I turned 30 a year ago last May


In the Buttermilks, among friends, with the threat of a zombie apocalypse.


It was my third bouldering trip to Bishop that year, and I was stoked because I had finally done the Ironman Traverse and I was psyched to keep pushing my limits in bouldering.


Two weeks after we got back to Santa Cruz, our good friend was gone. Struck by a car while riding his bike home from a get together at my house.

http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.php?topic_id=1524505&tn=0&mr=0

Zack loved Yosemite. Loved climbing. He seemed to distill exactly what was important out of life. Goofy, talented, thoughtful, his passing left a big hole in our community.


I had never climbed in Yosemite, had never lead trad, had no clue about climbing cracks. But Zack saw something amazing in Yosemite, and I wanted to go there and experience it too. So my two best girl friends and I packed up a car and drove to Yosemite, aiming to do some climbing and make Zack proud.


I even sought out the opinion of some folks here on the Taco about good routes to do, and our friend adamame even loaned us some gear to get us going.

http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.php?topic_id=1528158&msg=1528158#msg1528158

Unfortunately, about two hours after arriving in the Valley I badly injured the pulley and flexor tendon in my left hand/forarm. I did no climbing that trip and it took the next two months for me to recover. But while while in Yosemite, hanging around in the Valley and watching my friends climb, I began to see what all the hype was about.


Later on that summer I got my first taste of Tuolumne knob climbing on Errett by Bit at Dozier Dome.


It was a great weekend with great views and great company.


A few months later, some friends and I tried to climb the Regular Route on Sunnyside Bench, but the weather had other ideas.


That Fall, I wanted more Yosemite, and I was lucky and got to go out a few times with friends.


More often than not, however, I found myself injured. Shoulders, fingers, back, feet, bicep, elbow. I couldn't feel too bad for myself, I was alive after all, but I was frustrated and so by the time December came along, I decided to swear off bouldering and throw myself into trad climbing.

The turning point came that October, when Jahil took me up Jamcrack and After 7, my first climbs in Yosemite Valley, on a gorgeous Fall day. The climbing was hard for me and I struggled to take out the gear, but I was hooked. I came home swooning about how fun it was to hike/climb up these routes in Yosemite. After that weekend I made a decision. I was learning to crack climb. I was learning to place gear. All I needed was someone to climb with, to teach me what I wanted to learn.

Back in Santa Cruz, I took the crack climbing clinic and practiced on the hand crack at our local gym, Pacific Edge. I read the John Long and Bob Gaines book on Climbing Anchors. I tagged along on as many climbing trips as I could and asked my friends to start teaching me how to place gear.


Enter the Crack Fiends. A group of determined, if not slightly deranged Santa Cruz climbers, known to wake up at ungodly hours to climb for a day in Yosemite. Over the winter, I would wake up at 4am to escape to Yosemite for the day, returning to Santa Cruz around midnight. Under Jahil's stewardship, crammed into the mini-van, we stormed the moderates of Pat & Jacks, Reeds, Manure Pile Buttress and the base of El Cap.

P&J's

Reed's

Snow in the Valley in the morning...

but dry and climbable at Pat and Jack's that afternoon!

Nutcracker and Moby Dick

First time on the alcove swing!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUcayjMIl14&feature=youtu.be

By April 2012, I finally felt like crack climbing was starting to make sense. I was gaining confidence and I was healthy. I wanted to lead.

My friend and excellent trad climber, Sarah Hill and I decided to go to Yosemite for the weekend in late April. I had in mind to try my first trad lead and she just wanted to climb. I had heard the Grack was a great climb so we sweated our way up to the Glacier Point Apron, waited in line for close to 3 hours (no problem, we just practiced plugging gear) and then she started up the first two pitches. I hadn't built a trad anchor yet, so I volunteered to take the 3rd pitch to the bolt anchor. It was a great first lead. I felt solid, never scared. We rapped down, hiked out to a beautiful view of raging Yosemite Falls. Then scarfed some food and decided to take a late night thrutch up Generator Crack by headlamp. My first time on offwidth, I got destroyed, but vowed to learn that mystifying technique eventually. The next day we went to Reed's and I did my second lead, the second pitch of Ejesta, a climb I had top roped earlier that season. That was much tougher, but I got through it and was psyched.

The next two months, I scarcely spent a weekend at home. Between the Valley, the Leap and Tuolumne, I've done some of the most fun climbing of my life. I even got my husband, a true rope-a-phobe and boulderer at heart to start trad climbing with me.


With each trip, I see the possibilities unfold, and I get even more psyched. I can't believe I've lived in Santa Cruz for the last 8 years and am just now discovering these gems.

My last trip was June 23-24th, 2012. My friend Shaun and I climbed Munginella, Jamcrack, Pine Line and Harry Daley. The weather in Yosemite was perfect, the climbing incredibly fun. It felt like a culmination of all the climbing I'd done that Spring.

A month of travel will take me away from the Sierra till August, but when I get back I got plans. Corrugation Corner at the Leap. Snake Dike and Royal Arches in the Valley. Tenaya Peak, Matthes Crest and countless others in Tuolumne.

I've been lurking on this forum for the past year, trying to soak up bits and pieces of knowledge as I can, while also being incredibly inspired and thoroughly entertained by all the people that post on this site. I suppose this TR is my way of formally introducing myself and sharing a journey that I am extremely proud of.

Though I wish my friend Zack were around to share in these experiences, I have the sense that he's out there having his own adventures and checking in on us from time to time.

Thanks for reading and I hope to see you out there.