Valley - Feb 11-12th - Dan U, Wyatt et al

Durbs and I headed to the Valley after a week of email spray about "New Dimensions" and "Nabisco Wall". Temps were amazing the entire weekend, and everything we got on in the lower Merced was dry.

Arrived at Arch on saturday to find a party already on New Dimensions, so we headed to Gripper, where Dan had little trouble with the tricky first pitch. I took P2 and P3, thoroughly enjoying the handcrack on p3. We rapped, and then Dan had a go at Leanie Meanie, and got a little shut down by the crux first section. Wanting to save him the embarassment of having to belay me on what was sure to be a quick send, I suggested we instead head over to New Dimensions, where I proceeded to get my ass handed to me by p1. We cleverly escaped right ("too late in the day"), and Dan finished the day by styling Midterm, which I most definitely did not style on TR. We walked out as it was getting dark.

We had a hunch we'd find Wyatt and crew standing in the dark at the Cookie parking area, and sho nuff. Hit the Cedar Lodge for dinner with Wyatt, Patrick, and Jimmy. Patrick sweet-talked Darla (Cedar Lodge fixture) into a free beer somehow.

Hit the Cookie the next morning. "Warmed up" on Catchy, which felt a lot harder than last time, and then Dan led Catchy Corner clean. That thing is pumpy. Then I had a go at Hardd, and was completely shut down by the quasi-OW down low, not being able to commit to stepping my feet up with a cam at my waist. Dan took over and battled it to the chains cleanly (party next to us: "that guy is a hero! i can't believe he's still up there!"). I followed cleanly, cursing myself for wussing on the OW earlier. Definitely need to come back and check out the second pitch.

Wyatt et al showed up, and both Wyatt and Patrick had a go at leading the fearsome Crack-a-go-go, and I got to take some pictures and eventually follow it. Both took some falls on dicey gear down low but remained somehow unfazed (vs., say, my earlier performance on Hardd). I got to take some pictures:

Wyatt is not actually on toprope - that thing behind him is some random fixed line.

Jimmy had a couple of goes at leading the horrendously steep Cookie Monster, almost getting it clean. Durbs followed on one occasion, and later (in the safety of the car) intimated that "it would probably go".