Another Beautiful Yosemite Climb!

Our most recent adventure took us back to Yosemite once again. We figure we will get as much mileage out of that park as we can while we are so close to it. Unlike our previous trip where we got completly skunked by the weather this trip was full of clear skies and 80 deg afternoons. We got an early start on saturday and were the first party to get to After Six but a long shot. This was an absolutley beautiful climb with lots of good 5.6 pitches. It was so much fun we decided to decend and do it again only to find four other parties on the route. What a mess! The belayer was litterally pulling there follower up the first pitch with and second party leading directly behind them literally pushing the said followers butt up the rock. I fully regret we did not get a picture. Needless to say we moved on to bag some fun short cracks on the numerous othe great walls. If you can lead 5.7 crack all you need for After Six is a set of cams 0.5-3, double on 0.75,1,2 and sneakers to walk off. I would recommend a little snack and some water because the view at the top is great and why not hang out and enjoy it. We were able to get car to car with a party of three in 4.5 hrs. Our good friend, Eric, tagged along.

Chalking up on the pitch one. What a great climb!


Lou, totally excited after placing our newly purchased #3 cam for the first time ever. The largest we own. Always good to be breaking in new gear.

Eric and Jasmine looking good with an awesome view of the Valley.
Jasmine rocking the last pitch of After Six on lead. She has been working on her trad leading skills and comfort level. Look ma, only 4 pieces in 80 feet.

Day two of climbing. Eric vs. Bush. Unfortunatley the bush won, eric was forced to go around but not before tearing out a few branches and throwing a sling around it for pro. Eric has also been working on his leading skills.

Eric, making good time on lead...post bush.

Fun Facts Quiz: Round 2

Melanie has correctly answered the quiz once again. She is looking like a pretty good candidate to be recieving a baked goodie!
The answer to the questions are as follows...

Sharks: maintian their neutral buoyancy throughout the water column by regulating the amount of squalene, an oil with low specific gravity, is in their liver. As they move to different depths their bodies produce more or metabolise off the oil as necessary to adjust to the new depth.

Rock Fish: These fish maintian their neutral buoyancy with the most intuitive method. They have gas bladders that they can fill or drain air from in order to adjust to different depths.

Halibut: Throwing this fish in the mix was someting of a trick question. Halibut are a ground fish, like flounder, and rarely rise more than a few feet off of the sea bottom. They have no need, and hence no method, of maintaining neutral buoyancy. They must actively swim up in the water column and as soon as they stop swimming they sink to the bottom.


It is time for round two of the animal fun fact quiz. In the ocean an animal can expend a lot of energy moving from one depth to another. Fish have developed unique and really cool ways of maintaining neutral buoyancy at different depths efficiently. We are going to make you work a little bit at this one. It is a multiple part question. The question for this round is: name the primary method rock fish, shark, and halibut use to maintain their position in the water column.

Happy fact finding!