I have found my new obseesion...The regular route on Half Dome has the most exceptional granite climbing I have ever done. Its a route that is going to keep me awake at night thinking about it and make me very sore trying to get strong enough for it...and keep me really motivated for a while to come I think..

 

Lee and I went up there last Thursday..the 3 hour approach was mildly epic. The snow slope at the base of half dome is still melting away making the rocky scree slope loose and very moveable. The spring that runs down the climbers track means you have to cross a 10m wide wet/ slippery/ steep slab covered in mini ballbearing like gravel. If you slip you will slide 50m down an ever steepening slab and over the edge , plummeting 25m onto talus...then there was the bear...the cutest looking yellow baby bear who was cheekier than me. He also without doubt climbs 5.9....We climbed one of the trees to hang our food up away from his reach...turns out the bear can climb trees exceptionally well, even branches and trunks with a diameter of 10cm...even with the tree bending all over the place...so we spent most of the night spotlighting him with our headtorches and throwing rocks to scare him away...sleeping up there was beautiful though aside from that and it was cool looking up at an aid party on the route who were running late and were climbing until about 1am..

 

We started climbing at 5ish and topped out after 12 1/2 hours of climbing. We got stuck behind a slow aid party in the chimneys so could have been a bit quicker ....but the climbing was so so great and I was so so tired at the top. The descent is the craziest thing we have ever seen. imagine going down the grey slabs at Shipley holding onto a thick cable in each hand with a bit of wood every 5 meters to put yur feet on...I was terrified!!! With so much litigation here it was a shock...we are planning to end the trip climbing it again with Jake and ben, I want to try the crux pitches at the end of  the route and see just how much fitter I need to be and Jake and Ben are super psyched to climb it....and Lee wants to try a variation pitch he hasn't climbed before...

 

Jake and Ben got off Free rider on Sunday night after both climbing it free. They are both stoked...its a very happy camp at the moment! Ben laybacked the monster offwidth..jake was killing himslef laughting describing ben screaming and yelling as he kept slipping out of the offwidth like a cat on a black board....there was an aid team behind them yelling at Ben to support him "aussie aussie aussie" in between laughing at him....

 

Ben and Lee are packing as I type to go up Zodiac so I will update daily on their progress....the boys were up to thier usual antics yesterday being Aussie Blokes  for the tourists...we were on the shuttle bus, Lee and I sitting a few seats behind Jake and Ben, suddenly a voice next to me yells..."Ay Bruce...wanna get off 'ere and get some tukka?"...that was Lee... to which Ben replies with a scratch of his crutch "yeahhhhh fella sounds great to me"....ahhh they are crazy....no internet time left so talk to you soon!