Yosemite - Cookie - Bev's Tower, Wheat Thin, Butterfingers,
           Hardd, Outer Limits - 5/20/06 - Chris

We downgraded our weekend plan to a day trip, since there was a 70% chance
of rain for Sunday.  So we headed straight for the Cookie to get the
quality pitches in!  We drove up on Saturday morning with Sam and Nicolas,
and met Darko, Jonny, and Peter at the parking for the Cookie at 9:45am.

Nicolas and Sam did the Cleft (with pitch 1 variation to the left to avoid
the ow), and encountered much poison oak on the descent.

Jonny, Darko, and Peter did Meatgrinder and set up a toprope for some of
their friends who showed up a bit later.

I climbed with Chris and led everything, as she was a bit out of shape from
many instructional weekends and the long wet spring.

1. Bev's Tower 5.10a - no surprises on this classic.  I can tell when I'm
in shape, as I can lead this without getting too gripped.
  Chris led the traverse over to the belay for Wheat Thin.

2. Wheat Thin 5.10b.  It was nice to be able to lead this, after having
to back off it last time in March with Debby because it was wet.  I was also
in much better shape this time, but it still took a little time to arrange
the pro for the lower section.  The crux went fine, and the upper part
was fun as well.  Chris had no troubles following this classic.

3. Butterfingers 5.11a
There was a fixed wired nut at the crux, and we were feeling pretty fresh,
so we went for this nice airy finish.  I was not fully solid on the crux
(liebacking up onto the foothold when the crack petered out),
but reasonably OK, and got a #2 Rock and #0 TCU in for pro.  Then I was
able to push the rack out to the side, lean in and relax for a good rest.
After the long reach right to the handjam, I was hopeful that I would be
able to crank past the little roof without hanging like I had last March.
I managed to find a kneebar for my left leg under the roof which made all
the difference - I could rest on it and get a solid #1.5 Friend in above
the roof.  Then it was a short move to reach the killer tapering jam.
The thin hands went OK, but when the crack started leaning right I was
having trouble.  I managed to work a rest there and push a #2 Friend high.
Then it was just a couple of pullups to get my left foot high into the crack
and then quickly up onto knobs/footholds.  Chris had one fall/hang on the
crux, then got established on the foothold.  She not tall enough to make
the long reach to the right, so after trying various options, swung right
to continue.  She was solid on the upper handjams, without tape.

4. Hardd 5.11a
I led this old classic while Chris was attacked by a cloud of mosquitoes.
The lower wide section went well, and I paused at a rest to take off my
turtleneck to avoid the inevitable heat on the enduro finish.
I felt a little scared on the traverse right, so I clipped short into the
cam.  I then made the move, but the drag was bad and the cam walked into
the crack before I could unclip the short biner.  I worked a couple of
rests before heading up the final left-leaning crack.  It had been awhile,
and I was pleased there were so many great handjams!  Finally it thinned
down to fingers (with footholds) as expected, and I hung on to place a TCU,
and resisted the temptation to grab it.  This felt good, and I also managed
to place a #6 Rock higher to protect the final moves.
Chris did the wide section after a little beta to use only her right arm
in the crack.  She nearly made it free, but got really pumped in the
crux and had a couple of hangs.  Not bad for essentially off the couch!

5. Outer Limits 5.10b
Late in the day, this became free as other folks were working Crack-a-go-go
and Hardd on a toprope.  So I led up it to finish the day with another classic.
No surprises here, except for a slimy streak just right of the crack which
I got my hand in once as I was following my "dry conditions" beta bit too
closely!  It was nice to feel fit on this one (as opposed to last March
when I got pumped on it) - 2 weeks at Indian Creek clearly made a difference!
Chris had a fall on the (lower) technical crux, and a couple of hangs up
high, as it is hard to stay fresh for the whole day when you haven't been
out climbing steep stuff!  But pretty respectable for a first hard outing
of the season.