Trip Report
Two Wounded Soldiers on Nightw#tch Dome 7/24/10
Tuesday September 28, 2010 5:23pm
I've been meaning to post this for a while. I home sick now so what the hell.

At the end of July Mason and I took a trip to the Balls in Southern Yosemite. We drove Beasore Road from Bass Lake to the Willow Campground. I have to say Beasore road was not too bad and Willow camp was really nice for free camping. Basically, it was a fully developed camp ground with very few people, picnic tables, and a clean bathroom. Oh yeah and no bears! Camping in the Valley can suck it!

Mason and I only had some print outs of the Spencer guide. We had originally planned to the climb the Big Sleep's "Afternoon Nap" put up a couple weeks earlier by Slater.
http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.php?topic_id=779298&msg=1213227#msg1213227
But, it was really hot and we were a good drive away from the area. We where meeting Kev and Bluering in the morning to figure out what to climb and soon got derailed onto a climb Kev had put up two weeks earlier.

So, after much pointing up at Nightw#tch Dome, a hand sketched topo, and reluctance, Mason and I decided to give it a go.

The route is 4 pitches, each a full 60 meters. I think it's rated 5.8 or 5.9 due to one or two juicy boulder moves.

I lead P1. The pitch is 5.5 to 5.4 with one bolt about 30 m off the belay. The route heads up to a big roof/wall.
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Me leading up P1
Me leading up P1
Credit: photonez
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P1 belay.  One of many interesting anchors.
P1 belay. One of many interesting anchors.
Credit: photonez
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Looking back at P1.  Melloooooow!
Looking back at P1. Melloooooow!
Credit: photonez
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Mason took P2. The first move is 5.8 maybe 5.9 and then 5.6 to 5.7 with one knob to sling. Ends at a nice two bolt anchor.
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Mason heading up to the P2 belay.
Mason heading up to the P2 belay.
Credit: photonez
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Knob slinging.
Knob slinging.
Credit: photonez
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I took P3. This was probably the best pitch. It heads up a steep head wall of SoYo style 5.6 knobs.
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P3 knob fest
P3 knob fest
Credit: photonez
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When Mason arrived at the P3 belay, I was like just keep climbing don't even look at it.
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Don't touch it!
Don't touch it!
Credit: photonez
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Mason took P4. This was more of the same 5.6 knobs which rolled off to the top of the dome. His anchor was definite revenge for my previous anchor.
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Mason's P4 revenge anchor.
Mason's P4 revenge anchor.
Credit: photonez
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Nightw#tch summit
Nightw#tch summit
Credit: photonez
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The climb was fun and long for two unexperienced leaders. It was smoking hot out but the breeze felt good a couple hundred feet up. Kev later said, it could be a good climb to take your girlfriend on or climb with a nasty hangover, which is in the style that the climb was put up.



  Trip Report Views: 4,283
photonez
About the Author
photonez is a trad climber from Mountain View, CA.

Comments
Dirka

Trad climber
Hustle City
  Sep 28, 2010 - 06:14pm PT
Looks fun!
Brokedownclimber

Trad climber
Douglas, WY
  Sep 28, 2010 - 06:40pm PT
Just the type of climbing I like!
Mungeclimber

Trad climber
Nothing creative to say
  Sep 28, 2010 - 10:51pm PT
that 3 was the best that could be done? Looks deeper and narrower than that.


nice job on gettin out and nice rock!
Mason

Trad climber
Yay Area
  Sep 28, 2010 - 11:24pm PT
That 3 was all that I had. It was a slab route and we didn't really "rack up." But on Kev's advice, we took a few pieces.

It was scary!
Clint Cummins

Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
  Sep 29, 2010 - 12:26am PT
Nice, Ezra - thanks for sharing.
Great to see nice routes done with minimum impact, in places where powerbolting is legal.
BooYah

Social climber
Ely, Nv
  Sep 29, 2010 - 01:58am PT
That looks suspiciously like a Donini anchor. Hey, nicely done. Looks like a fun spot, for sure.
mucci

Trad climber
The pitch of Bagalaar above you
  Sep 29, 2010 - 02:45am PT
nice to climb a 1,000+ foot line and only clip 3 bolts.



Nice write up and cool pix!

Good work on those revenge anchors, Brian would be proud.

Where is Kev?

Mucci
Ezra Ellis

Trad climber
North wet, and Da souf
  Sep 29, 2010 - 09:43am PT
Nice Job Ezra....:), not too many of us Ezra's around!
bluering

Trad climber
Santa Clara, CA
  Sep 29, 2010 - 01:19pm PT
kick asssssss!!!!!
crazy horse

Trad climber
fresno, ca
  Jan 26, 2012 - 01:06am PT
if anyone wants to climb stuff with more than one protection point per pitch and solid anchors there are a few good routes on the left side of nightw#tch. Also some good runout 5.6-5.8 routes on the right side of the dome.
Zander

climber
  Jan 26, 2012 - 11:52am PT
Sweet.
thanks for posting.
Z
seth kovar

climber
Reno, NV
  Jan 26, 2012 - 12:05pm PT
Hell yeah, get it boys!!!!!
micronut

Trad climber
Fresno/Clovis, ca
  Jan 26, 2012 - 01:13pm PT

Bump for a cool formation.
I shot these last spring on our way to The Golden Toad. Nice work guys. Glad nobody fell.

Hey, where is your route on these photos. ANd Crazy Horse, where are those routes you were talking about?
Nate D

climber
San Francisco
  Jan 26, 2012 - 09:37pm PT
Try this link, micro:
http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.php?topic_id=647391&tn=20

Ezra Ellis

Trad climber
North wet, and Da souf
  Jan 26, 2012 - 11:36pm PT
Nice Looks like those anchors added to the pucker Factor for sure!!!
Bschmitz

Ice climber
pdx
  Jan 27, 2012 - 11:49am PT
Nice glad to see that the two wounded solider saw a lil traffic:) Isn't pulling that roof fun? Brings back fond memories of my first hand drill on lead. Thanks for posting some photos.

Bryan Schmitz: (one of the wounded)
crazy horse

Trad climber
fresno, ca
  Jan 27, 2012 - 05:11pm PT
@micronut

just go to the base under the arch. There are 6? modern routes and some old skool routes as well originating from a huge climber shade cave. One of the routes called 'fully baked' FA me, eric mcgee, derek bumholt, originates in this cave and starts out in a splitter overhanging .11+ crack and traverses out onto the face when the crack ends to mixed bolts and crack to a ledge. From there all bolts up stellar face climbing @ 5.7/5.8. From there more lightly runout 5.7/5.8 face. From there you blast through an .11+ headwall on bolts and gear to the summitt. Can be rapped with a single rope. seriously one of the best routes i've done in all of soyo. There's a nicely bolted .10b? route to the right to access the same anchor that Fully baked uses for the first pitch. Hangers are painted green. it's called the SSCA route.
Slater

Trad climber
Central Coast
  Jan 28, 2012 - 12:38am PT
yeehaw!
justthemaid

climber
Jim Henson's Basement
  Jan 28, 2012 - 08:15am PT
Nice. The art of knob-slinging is becoming a lost art..;)
bluering

Trad climber
Santa Clara, CA
  Jan 28, 2012 - 11:33am PT
More looks at the route;




Apparently we did a variation to the last part of the route. I forget what Kev called it.

I'd ask him to chime in, but I think he's on 'walkabout' right now.
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