Erik has been talking about this climb. He spent days cleaning it out, and it is in very good shape right now — a five star climb by Yosemite standard. The crack is finger lock size with occasional hand jams. It is strenuous because it requires liebacking most the way up with hard-to-come-by stances for rests. He rates it 5.10b/c(?), but I know I had an easier time on Catchy (a 5.10d climb on the Cookie Cliff) than on this one. A few feet to the right is another corner crack (5.8 or 5.9?) that is almost as sustained but in a different size — cup hand size (for me) and it eventually leads to a sweet splitter hand crack. Then a few feet further to the right stands a fun technical climb that follows a wafer thin flake (5.11a?). Most of the time, I am hanging with my fingers or standing on edges that are as thin as a coin. It has to be magic that my overly stretched climbing shoes actually stay on the rock long enough for me to make one move after another. Off the same anchor is a wide crack in a corner that puts my offwidth climbing technique to test. Only after thrashing and kicking most of my way up, I notice a thin crack in the wall behind my back that I can pull on, which makes the difficulty to drop by two number grades immediately. However the crux lies in traversing a ten-foot roof. All the climbs are nothing but fun, and all are challenging in their own way. If I were Erik, I would also be proud of my discovery of these beauties, not to mention the great effort put in to uncover the beauty from beneath the choss, mud, and grass.

Having spent many weekends in Yosemite recently, it is a refreshing experience to spend a night out there. It is so quiet. Only the cracking of the firewood breaks the silence every now and then.

On sunday, we head for the climb that drew Erik back here in the first place — he really wanted to take one last look at, and maybe even give a try on, this crack that spans a perfectly horizontal roof before the area is closed in by snow. To get to the base, we have to climb two approach pitches. I like them both despite the loose condition. At the sight of the roof crack, I was struck by the beauty and intimidated by the difficulty the crack presents. As it turns out, it is indeed very difficult — hard to climb and hard to protect, and a fall yields great consequences. I know Erik will return to this climb. Hopefully he will come back with a better protection plan.

The area is still under development. Trails need to be improved, climbs need to be cleaned, and anchors need to be installed. Until then, I really can’t say.

Since we have to live Saturday to get to Sunday, we decide to spend a day at the Fissures in Table Mountain area (See A Climber’s guide to the Sonora Pass Highway, by Young et al). It is only 15 minutes away from Allen’s apartment. With Allen leading and me following, we work our way up: Back Stage Pass (5.9), Repo Man (5.10d), Luminous Flesh Giants (5.11b), Structural Disintegration (5.11c), and High Resolution (5.11d). Matt from Allen’s gym joins us later and skips the 5.9 and 5.10d warmup routes. In the afternoon, Amy, Rocky, and Amy’s dog Ruby emerge from the talus field, but only have time to do the 5.9 before they have to go down. We reunion later in the evening for a grand Halloween Rock’n'Roll party in town.

The long awaited Sunday finally comes. When the sun rises, I see a cat woman in the mirror on the wall in front of me, and Allen of course transforms into the real himself — Spiderman. Soon after we arrive at the Grotto, another cat woman (Kirsten), a gecko (Debby), a green monster (Darrell), a cat man (Daniel) show up along with a bunch of humans and a few dogs. The Grotto probably have never seen so many creatures moving around on a same day. Oh, Darrell has something to say and show about that day here.

The highlight of the party is the cake — Amy has single handedly baked the cake and even gave the cake a funny face. Aren’t these — climbing, Halloween, birthday, partying — all about fun?

Saturday – the Fissures

Allen concentrating on Luminous Flesh Giants.	Does this look High Resolution? Need a better camera.
Can you find me in this matrix of blocks?	Amy is a professional photographer and I guess only she can come up with such interesting composition.

Sunday – the Grotto

Return of the Spikerman!	Amy, the flower.
Darrell, the green monster.	What’s that rope doing there? Gecko don’t need no rope!
At least Daniel’s head is warm.	That cute smile goes well with the cute ears.
A vertical race.	And here is the cake. I wonder if Allen actually picks his nose often.

She was planning to go climbing on Sunday with a friend of hers, but that friend had to bail last minute. Not wanting to stay in the house, she called Allen and I when we were on our way to Lost World. I gave her direction to the climbing area, but wasn’t sure if we would see her there because even with the help of the guidebook and my direction, the approach is still not that easy to find. So I was really impressed when I heard her from below while I was leading the 2nd pitch of Pangaea . By the time we finished the climb and rappelled down to the ground, she had been waiting for almost two hours. She cheerfully dismissed my sorrow for her long wait by saying that she was having a good time reading her book and playing with her dog.

We then found out that she got in an car accident on her way up. Nobody was hurt, but her headlights were damaged. Because of that she had to leave early so that she could get back home (an 1 hour drive) in light. She described this situation to us with a smile.

After Allen led Peaceful Warrior , she top roped it. Unfortunately, before she even reached the top, it was already time for her to leave due to the steep hike out. She came down without finishing the climb.

I felt extremely sorry for her that she drove a long way to get here, got in an accident, had a damage in her car, and only got chance to do 2/3 of a climb. However, she was very relaxed about it and the whole time when she was with us, she was being nothing but fun. Her cheerful and relaxed attitude earned my great admiration. Not many people, men or women, can be so cool about what life has to offer! People, myself included, sometimes get so caught up in our losses and gains. If the gain does not justify our losses, we get regretful and depressed and drag everyone around down with us. I just hope that by writing this down, I’ll remember Melissa next time when I find myself in such a situation.

