sharpendphotography : personal » climbing » astroboy, sep 07 Up one level
senior escalador brooks approaching the base of washington column. astroman takes a line up the center of this photo. the enduro corner (directly in the center of the shot) is just going into the shade. looking up at the harding slot from the base. pitch 6 (just to the left of the V-shaped dihedral near the middle of the photo) goes directly up a flaring chimney to splitter hands, then to some wild flake liebacking and stemming, ending just where the shadow is cast by the large roofs near the top of the photo. the harding slot pitch continues from here, staying in the insanely steep dihedral and going right up into the blackish void. jon follows the pitch 1/2 linkup. sick 5.6 climbing!
we got stuck behind a slow pair of old yosemite dirtbags. somehow the leader was on the enduro corner for over an hour! this angle does nothing to portray the steepness of this pitch. the other shots i took are a bit more accurate, but you can't really appreciate how steep it is until your on it and pumped out of your mind. waiting beneath the boulder problem pitch. here you can see the steepness of the enduro corner a bit better. pining for a lost draw. the leader dropped a <i>single</i> quickdraw (belonging to his partner) while sending the crux of the enduro corner. jon and i were subsequently treated to a half-hour whinefest from its owner.
unspeakable acts beneath the boulder problem jon comes up the short but cool boulder problem detour which goes at a very comfortable 10a.
the G9 macro is not so bad
getting ready for the enduro corner like all yosemite hardmen, jon cuts his teeth on dyneema for a second i think i'm at the belay with tommy! yeah tommy!
the first good rest on the enduro corner comes after a good 40 feet of STEEP off-hands jamming. it was around here that i felt a pump like none i've felt before. the amazing 6th pitch
a wild-looking jagged flake finishes off the 6th pitch, and <i>astroboy</i>
probably one of the coolest-looking pitches in the world. but man that slot looks intimidating! next time... rapping from the p6 anchors freeing a stuck rope goodbye, green stuff sack! one the first pieces of backpacking gear i purchased now rests peacefully somewhere up in tenaya canyon.
rapping the enduro corner fantastic alpine glow on half dome. what an amazing piece of stone. close-up of the northwest face. can you spot the two parties a couple pitches below the summit?
arrows point to two parties near the summit of the regular route. yes it really is that big.

all images © bryan zeitler // photos last dumped on 09.17.07 // created and maintained using JAlbum 5.2