Last Friday evening, my buddy Dave and I loaded into my Previa and hit the road, aiming for the might Mokolume River. To be more specific, we were planning to utilize some great autumn California weather and climb some routes on the (perhaps) least-visited crags in the area: Calaveras and Hammer Domes.
Calaveras Dome ("Cal Dome") is about 1200 feet in height, and the easiest route is free at ~5.9. There are numerous other, harder options, but given our fitness, Dave and I chose "Sands of Time," an excellent 5.9 that climbs up the left side of the Dome. Starting out in a dirty-ish dihedral, with a good bit of wide, after 3 pitches we were in the neck of the "hourglass" for which the route is named. Dave led the next wide pitch, getting lost in the process... and I had the pleasure of leading pitch 5, 165 feet of clean, sustained 5.8. I say with some confidence that this is the best pitch of its grade in the state, if not the country. Seriously.
One more pitch of runout slab, and we topped out on Bonsai Ledge, from where we rappelled. One rap down a rope-eating gully, another 200' rap to an anchor on "Silk Road," and 2 more easy raps to the ground. The dog was happy to see us.
No comments:
Post a Comment