Photos by climbinginchico

On the way back to the Meadows after camping Ross and I saw the glow was perfect. I turned around and Ross ran to get this shot in the narrow time window we had.

This is my first lead of a 5.10a trad climb. I was so excited to get to the top without falling! Photo by jiadar

Here's the line of Little Sheba, a great 10a. Am I at 40 yet?

The exposure from the top of Cathedral Peak is amazing. Makes it feel like a more difficult climb than it really is.

Here's a shot of the Southeast Buttress of Cathedral Peak. It looks pretty awesome from this angle.

The obligatory "We Made it to The Top" picture. Nice climb up Cathedral Peak, stellar views.

Here's the view from the top of Cathedral, with the tip of Eichorn's Pinnacle visible. Ross has the nice horizon...

Here's me and Ross on the ledge just below the Chimney. Awesome exposure on this climb.

This is the semi-polished crux of West Country on Stately Pleasure in Tuolumne. Stellar route. This pitch ended on a small runout above a green alien, a blue alien, and a blue-green hybrid alien. Fun, and a little heady on the friction to the anchors. And look: Sheila's even looking at me and not the guys down below!

Here's the left side of the massive anchor we call THE ANCHOR.

Here are the camalots in part of THE ANCHOR.

Here's my totally bomber personal anchor. A blue alien with a biner chand to my harness. BOMBER!!

This is Elaine's wonderful opposed nut placement, along with the bomber green alien/blue-green hybrid alien stack. Note liberal usage of hybrid aliens. Also see proper equalization, if you can follow all the slings. They lead to the main cordalette, I think.

Here is Sheila enjoying her ham sandwich. We all know that makes her a Real Trad Climber. I think the gear and equalization speaks for itself. Bomber. In the upper right are some nuts knotted together. Sean is so creative! Yes, that is TP on a nut tool. Always Be Prepared.

We certainly went to town building this bad boy.

We all took different techniques on Little Sheba (10a) in Tuolumne. I looooove liebacking, so that's the method I chose. Sean power jammed the route on lead, then Elaine and Sheila gracefully danced up the climb before I went up and broke the anchor down. Stellar hand and fingers crack. Photo by and courtesy of baja_java.

Here is Sean's passively placed #4 C4, along with a huge hex. This is the bottom portion of THE ANCHOR. It's all tied together with a 25 foot loop of webbing and much of a 60m dynamic "cordalette."

Here is the most bomber portion of THE ANCHOR. The big bro isn't going anywhere. Not too bad for my first vertical BigBro placement. And the #6 C4 keeps the bomber girth hitched chockstone in place. Creativity in anchoring is the hallmark of the Real Trad Climber.

Here is a stitched photo of the middle left side of THE ANCHOR. It has a bomber #5 C4, cammed hex, brown tricam, and a bomber #2 C4. There is also an older style #4 C4 just above the #5. All are properly equalized into a few cordalettes or something.

This is Elaine's wonderful opposed nut placement, along with the bomber green alien/blue-green hybrid alien stack. Note liberal usage of hybrid aliens. Also see proper equalization, if you can follow all the slings. They lead to the main cordalette, I think.

Here are the aliens and tricams on the left side of THE ANCHOR. The leftmost piece is a bomber blue-green hybrid alien. Not visible are the sliding x's and a mini cordalette (48" Mammut sling with an 8-on-a-bight) equalizing everything into a tech cord cordalette into the main cordalette power point.

Here I am hanging out during our lunch break. Spectacular views down the valley. Taken on the ledge just below the pendulum. Photo taken by areuinclimber

This is me leading the final, runout, easy pitch of West Crack. I think it was something like a 40 foot runout or something to the first placement, a good red alien. Then another 40 or so to the next, a yellow alien. Placed I think 3 pieces, the whole pitch. Sean snapped this pic while I was slapping in that first alien. Sean always makes me take the runout leads! Photo by Baja_java.

This is a photo of my dogs for the thread dealing with our dogs. Spike is the black lab, and is the sweetest lab ever. Nookie (short for Nanuk) is the white mutt. We have been told he is Alaskan sled dog (not sure tho...) and Aussie Shepherd. A bit of a temper on him, but he was abused as a puppy before we rescued him.

Not too hard, just a 5.9 I think, but a good classic part of Camp 4 bouldering.