Needles - July 29-31 2006 - SAC

Sam Chang, Nicolas Gast, Fortune, Mike Kerzhner and I got together
for a SAC informal trip to the Needles, with Sam, Nicolas and Fortune
going for 2 days, while Mike and I stayed on for Monday as well.
We met at 6pm Friday night for the 5.5 hour drive, and were delayed
a bit as Sam and I had to login at the local computer lab to find
Nicolas' address.  We camped at the ridge west of the end-of-road
campsites, with Sam and company arriving at 12:30, and Mike and I
arriving at 1am after a few stops to secure food in Los Banos and
Fresno.  The ants were slightly bothersome where we slept, but it
was quiet and we didn't have to bother the folks camped at the
regular sites.

Saturday:  We got a fairly leisurely start and met Al from Mammoth,
who had arrived at 4am.  I had met him last October briefly at a
Camp 4 campfire when Claire and I had given Shannon a ride to
Yosemite.  I asked him about Shannon, and he said she saw a 100 degree
forecast for Needles, so she headed for Squamish instead.
We walked in briskly to the Witch/Sorcerer notch and I picked up the gear
I had cached from the previous weekend with Debbie.
1. Innersanctum 5.9+:  Sam, Nicolas and Mike climbed this fairly
quickly, with Sam leading the first pitch with its interesting runout.
2. Witch Doctor p1 5.9:  I led this full 60m pitch with a lot of
liebacking, and Fortune followed nicely.  It was her first time
removing cams, and she had no problems with that.  She did find
the long pitch a bit tiring, though, and had her doubts about whether
she'd be able to last for the other pitches.  I led a short pitch
to move the belay up to where we could see the other route.  She
came up and decided that this was probably not the best spot for
her first multipitch climb, so we moved down to a bolt belay.
We saw a couple of guys top out on the Wizard; we found out later
it was Joel and Matt, who had done the chimney and then the long thin
5.9 corner (much backcleaning of a blue Alien).
3. Phosphorescent Flow 5.9+:  I toproped this from the bolt belay.
It's a nice arete with many positive holds, bolted from free stances.
Rather few bolts, though, so it could be a scary lead.  Fortune
elected to skip it, so she rapped the single line to the ground,
and I did 2 rappels, using a lower anchor with a 100' rappel down
to 3rd class terrain.  We returned to our packs, which were at
the level area between Thin Ice and Igor Unchained.
4. Thin Ice 5.10b:  Mike and Nicolas did a nice job of climbing this.
Their descent was a bit epic, though, as the rappel from the top
hung up on a high thin flake, and Mike had to lead up on pro behind
a fragile flake to free it.
5. Igor Unchained 5.9:  Sam led the long first pitch and Fortune
followed the first 30' but was stopped by a tricky move where the
crack is still shallow (before the long section of hand jamming).
So she lowered down, and took photos while I followed Sam.  Sam
led the second pitch, and the steep start to the headwall pitch,
but was feeling a bit tired at that point, so he lowered back to
the belay ledge and I led to the top as a 175' pitch (on one end
of Nicolas' 100m bicolor rope).  Fortune got a bit cold waiting for
us at the windy notch, but fortunately Joel and Matt happened by
and lent her a jacket.
We cached most of our gear at the notch and walked out to the cars.
Sam and Fortune cached their gear at the base of the switchbacks,
in preparation for an ascent of Magic Dragon on Sunday.  At this
point I realized I had cached a bit too much gear back at the notch -
my car keys!  So I walked back to get them in the dark.  By the time
I reached the cars it was 11:30....  We drove back to the ridge where
Mike cooked some ramen and I downed my usual can of ravioli.

Sunday.  We talked with Joel in the morning - he was taking a rest
day, after having arrived on Thursday and was staying until Tuesday.
We hiked back to the crags, with Mike and I bringing our
sleeping stuff and a little food for Sunday night/Monday.
Sam and Fortune headed down for Magic Dragon / Strange Brew, while the
rest of us went back to the notch.
1. Airy Interlude 5.10a:  Nobody was on this classic, so we headed up
it, with Mike leading the first pitch, and Nicolas taking the next two.
I scrambled out left of the Igor ramp belay to get some photos of
Nicolas and Mike on the second pitch traverse.  I also got some of
Anna (from Argentina) on the Igor headwall crack.
Sam was waiting at the notch when we descended.  His descent with
Fortune towards the base of Magic Dragon had been a bit too scary
for her, so she decided to hang up climbing for the day, and he came
over to join us.
2. The Howling 5.10a:  Nicolas and Sam went to climb this; I haven't
heard how it went yet.
3. Atlantis 5.11:  Mike and I did this classic.  I had been eyeing it
on every Needles trip the past 2 years, and Mike had noticed this as well!
[more later]
4. Ankles Away 5.11d:  Al from Mammoth (aka "Shannon's Sherpa") gave this
a very strong onsight try, which we observed from over on Atlantis.
First he led through the scary lower stemming corner.  At one point on
the lower corner he gave out a huge whoop and I assumed he had taken a
whipper.  But no, he's just very enthusiastic and vocal!  Instead of
bringing his partner up to the bolt belay and ledge atop the lower corner,
Al just clipped the belay and headed out on the thin crack to combine both
into a long pitch.  He made good progress up the intermittent crack,
until a giant whoop and whirling arms ("rolling down the windows")
accompanied a huge whipper.  He was OK and went back up for another go
with the same wild result.  We talked with Al at the notch, and he
was simply out of gear, needing another green Alien at that point.
Mike and I had a pleasant and leisurely short stroll to our minimal
campsite at the Djinn/Magician saddle.

Monday.
1. Brute Force / Wicked 5.10b A0:
2. Fancy Free 5.10b: