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Misha and Steve -

Here's the 5th pitch section we did (in yellow)....

My apologies to Dave K. I borrowed this just to show where we went. Is this what you guys did? Steve.....do you think this is the 5.10 variation?? Misha....I see two people close together in the photo (about 10 feet apart). I tried magnifying it and it did appear like two people near each other. Anyone else see two people close together or is my eyesight gone?


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We stayed to the left of your line, following the obvious weakness on the arete. I think that you may have done that 5.10 variation. Good job!

Thanks M! It sure felt like all of "5.8"......

I'm not sure if it's "the" 5.10 variation, but it's not the standard route! BTW, I saw on another thread some mention of your descending in the dark. Sounds ugly!

Yep, we hit the "Wall of Exhaustion" after we descended off the route! We made a slow descent off onto Cox Col and ended up on some 3rd/4th class rock and a section of hard snow (in Exum Ridge Approach shoes.....SCARY!!). I lost our other headlamp (nice that we didn't have ANY moonlight!) and we ended up moving slower then normal back to base camp at Dade Lake. We stumbled into camp at "Zero Dark Thirty". Our one saving grace for the weekend.....we had Dade Lake to ourselves!! Surprised?

BTW, I did see dried blood on that section of the route (5th pitch); clearly not mine (or that would have been some "quick drying" blood).

Dave, that's the line we took also - but we were going by Roper's guidebook with a written description. I thought it was stiff for 5.8 at the time, but credited the altitude and off-width with how it felt.

Still, it was a beautiful crack.

16 July 2005 - Nadie and me climbed Peña Vieja (2619 m)starting at El Cable, read the summit log.

26 July 2005 - We were riding our mountain bikes along La Horizontal, a very long and flat (the first half) forest trail that joins Puerto de Navafría (1773 m) and Puerto de Somosierra (1444 m), both between the provinces of Madrid and Segovia. Because of the heat and some other problems we arrived Puerto de Navafría late so we only could ride 1h 50min reaching the NE slopes of Lomo Gordo (2075 m). I saw a roe deer wich disappeared in the pinewood when it noticed my presence.

30 July 2005 - We did another mountain bike tour starting at Km 24.5 (1505 m) of the road M-130 wich crosses Sierra de la Puebla by Puerto de la Puebla, Madrid. The heat was stronger than the last day but we had more time. Reached Garganta del Portillo and returned to my car. The forest trail is not as flat as La Horizontal but it is not very hard.

20 August 2005 - We drove to Collado Lijar (1710 m) and started the hike at 12:50 PM. Climbed Cabeza Lijar (1823 m) quickly and descende to the col again. Then we ascended Cerro de la Salamanca (1789 m) and stopped 40 minutes at the front door of the unguarded Refugio de la Salamanca (approx. 1780 m). Descended through the pinewood to Collado Hornillo, where we took the forest trail to the right, that one that surrounds the east slope of Cerro de Cueva Valiente (1768 m). We reached the main trail that leads to Cueva Valiente (1903 m) and followed it to the summit (4:10 PM). The wind blowed moderately so Nadie's cap blowed and we had to descend and look for it. Then we descended on the main trail to Collado Hornillo and finally ascended on the road to my car, on Collado Lijar (5:50 PM).

I.....chickened out on Chicken Out Ridge

Hey, dont I get a bumpersticker?

Oh well, theres always next year.

went up to the Torlwand in the Wilden Kaiser and did the "old south face" on Sunday. Nice route with good pro.

I have been to the weirdest rock formation I ever have seen today (long weekend in Germany - Reunification Holiday). Alteschlossfelsen (=Old Castle Rock) on the German - French border is a 1km sandstone ridge with incredible erosion formations. Huge mushrooms line up along the ridge, their tops often connected. There are multiple rock windows, caves and overhangs but when you get to the top you barely notice. Apart from an occasional crevice or hole in the floor the tops of the mushrooms look like regular forest floor.

