On Saturday I climbed at the Balconies with Evan:
- Lava Falls (both pitches).  My second rope was short, so we had to walk
all the way to Hook and Drill to rap off.
- looked for "Knifeblade arete" (new route).  Didn't find it.
  Later I got a full description of this route from Norman Boles.
- No Sense of Measure (first pitch).  Pretty good.  I had my troubles, though:
  - hung on 2nd bolt after many tries, to look for holds
  - grabbed 2nd to last bolt while downclimbing
  - grabbed last bolt to clip in
  Was glad I was able to make it to the belay.  My leading head is getting
better; I'm in reasonable physical shape, although my forearms are not
as good as they can be.
- Even Coyotes Like it Doggie Style.  Evan tried to lead this, but holds
have broken off the top part.  I toproped it, thought it was more 5.11a than
5.10a.
- Escape from Soledad.  Evan toproped just before dark.

Sunday:
Evan and Ian did:
- Salathe'/Burnette Bolt Variation
- Lifeline
- Snail
- Lonesome Dove (Frog)
I hiked over to Crud and Mud.  Found one newly bolted route -- 1 bolt 8' off
ground, then 60' of soloing to anchor -- not worth doing.  Didn't find any
good route possibilities there.  There is one section of good rock about 15-25'
high where 2 routes could be done; just too short to be worth the walk.

On our direct start to Fear and Perspiration
(10% Inspiration/90% Perspiration?), I added the 3rd bolt that we had
discussed, using aid from the second bolt (about 3.5' above the 2nd bolt).
I rope soloed to get there -- fairly fun.  I also placed a bolt down low
to protect the loose pillar.  When I have mantled onto that pillar, footholds,
etc. have usually blown off, so I thought this was a good idea.  It's a long
ways from help, and it might be bad if somebody blew off the pillar trying
to reach our original first bolt.

Evan led the first 3 bolts on Unabomber/whatever_we_are_calling_it, and
I led the rest.  While rapping off, I sealed all the unsealed bolts.
Should we add one more bolt on this, between the last bolt and the anchor?
It seems a bit runout (even if one brings a TCU), and if we put in a bolt,
we could keep the route on less licheny rock out left.

Evan toproped Sunwheel on the hike back, with no falls.

I'm eager to work on that new route on the Frog.  But I don't know
when it will happen.  I can't climb next weekend, since I'll either
be in the Valley with family, or it would be "2 weekends in a row".
Can't really climb on 11/9, either, since I have plans for the Valley
on 11/16 with Evan (and 11/9 would make that 2 in a row).  That also
rules out 11/23.  On 11/30, it's basically Thanksgiving, and Nancy will
be coming off gum surgery, so I'll need to stick around).  That
wipes out November.  I'm psyched to try in December, though.

Clint