Yosemite - Parkline Slab, Slab Happy Pinnacle, 3/27-28/04 - Lin Murphy Saturday - we continued our exploration of Parkline Slab. We did a combination of Color Me Gone and Crossover. p1. I intended to do the left side of the flake on pitch one (Crossover). After clipping 2 bolts on a new route to the left, I tried to start the left side, but pro was a shallow #0 TCU and the moves looked harder than 5.8, so I managed to traverse straight right to the right side of the flake. This was protected 5.8 as advertised. p2. The topo offers 2 choices for the next pitch, both 5.9. On the left is a slab and series of shallow thin cracks, with a new bolt to reach the first seam. Lin chose the right hand route, where the cracks looked deeper. She did the initial face and got some pro in the crack, but the moves were pretty glassy and she couldn't quite reach some higher pro and holds. So she came down and I tried it. After trying the glassy crack, I couldn't do the moves at 5.9 or higher either. So I tried the ramp to the left/middle seam. Here I was able to reach high and place a good wired nut, which protected a long reach to good shelf that led back to the right crack. After cleaning a little lichen from a few footholds, I was able to make a few 5.9 moves past a booty wired nut and biner, to easier moves up the crack. I reached the fixed belay shown on the topo, but it was rusty pins and a rusty wired nut, so I went back to the right crack and placed good gear with a good stance. p3. Lin led a long 5.8/5.9 thin crack pitch, which is on the face just right of a corner crack with some moss hummocks. This was a nice pitch, with a crux where the crack is intermittent that seemed more 5.9 than 5.8. The pitch ended at 2 fixed pins back in the corner crack. Lin cut the old slings to clip in, and we replaced them with slings we had thinned out from other belay anchors from the previous weekend. We rapped to the 3/8" bolted station on the left, then one more rap to the ground, fixing up the anchor slings as we went down. new route 5.9, 13x. I led this route, which goes directly above where we started Crossover. It is 1/2" stainless bolts, apparently placed on rappel (judged by me, as a couple of the bolts would be a little higher if they were placed from stance). I thought it was about 5.9 (Lin thought 10-). I was fairly gripped, not being very confident on slab. At least there were plenty of bolts so it was not runout like other routes in the area. There is a second pitch, and an alternative first pitch to the left, but it was getting late, so we headed down. Sunday. Our original plan was to do the Moratorium, but we were both curious about Slab Happy Pinnacle, so we hiked up to it instead. The 3rd class involves about 3 sections of exposed steep moves on jugs, interspersed with steep sloped with dry leaves. The base was a beautiful gravel platform, with a little moss in the shade. The guidebook warned that Horsetail Falls can blow onto the routes, and we felt a few drops occasionally, but it was not a problem. 1. Diehardral 5.10c - attempt. I tried to lead this. I clipped 2 fixed pins, then got a #2.5 Friend in. I relaxed in my stem slightly and popped off, falling about a foot and removing a little skin from the first knuckle on my thumb. I lowered down, then climbed back up, got a flared hand jam above the Friend, and placed a #2 Friend slightly higher, which I then hung from. After another hang I manged to place a #2 TCU above the handjam/jug, with a long runner attached. I hung from this and examined the holds out to the left. There was indeed a reachable hold, but few holds below or above it on gold glassy rock, so I knew I couldn't do this at 5.10c. It looked harder than 5.10c to continue above, so I down aided to clean the gear. After returning home and reading the description in the Roper guide, he says you climb up 35' before making the blind reach to the left. This information would have been helpful (I wasn't that high yet, and it did look feasible though hard to climb higher in the crack). 2. Center Route 5.10b - attempt. Lin was willing to try leading this, but she couldn't clip the fixed pin in the arch which protects the moves to the first bolt (the bolt had a long sling to make clipping easier). We could also see the first 2 bolts were stainless Petzls, while the remaining 2-3 were old 1/4". I tied in and managed to clip the pin, by standing on a good knob with my right foot, and heel hooking the small arete with my left foot to enable me to stand up tall (my right hand was on the main arete well to the right). I then made a move into a stem, and clipped a biner into the cheater sling on the first bolt. I grabbed the sling to get the rope in, as I was not feeling all that confident. I lowered down, cleaning the gear below the pin. Lin went up. She made some nice moves to get established on the foothold on the arete, and clipped in a special quickdraw I had made from a tripled runner, locking biner and 2 ovals. But she didn't clip the locking biner into the bolt hanger, so I complained and she eventually had to hang to get it straightened out. (The goal had been to make a very bombproof quickdraw, because it was a long ways to the second bolt). After it was set up, she found she couldn't make the next move, so she put her foot in a sling on the bolt to get started. Then she made some moves and got established on a semidecent knob. But the rock is steep, so it was a tenuous position. She worked quickly to try to place some gear in a shallow pin scar. After some tries, she managed to get a #0 TCU in, placed mostly upside down. Not very confidence inspiring. She was also concerned that if she made the high step onto the next knob, she might not be able to reach the bolt above it, and the fall could be rather bad if the TCU failed. So she lowered on the TCU, which fortunately held. I tied in and continued the siege. Upon reaching the bolt, I realized the belay rope was crossed, and I had to hang to straighten it out. Then I made some hard moves up onto the knob which Lin had stood on. I put my foot on the next knob, but didn't think I could make the high step onto it. The only hand holds were a vertical sidecling 12" above the knob and a shallow/flaring/useless pin scar 12" higher. I briefly considered putting a sling on the knob, but it was not very positive, so I decided to try aiding on the TCU instead. I looked away while weighting it, but it stayed put. I then reached up using a cheater stick which Lin had made for me, and was able to clip the bolt. Whew! I stood up on the knob. Now I could see that I could not reach the next big knob, about 2' higher than my outstretched hands! There were a couple of pinch-grip type knobs out to the right, which I could barely reach, but they did not seem to offer 5.10b moves, so the route was staying very tough for 5.10b! So I just yarded on the bolt to reach the big knob, and grabbed further good knobs above to get standing on it. Up next was a traverse left on a series of knobs. I climbed up a little and slung a nice positive horn to protect this. The moves were reasonable with the overhead protection, and soon I was at a 1/4" bolt. It was not very rusted with an SMC hanger, which I thought was puzzling, since I knew the FA was done in the early 60s. I tried the moves out left of the bolt, but I could barely reach some finger holds at the limit of my reach, and the footholds were lousy slopers, so I declined to risk a fall here. I brought up the bolt kit and replaced the bolt, using my tuning fork, to remove the 1/4" x 1" bolt. I replaced it with a stainless 3/8" x 2.25" Rawlbolt with ASCA hanger (which I had recently got from Bruce Hildenbrand). At this point it was getting late, so I rapped off, cleaning the pitch. Lin started down the descent shortly after 5pm, eager to dispense with the 3rd class before it got dark. I followed shortly after, and I joined her at the car before dark (nice to do the hike in daylight!). Checking the guidebook description the next morning, I realized the "FFA" made in 1974 by Clevenger, Meyers, and Carter placed the 3rd and higher bolts. The 1961 climb did not include the first bolt, and aided on horns and thin pins to what is now the second bolt (which the Roper guide described as being 35' up). It then traversed *right* on 5.9 past 2 old bolts (which we could see) to the bottom of the long vertical crack.