Report on 9 days in Yosemite with Dan Nguyen  10/88
  Moratorium, Hot Line, Thread of Life

Dan flew out on Thursday night.  He says his flight priorities are
switched now -- he used to prefer direct flights, but now he looks for
flights with layovers.  This way he can walk around and relieve the back
pain from his hairline vertebra fracture (acheived on Foops).  Yes, we
really had to call ourselves the March of Dimes Climbing Team this time.

On Friday we drove in and did Mr. Natural and Lonely Dancer.  The last
climb became a minor epic, as I buried a #1 Rock, and Dan was following
in near darkness.  We had to stumble out and return with headlamps to
clean it on aid.  I further complicated things by hiding the car key
under a rock, and Dan had to buttonhole a ranger with flashlight so we
could locate the rock!

The next day we ran into 5 French guys in a Plymouth Fury station wagon,
and we decided to show them around the Valley.  They stayed with us for
free at the El Cap Hilton, and we did a fair amount of climbing together.

10/8  Watched the French guys TR and lead (new Metolius bolts) routes on
the Knobby Wall.  Near the end of the day, Dan, I and Philipe did Waverly
Wafer, but it was getting dark, so we didn't do Wheat Thin + Butterfingers.

10/9  Delayed in morning, trying to get the station wagon started --
finally bought some starter fluid (ether) which did the trick.  Did the
Moratorium, with Philipe and Dominique following behind us.  I thought
I was doing the crux when I led pitch 2, and I grabbed a piece backing
off on my first attempt, but on my 2nd attempt I bridged it by putting
both feet on the right wall and my shoulder against the corner on the
left wall!  Dan grabbed a piece on the 5.11b corner -- he was trying to
use the crack too much instead of "Tubing".  We left the pro' in on the
5.11b corner for the French guys.

10/10  Rest day.  We watched the French guys TR The Stigma, and we tried
to TR Short Circuit (5.11c) in the afternoon.  I called Nancy, since it
was our wedding anniversary.  The baby is kicking a lot these days!

10/11  Hot Line.  Dan had been wanting this one for a long time,
especially after he swam across the Merced on an unsuccessful crossing
attempt in 5/87.  The Merced is hardling flowing this year -- at one
point in the trip, some tourists asked us where Yosemite Falls was (they
thought they had missed it, since it doesn't even have a trickle).  Dan
freed the first half of pitch 2, then aided.  I did about the same, but
I freed the last 6 feet (good fingerlocks) and also did the pendulum
moves free after a rest (a little of my weight was on the rope, though).
I can see how it would be 5.12a after doing the 5.11c(?) crack climbing
which we aided -- it would be very pumper.  I had a minor epic on the
hand crack, when my tape job ripped in half just as I was reaching the
rest after the thin hands section.  My hand was slipping badly, so I had
to desperately ram in a Friend and grab it to prevent a plummet.  We had
the party below tie my roll of tape onto the haul line, and after a quick
repair, the rest of the pitch went just fine.  Dan had some trouble on
the chimney/stem pitch above, since he had short and no knee pads.  We
skipped the 5.10d bombay pitch again, and got down with much daylight
remaining (vs. dark on my last 2 ascents).

10/12  Semi-rest day.  Followed Dan on Sherrie's Crack, and spent the
remainder of the day watching the French guys on Knob Job, The Tube, etc.

10/13  Did a new start, drilling 2 5/16" bolts, to Body Coordinates.
That morning, I had gone on a booty hunt along El Cap's base, picking up
3 pitons and 3 biners, and I also noticed a rope plus new bolts just left
of Reed's Leads.  It was Charles Cole and Rusty Reno putting up a new
route (5.11d?), which they eventually finished after 3 days.  Charles
mentioned that he wanted to do a new route right of Body Coordinates, so
I cleaned out the groove there which I had always had my eye on, but I
had always thought it would be too hard.

10/14  Did a new route (Thread of Life 5.10d) up the groove and face
above.  The groove went clean on RPs, small stoppers, and Friends,
and to my surprise, the roof and face also went free (1 fixed knifeblade
piton and 4 bolts plus belay anchor).  Drilled my first bolt from a small
stance (large sloping holds, less than the ledge I'm used to).  Had to
borrow/buy 3 bolts from Charles when we ran out.  I would not have tried
the roof and face had it not been for Charles, who I'm sure could have
completed the pitch, even though he said "it looks pretty steep and blank
up there."  I'm still not sure if he was sandbagging me!

10/15  A final day/rest day in El Cap Meadows, soaking up rays, watching
wall climbers and parachutists -- 2 at dawn, 3 at 1pm.  Left early,
making it back to Palo Alto in time for Dan's last sushi dinner for a
long time.

Clint