Pinnacles:  Hawaiian Noises, Foreplay, Cosmos, Verdict bolting  11/18-19/89

Got a leisurely start for the Pinnacles at 11:45am Saturday; we went with
Alice and Sean.  Headed straight to the Monolith.  POD (5.11a *) was
crowded -- a guy from Berkeley (Antonio -- knows Bob) was trying to redpoint
it all afternoon without much success.  So I started by leading Hawaiian
Noises 5.10d -- big jugs and not too many steep sections.  Nancy and Alice
also flashed; Sean got just past the crux before pumping out.  Then Antonio's
partner Wayne led Four Play 5.11b * and I followed -- a great route with
a couple of overhanging sections, good incuts and a few jugs just when you
need them (not much harder than POD).  Nancy TRd POD (no falls, her second
5.11), and Alice nearly got it (a short hang before the very last move in
the crux section).  Wayne and I also TRd.  Nancy also led the 5.7 Direct
Route and all followed except me.  News flash:  Ranger Bolts was freed at
5.13a/b (redpoint) by Yabo, Scott Frye, and Jimmy Thornburg.

Subject:      Pinnacles II:  The Sequel

On Saturday night I saw a weather report which predicted rain for next
Thursday, so I convinced Nancy that we should go back to the Pinnacles and
get some climbing in while the weather was still so nice.  We got an earlier
start (9:30) and I led Cosmos 5.11b.  This route has a loose start, then it
traverses along the lip of a roof (nearly Gunks-like).  A short sequential
plus dyno crux with bolt above you, then hand traverse, heel hook, and
hang on for the long 5.7 face.  Unfortunately there was no good anchor on
top for toproping, and Renata was unhappy, so I just cleaned it on rappel.
Nancy was discouraged about trying to belay and watch Renata at the same
time, so we took a hike to the reservoir, checking out Ranger Bolts along
the way (somebody was TRing Bridwell Bolts; maybe it goes already?).
We also figured out where Marmot Rock and Yaks Wall are -- quite an uphill
hike (30 minutes?) from the Monolith.

At the end of the day, I wanted to add bolts to the direct variation on
The Verdict, because I dislike the traverse starts (the normal left one has
a very long reach to a loose hold).  The direct variation has been toproped;
there is chalk on it.  I wanted to do it on the lead, since that's the local
ethic and it's claimed that bolts placed otherwise will be "removed in an
environmentally sensitive manner".  I placed a decent steel nut 8' off the
deck anchored down by a no.1 Friend, and I eyed 2 flakes which might accept
wireds (there did not seem to be any good solid little edges for hooking).
However, it looked a bit too risky, so I went up and clipped the first bolt
on The Verdict and had Nancy belay me with the other end also so I wouldn't
swing too radically.  I went up to the flakes and grabbed a good pocket/bucket
while I fiddled with wires.  The left flake was fairly solid, but was too
parallel and too small to take even my smallest Chouinard stopper (old no.1).
The right flake was loose and I cleaned the nut by just jerking it down.
Therefore I climbed back down (15') and led the regular start, clipping the
second bolt and lowering down to clean the loose rock.  After pulling off
several holds and flakes, including a way flexing chalked bucket (only blank
rock remained behind), it was getting late.  By "knocking" on the rock with
my knuckles, I noticed that the spot where I had originally planned to put
the bolt was rather dubious (hollow).  I found better rock a bit higher,
which was also a better location now that the loose jug was gone and the crux
was a bit higher.  At this point I was wondering if I really wanted to hang
from those wireds (the right flake was still creaking; I couldn't quite rip it
all off with my fingers), and the number of potential witnesses was dropping
rapidly, so I called for the bolt kit.  I had the hole in about 1/2 way when
the locals showed up....  Actually they were really nice and explained the
ground-up ethic, said I could go ahead and put the bolts in if I really wanted
to, but asked me to play by the local rules and give somebody (including myself
) a chance to lead it and place the bolts with hooks.  I was really on the
fence, not wanting to lead it that way myself, but willing to wait some amount
of time if somebody was really jazzed about leading it themselves from the
ground up.  But after they left I thought I might as well finish and see if
anybody would really chop the bolts.  After I put the first one in it was quite
dark and Nancy was ready to go and defending their stance.  So then I started
feeling guilty and I changed my mind and took the bolt back out!  Fortunately
it was a Rawl torque bolt, so this just involved just unscrewing the bolt and
no extra damage was done to the rock.  However, I didn't have the time or the
tools to remove the sleeve and cone, so I guess I'll finish removing it next
time I'm there if somebody else hasn't done it already.  On the other hand,
maybe I'll go back on rappel and test some nut placements; also with a Fish
hook I might be able to get the first bolt in.

As Dan would say, I went home with my tail between my legs.

Clint