Yosemite:  Astroman (to the Harding Slot)   4/28/91
Subject:      Astroboys

   Buoyed by recent success at the Cookie, John Imbrie and I went for Astroman
as a further warmup for the Nose and attempt at a one-day classic.  However,
I still could not free the entrance moves into the Harding Slot, so we bailed,
having only completed the first 6 pitches ("Astroboy").
   We hiked up Saturday night, and awoke at dawn, having breakfast and taping
up in our bags.  We started up at 7am when the sun was starting to come down
the wall.  John led the first 2, and we carried our water and headlamps as
fanny packs.  We hauled them on the remaining pitches, but they were light
enough (1 liter for me, which I drank little of) to prevent my dreaded arm
cramps (we also hauled over 2 biners using hands pulling up and down which
helped and holds promise for the West Face).  The 3rd was tough without a real
warmup -- I made it, but John had hangs.  I managed to get focused for the 4th
and pulled off the free lead -- definitely one of the highlights of my climbing
career.  Having been on it twice before helped a lot, since I knew exactly
where the rests were (the key was finding a handjam rest midway on the #2
Friend section, and knowing that the flake/handjam rest was not far above).
My small hand size also helped, as I can straitforwardly hand jam the lower
half to the main rest.  John did not fit so well, so he liebacked the first
section as Lin Murphy had last time.  He flamed out not far about the main
rest, though, and took several hangs liebacking to the belay.  Feeling dizzy
like low blood sugar, he munched on a banana.  I guess he should have rested
more first, as a few moves up the next pitch his stomach objected and I ducked
while he ejected stuff into space.  He recovered quickly, though, and I led
the long hand/fist pitch (actually I had not led this free before, taking a
hang at the fist section, but I was ready for it this time).  John styled the
lower flare, but took a hang at the awkward roof/face holds section.  He led
the 6th, where I directed him left of the flake (less strenuous but delicate
and scary as he found no pro and was right above the belay).  On the Slot, I
got to the small ledge just below the flare (as before), but even with left-
side-in beta I couldn't get established in the flare.  I got to a bucket but
couldn't make my feet or knees stick.  Oh well, guess I'm just not cut out
for that pitch.  Unwilling to aid 25' like last time, and having forgotten my
kneepads, we rapped.  New bolts have been place at 2 of the stations, which
made this easier than last time.  We finished out the day with the first 2
pitches of Serenity Crack before the sun went down and the wind picked up
(as usual up there).