For a little background on Cory and I, and how we met, see thread: http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.php?topic_id=2084506&tn=0&mr=0


This past Sunday Cory and I headed up to Yosemite to meet up with my buddy Ted, who was kind enough to rope-gun for us. I've bribed a couple friends into rope-gunning for us and in return they get a free ride with us. Cory is now 11 years old and on a steep learning curve. He's been a sponge for knowledge and has been diligently reading his Freedom of The Hills book. He can't get enough of it all. "So Cory….learn any cool stuff in school lately?"…."Yeah…learning about weather." "Oh yeah? What did you learn?" He started talking about positive and negative charges and that's when he lost me. He's a smart young lad. "Guess what?" "What's that dude?"…"I'm doing better in math now." "Oh yeah?" "yeah, I'm getting a 'B' this semester." "Rock on dude!" For the rest of the drive we talked about climbing, training, and adventures for the summer.

We met up with Ted and racked up for a day of adventure. The objective for the day was to climb Sunnyside Bench, then scramble up to the base of Upper Yosemite Falls. Cory racked up with his gear, courtesy of generous SuperTopo members. We scrambled up the start, Ted led, and I had Cory belay Ted while being tied to me. He quickly learned that climbing is not always easy as he was muscling the rope through his belay and was quickly wearing out his arms. But, he kept going for the whole first pitch. I was tied into the end of the rope with Cory tied in short about 10' above me. It was a gorgeous day and he could not get enough of the views. He loves being up high and the exposure. The bouldery headwall at the 1st belay was really tricky for him and he ended up aiding it with the use of my hand for a step. On the second pitch, he had a tricky time with getting up the pinnacle. After that he made steady progress to the end.



Nuts courtesy of Andy, Cam from Ralphy, and the helmet from Gene.


Belay, slings, and biners courtesy of Mareko.

We then ditched the climbing gear and were on our way up to the base of Upper Falls. There are only a few 3rd class sections on the way up. The 3rd class slab section was a good warm up for the endless slabs on Snake Dike, which is on Cory's tick list for this summer. Fortunately, Cory rocks a pair of LS Boulder X approach shoes, courtesy of Blair. I kept close behind, keeping him on his toes (literally) as we motored up the slabs. It wasn't too much longer until we got near the Upper Falls. Ted found shelter behind an overhanging boulder and we chowed down on lunch. The wind and mist from the falls was quite refreshing. Fortunately, Johnny donated a rain jacket to Cory. We snapped a few photos and were on our way back down.



After finding people on Jamcrack, we headed over to MPB so Cory could train for his first big goal: After Six. We've been working on setting realistic goals and emphasize that he has to "earn his pitches." We decided to just toprope the first pitch. I wasn't sure if we could do it with a single rope. As I went to ask the people just around the buttress if they had a guide book I could check out, who turns around? Ron Kauk! "Cory! You wanted to meet someone famous right?" Ron is a super cool dude and offered the end of his rope to Cory. "Dude, you're getting to climb with my heroes before me!" Cory made short work of a 5.8 face climb as I belayed Ted on After Six. It's funny, Cory climbs better on the harder climbs, like he did on Sherry's Crack, than the easier ones. He then jumped on After Six and cleaned the pitch. "I can't do it! It's too big for my hands!" "Can you fist jam it?" "Nope!" Meanwhile Tony, who I met a couple years ago and an awesome dude, was watching and explained how to do a double hand stack. "I got it!" It's funny, when he says "I can't," he ends up doing the moves flawlessly after a little encouragement. It's more like he just doesn't want to try. But, that's quickly changing. He does climb better when I'm motoring up behind him and not letting him have enough time to doubt himself.



We called it a day, drove to Oakhurst, and grabbed some awesome food at a BBQ place. It was a great day and we're all looking forward to our next trip. Once we get a little more crack training in I think he will be ready for After Six. He's also eying the Royal Arches, Snake Dike, Cathedral Peak, and Tenaya Peak.