The face below the overhang is a better choice however there is no pro to set, but no matter it's all good. A long sling is necessary on this overhang to keep the rope drag down. It's really not all that slippery if you just plug through.

Jon climbing like the stud he is, he just looks scared.

This picture can be a little deciving. It looks steap but the holds are numerous in this area. And it is not quite as steap as it looks.

As i was belaying him up i saw 3 hang-gliders above our heads. The man on the bottom caught this picture just in time.

Despite a not-so-early start and a round-about way to the climber's trail, we still managed to be the first party on Commitment. Going up the first two pitches, you can see Yosemite Falls and Half Dome and peaks of Tuolumne far off in the distance. Elaine is following up the route here on the second pitch, way down in the lower right corner of the photo. And if you squint really, really hard, you can also see the sunglasses that she would soon part with. 29 May 2005

Elaine was very distraught after watching her shades careened off the rock on Pitch 2 of Commitment and tumbled off into the bushy oblivion. Fortunately, she happened to be climbing with a great healer of material and emtional loss, and who's been trained to say, "There, there, there" in 17 different langauges. Cheerfulness was quickly restored, and the no longer shaken girl and I are thusly better prepared for the near-epic that awaited us higher up on Selaginella, action-packed with sharing of bodily warmth, and lucid suggestions of getting tethered together with neon orange webbing. By the way, there were slings on the tree Elaine just passed, which didn't seem like such a great spot to set belay before the crux roof. 29 May 2005

Well, what can I say, some of us just have a knack for avoiding commitments. And after climbing around the lip of the roof, placing a big nut in the mouth of the narrow crack would block the rope from getting stuck in that long, tight, squeeze spot.

High up on the long first pitch of Selaginella, I also saw the brave new world toward which we all are headed and felt the need to point it out for everyone to see. 29 May 2005

Route finding along the top two pitches of Selaginella was challenging, but not too bad. A discrepancy in our guidebook topo didn't help though, nor did the cold spray from Upper Yosemite Fall, nor did its increasingly loud roar that disrupted communication, nor did a wild traverse across and down and back up that dampened rope tug signals, nor did the increasing concern of diminishing daylight and all inherent contingencies thereof. But we stayed focused at the tasks at hand, feeling the mutual support, and topped out before dark. We waited til another pair close behind us also topped out. Then we hiked up a faint trail to meet the Upper Yosemite Trail and switchbacked our way down. I had purposely left my headlamp in the car, of course, to test the epic fortitude of my relatively new partner. Elaine passed her test brilliantly. 29 May 2005

On our way back into the Valley the next morning, we pulled up roadside to appreciate what an epic ordeal we had been through the evening before. I mean, sure, the trail down was wide enough for a wheelchair and the light colored dust made it practically glow in the dark, but hey, we very easily could've crippled ourselves tripping over those big staircase blocks made for easy stepping. 30 May 2005

Kat seconding the 3rd pitch of Muginella. A really nice day.

We waited a while for the route to open up, before Allison took the first pitch of Munginella.