See for yourself (though the rocks don't photograph easily - too many trees):
<table><tr><td><A target=_top HREF=/mountains/photo_link.pl?photo_id=187090&object_id=4329&type=mountain&mountain_id=4329&route_id=><img src="http://www.summitpost.com/images/187090.thumb.jpg" title="Südpfalz photo_id=187090"></A></td><td><A target=_top HREF=/mountains/photo_link.pl?photo_id=187085&object_id=4329&type=mountain&mountain_id=4329&route_id=><img src="http://www.summitpost.com/images/187085.thumb.jpg" title="Südpfalz photo_id=187085"></A></td><td><A target=_top HREF=/mountains/photo_link.pl?photo_id=187088&object_id=4329&type=mountain&mountain_id=4329&route_id=><img src="http://www.summitpost.com/images/187088.thumb.jpg" title="Südpfalz photo_id=187088"></A></td><td><A target=_top HREF=/mountains/photo_link.pl?photo_id=187089&object_id=4329&type=mountain&mountain_id=4329&route_id=><img src="http://www.summitpost.com/images/187089.thumb.jpg" title="Südpfalz photo_id=187089"></A></td><td><A target=_top HREF=/mountains/photo_link.pl?photo_id=187086&object_id=4329&type=mountain&mountain_id=4329&route_id=><img src="http://www.summitpost.com/images/187086.thumb.jpg" title="Südpfalz photo_id=187086"></A></td></tr></table>

Hmmmm, nice 3 day weekend and no one has anything interesting to report?

Wellllll, Dave and I set out on Friday evening up the 395, sacked out in the truck in Onion Valley and tagged Mt Gould and Dragon Peak on Saturday. Could have sworn I heard hail on the roof early morning. Very low hanging clouds rolled through our way and animated the sky for us during our 12 hour loop. DAMN that BS from Golden Trout Lake! Good thing we only used it as the descent path, Kearsarge Pass Trail is soooo much more pleasant and painfree! YUK
Apres climb pizza in Bishop, then off to TM for some Echo Peak action.
Ranger Rita was on the prowl, so we got "kicked" out of TM and ramboed a sleeping spot in front of a poop house outside the park. On the trail to peaks by 0800 and my feet were still frozen an hour later. Saturday pretty much took the wind out of my sails and Dave had a gorgeous blister, and the wind really never stopped raging so Echo Peak didn't offer too much excitement for me. Yea, OK I climbed a few of them.
Drove back down to Independence that afternoon and crashed at North Lake by the pack station for the night; watched the sun rise on Mt Lamarck, then headed home stinky and sore Monday.
I'd say that pretty much filled up a 3 day weekend properly!

3 day weekend? Only for federal and bank employees. The rest of us had to work.

<i>Only for federal and bank employees. The rest of us had to work.</i>

Well....seeing how I'm NOT a federal employee anymore and just an average joe worker like yourself, I took the day off from work to enjoy the 3 day weekend in the mountains.

What did you say your excuse was?

Deb -

You forgot to mention how someone tried to rat us out for sacking out at the Cathedral trailhead as they were getting a ticket for doing the same? Yeah, other climbers tried to rat out their same kind!! As Deb said, we were outside the park boundries the night before, drove to the trailhead around 7AM, and got ready for our day. No sooner did we pull up, Ranger Rick pulled up behind some cars behind us and asked them a few questions. Next thing we know, Ricky comes up to us and asks us, "These guys behind you say that you were car camping here last night too." Obviously, we told him we just got there.

I like dirty windshields......it enables you to write:

<b>TICKETS ARE 4 LIARS</b>

F*ckin' posers!

<i>What did you say your excuse was?</i>

Hmmm. . . I had a workshop on Saturday and had to correct tests and catch up on around the house work on Sunday. My main excuse was that I have a three month weekend all summer.<img src=http://www.infohub.com/forums/images/icons/icon10.gif>
Glad you guys had fun.

4 day weekend: Sea kayaked at the channel islands. Nice hiking too.