Beating sunrise to the base of the climb:
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We simul'd the first few pitches, and I belayed at that tall spiky rock. Looking down from there:
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Le_bruce decided to check out an off-route ledge for a few minutes...
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Then he cruised up the next section whilst I posed:
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I forgot how fun the little roofs are through there:
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He took his pitch through that first traverse:
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Here's me looking down on le_bruce as he approaches the crux overhang, and I'm hanging to avoid standing on the tree that will die and fall out soon:
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More clowning:
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And more crux:
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Le_bruce is not a super-fan of squeeze chimneys:
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But he eats them for breakfast just the same:
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Here comes the next contestant on the price is right:
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It looks suspiciously like he's hanging on this sling!
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I think that's a guilty smile... or maybe just an "I'm glad to be here smile":
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He's going for the stem variation... I just stayed plugged in under the roof:
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It's always a sweet spot to hang out and enjoy the valley. No crowds from this angle!
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But back to my compadre who is up there somewhere near the second traverse, cutting left under that big roof, by now:
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Meanwhile, the dude below looks like he's thinking WTF? But they beat us to the top when we wandered off later on...
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Uncle le_bruce stink-bugging across the second traverse:
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We were hauling arse up to this point:
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and then the wheels started coming off...
I started bonking a little, going slowly through a different path than I've gone before. And we got shut down by this mantle-problem (where the rope crosses the ledge just above the belayer) for at least half an hour:
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We rallied and got it done. But here's the dudes who were behind us before, just wrapping up:
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Here's our caboose:
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And some shots from the top...
Looking up the grand valley:
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Lower/Middle/Higher Brother:
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El Cap:
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Ribbon Falls:
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Some clowns:
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Poser above the river above bridalveil falls:
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Some sights on the way down:
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Cheetah!
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Drip
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Life after snowmelt:
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The pleasant hike down the gulley:
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And I'll give the Baba sign-off, "Peace":
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