Last Saturday I went to the Pinnacles East Side with Yves Briere.
Yves just arrived at Stanford for a one year post-doc in robotics;
this was his first climbing in the US, and he is hoping to do a lot
of climbing during his stay (including long Yosemite routes, etc.).
He's looking for partners, including mid-week action, too.  He's
on-sighted 7a/7b sport, but he also likes long routes, wants to
improve on cracks, etc.  So if any of you are also looking for
partners, send him some email (briere@flamingo.stanford.edu),
and I'm sure you'll have as much fun as we did.

The weather was alternating clouds with some sun, and we saw many of
the "usual suspects":  Michael Brodesky, Mike Arrechiga, plus Tom ____ and
Helen ____ of RCS/Handley Rock.  This was my first climbing on real rock
since Thanksgiving -- the day was Nancy's birthday present to me (an escape
from my usual child-tending weekends).
We got a great pump doing the usual routes familiar to me:
Discovery Wall:
- The Wet Kiss 5.9 (C led)  Rock still slightly cold this early in the day.
- Stupendous Man 5.10a (Y)
- Mammary Pump 5.11b/5.10c (C)  (5.10c if you have it wired like I do)
  I may have the moves wired, but mentally I was somewhat confused --
  after I did the crux, I took a quickdraw and reached up to clip, but
  then I realized that the bolt was another 8' higher!
- Broken Arrow 5.10c (Y)
- The Verdict 5.11c/5.11a (Y, hangs at top 2 bolts, a good on-sight effort)
Monolith:
   Yves said that the P.O.D. wall reminded him very much of "l'Elephantine"
   (spelling?) at Montserrat (Spain) where he has climbed a lot.
- Foreplay 5.11a/b (C, hang at second to last bolt)
  Confused again, I tried the crux but didn't get my feet high enough the
  first time, so I downclimbed and rested free near the bolt.  Up again,
  did the crux, and had the huge knobs.  I looked way up above for the
  next bolt but saw nothing!  Unwilling to attempt the next moves with
  my flamed forearms, I downclimbed back to the bolt and hung.  Then I
  looked up and realized that the bolt was just to the right of the big
  knobs I had been holding....  "A little knowledge is dangerous" --
  I thought I had it wired and wasn't looking around enough.  Sort of
  a toprope mentality; it had been awhile since I had led it.  I went back
  up and was barely able to clip it, but finished the lead.
    I also forgot to give Yves beta as I led it (I guess I was too worried
  about the lead...), so he had difficulty finding the rest in the pod,
  and he hung on the top 2 bolts.
- P.O.D. 5.11a TR  Both of us barely got it.  It seems harder every time
  I try it, with few positive knobs until after the crux.
- Hawaiian Noises 5.10d/5.10b TR  I had to hang at the crux - latched the
  big knob but couldn't pull up on it.  Yves fired it.
- TR between P.O.D. and Hawaiian Noises 5.10d  I got it with one hang.
   At this point it was still fairly early (i.e. sun on the belay boulder),
   but we were so pumped out that we just looked at a few routes and
   hiked out.
A great workout, and Nancy says I can climb one day (every other weekend),
so I have high hopes of getting in shape, finishing a couple of new route
projects, visiting Jailhouse, etc.