Yosemite:  Fantasy trip report   10/90
Subject:      Clint's fantasy trip report

Finished TSP 4.2 and won the lottery, so I headed to the Valley with Nancy
and Renata.  Led Short Circuit and Meltdown.  Stopped in at Camp 4 to check
out the scene, and bouldered out Midnight Lightning.  Seem to have caught the
attention of Werner, who invited me out for a round on the soloing circuit.
After this warmup, we simo'ed Astroman, with a new finish on the Electric
Ladyland headwall.  Retired early to a spare wigwam in the rescue site.
Rose at dawn and fired the Nose in 5:16, establishing a new speed record.
Spent remainder of the day firing testpieces at the Cookie.  Got Cookie Cutter
barely on flash, although problem seems to be that I forgot to exit onto
Twilight Zone, instead liebacking the upper seam.  Werner introduced me to
Pete, and the next day we tried for the second free ascent of the Salathe'.
We went light, with just one 9mm and a single set of units.  Got tired on the
headwall, but we made it.  Nearly blew following the final ow when I got pumped
on lieback.  Pete was jumping up and down like a little kid on top.  Johnny B
and Ronbo had been watching up with a telescope from El Cap Meadow, and we had
a big pizza party in Camp 4.  The next day we all went up (Werner, too) for a
go at Magic Mushroom.  Nancy even brought Renata up in a small haul bag to
cheer us on.  It was quick going up past Grey Ledges, but the main
headwall crack consumed several hours of yoyo siege tactics before it went.
Above this, random flakes barely provided a free connection to the upper
dihedral.  The gang was getting excited as pitch after pitch barely went free
up the corners in the waning afternoon light.  Finally we arrived on
Chickenhead and feasted on booty food and water before charging up the final
easier pitches.  During the day, we had noticed smoke on the Valley floor and
a lot of traffic leaving the valley.  Just as we reached the top, a massive
quake shook the Valley for a full 3 minutes.  We could see that massive slides
had blocked all entrances to the Valley, but most crags stood firm.  Looking
up Valley, we saw that a massive fire had burned earlier in the day, obviously
causing an evacuation of all persons from the Valley.  All structures that were
not burned down got levelled by the quake, so it was a total scene of
destruction.  The Valley floor was deserted except for some climbers and a
group of Indians who had hidden themselves and avoided the evacuation orders.
On the car radio we learned that the quake had also levelled the Pinnacles
but left most cities relatively untouched.  The roads into the Valley were
missing several large sections and would not be repairable for several years.
We planted crops and hid from helicopter flights in our boulder caves.
Mornings dawned silent and clear where tourists had once burned plastic.
Bears returned and deer once again became shy.  The Valley had come full circle