Most of the people in this crowd showed up at a cragging area, Genesis, at Burst Rock earlier in the day. Some of them have known each other for years and use this gathering as a good chance to re-union. Some of them, like me, are just excited to meet climber legends such as Royal Robbins and Tom Frost and other local climbers. Ropes are dropped down from the top of many climbs. People chat, joke, and climb. Yesterday, she might have been a stranger; and today, she is holding the other end of the rope that you trust with your life. Without knowing it, I have bagged a few routes: Finger Twister (5.10a, finger crack), The Direct (5.8, wide hand crack), Primo (5.5, hand crack), Thwart (5.11d, face, top rope), Unknown climb (5.10a/b, face, top rope, left of Primo).

On Sunday, under the leadership of Brad, one of the authors of the Sonora Pass guidebook, we, a smaller crowd, approach the Lost World before noon. While there are good climbs all around the gorge, I spend most of the afternoon at the Clock Tower Area. The climbs there are of surprisingly good quality. I can at least vouch for these climbs: Timeless (first pitch, 5.9, lieback), Between Nothingness and Eternity (first pitch, 5.10c, sport), Undocumented climb (5.10b, sport, to the left of Between Nothingness and Eternity), Weapons of Mass Destruction (5.11 b/c, sport, not in guidebook yet), and Cock the Hammer (5.10c, awkward steep crack). Allen and I have decided to go back to continue our exploration at the wonderful Lost World next weekend. Wanna join us?

I didn’t count, but I think about 30 climbers showed up for this gathering.	Tahoe, Kelly’s puppy, is a real superstar!
Socializing is the main course of the day, and climbing is a side dish.	When there are so many climbers around, I’m not surprised to see an anchor like this.
Slay high stepping Thwart (5.11d) at Genesis.	Hunter’s music climbs higher than anyone.
Tahoe receives abundant love at the Crag.	Wish someone could carry me like this on a steep ascent/descent. This is the sort of treatment you get when you are cute, really really cute.
Allen onsighting Weapons of Mass Destruction (5.11b/c).	And Mei follows his steps.
When Brad opens his mouth, everyone listens.	Allen fighting Green Monster (5.12a).

Expecting crowds every where especially in Yosemite, We met up with Steve at Sonora Pass, a summit on Highway 108 at an elevation of 9624 ft. Steve, knowing the area better than Allen and me, led us to the base of a few rock buttresses a couple miles west of the Pass. There was no obvious trail to follow, so we bushwhacked our way up the gully between the first and second buttresses. The gully was very loose and steep. At this altitude, I was breathing harder than normal, but there was no discomfort, so I just slowly make my way up following the two guys.

There are a couple of established climbs on the buttress to our right, including a 1-pitch 5.10d crack called What Is. But that would not be adventurous for Steve. So we, or rather he, decided to go up another undocumented crack system 100 feet down the gully from What Is. The crack on the bottom looks wide but easy and it leads up to a roof higher up that looks challenging. From below, the climb looks like 2-pitch long, which should be a good start for an adventurous day.

• Pitch 1: A rainfall of dirt and gravels turned into a small rockfall. Steve instinctively wedged his leg into the crack to stop the big chunks of rocks from falling onto me standing below. I owe my life to Steve now. The first pitch was short. I would give it a 5.6. Allen followed Steve and then he belayed me up, which was a pattern to be followed all the way up.
• Pitch 2: The second pitch started with a diagonal crack that led to the roof that Steve had had his eye on, so it was his opportunity to lead it. The crystals in the rock kept falling off, a good indicator of a virgin land never touched by man. The crack below the roof felt easy. Pulling through the roof was a little tricky which involved lie-backing and high stepping. But what surprised me was the scene after popping out of the roof — a wall that looked fairly blank with a very thin and shallow crack, about 30 feet long, running in the middle of it. Lucky that Steve had some RP’s to protect this section, but still I thought it was a very a scary section to lead. Steve thought this pitch deserves at least a 5.10+.
• Pitch 3: Only after we reached the top of the second pitch did we realize that we were still ways to go to the real top. The third pitch was 100 feet of 4th class, which we all ran up very quickly. Now we were under another vertical wall with a perfect crack system shooting straight up.
• Pitch 4: Allen and I decided this climb would be an all-Steve-led first ascent. I tried to make myself useful while Allen conducted his belay duty, so I documented our ascent with my digital camera. The crack was again thin on this pitch, and also had a roof in the way. It didn’t look easy when Steve led it. But with two people cleaning up before me, when I got to climb this pitch, it was in a good climbing condition. I think Allen gave this 195 ft pitch a 5.10+ rating.
• pitch 5: Finally, we saw the real top just one short pitch away. There were a few cracks in front of us. One in the left corner that starts with a diagonal hand crack and leads into a wide but protectable chimney. One in the middle, even wider with a huge drop right at the base. One on the right side with the first 25 feet of face climbing without a crack and then a thin crack that leads to the top. We picked the crack in the left corner to finish off the climb. It felt like a 5.8. Later Steve top roped the thin crack to the right and considered it fit the character of the whole climb better. It just needs a bolt to protect the first 25 feet.

The view at the top was marvelous. The peaks were still topped with snow with deep river canyons leading to the alpine country to the west. Alpine Delight was one of the names Steve came up with for the climb. Although he settled down with another name, Eye of the Needle, to better describe the character of the climb. I had the “alpine delight” in my heart at the end of that day.