sitting to the right of crimpergirl)


the young woman in the red down jacket is Lara, who is the "Princess of Scat." Definitely check out her web site at http://www.whennaturecalls.com (no, not that nature!).


Jaybro is fading as the hour is late...

The next morning we have the pancake breakfast...

bluering is in the center of the picture, is that a beer?!

jstan and Mighty Hiker talking with Natalie and Jaybro around the fire

Everyone disperses, I go back to see what the story is, George reports all is quiet


so I thank Ken and take off to photograph the climbers on El Cap and shoot some recon photos for a project with ablegabel...


What a great trip! I truly enjoyed meeting all of you and hope we can do this again.

Be well, climb safe.

bluering

Trad climber
Santa Clara, Ca.
Topic Author's Reply - Oct 2, 2007 - 11:51am PT
Sweet pics Ed. It was nice finally getting to meet the OW contingent. I had a great time hangin' with you guys.

Edit: Crowley, it was definately an honor to finally neet you and Nita too.

I didn't know Eric was Mister E, seemed like cool guy.
Ed Hartouni

Trad climber
Livermore, CA
Oct 2, 2007 - 12:43pm PT
I'll check again Crowley, but some people are quite adept at being out of the line-of-sight when cameras are pointing...
restopgirl

Trad climber
Evergreen, CO
Oct 2, 2007 - 01:04pm PT
Thought I would sign up on supertopo so I can keep in touch with all of the great people I met at The Yosemite Facelift! Thanks to all for a great weekend (and for listening to me talk sh#t...it's a tough life being the "poop bag lady" but someone has to do it!)
Look me up if you are in Colorado!

Lara
Donny... the OHHH!- Riginal

Sport climber
inside a carcass I light-sabered...
Oct 2, 2007 - 03:43pm PT
Hey Bluering...holy Toledo (shoutouts to Klinger)!!!...how come I'm not in any of those?
Ksolem

Trad climber
LA, Ca
Oct 2, 2007 - 04:00pm PT
" ...The word is out in the Valley and more people come by.. I didn't get to meet these folks (Rick D is at the far right)..."

That looks like Chelsea with the pointy hat...
paganmonkeyboy

Trad climber
the blighted lands of hatu
Oct 2, 2007 - 04:09pm PT
" " ...The word is out in the Valley and more people come by.. I didn't get to meet these folks (Rick D is at the far right)..."

That looks like Chelsea with the pointy hat..."

and that's elise in the middle...




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