Late Thursday night, Mr. Mud said Chris was thinking about a possibility (among others) of going to Yosemite for a day trip to do Serenity and Sons, except that he didn’t have a partner yet. Then a light bulb went off in his head and he said me “you can follow him up the climb.” […]

Our friend Mike’s wedding brought us back to Yosemite. Initially, Mike asked to climb with Erik on his wedding day just like how Erik climbed The Rostrum with Steve the morning of his/our wedding. However, when we got to the valley, Mike was no where to be found. It turned out that he was so […]

(Skip the trip report and jump to Beta Section) On the Saturday morning of this Labor Day weekend, we drove out of the bay area and headed straight to the Rostrum. Recently, our friend had tried to remind us that there were other climbs in Yosemite. It’s not that we had forgotten that; rather, the […]

I had to take a pause and put my cup down on the 50-foot walk from the break room to my desk this morning because my fingers could not bear the burning pain from carrying that cup of warm water. Every finger tip is glowing red with unusual fullness. In a day or two, they […]

We climbed five pitches on the Rostrum and six pitches on Kor-Beck; hence, incomplete (as the title suggested). Maybe we are getting old because getting an early start seems to get harder and harder. When we arrived at the top of the Rostrum at 8am, I thought for sure I would see a line of […]

Erik and I had been away from real climbing at Yosemite for so long (two years?) and were itching to get back on some multi-pitch climbs. We were having a hard time picking one though because his favorite, the Rostrum, was still closed in order to provide privacy to a few big birds making babies, […]

Not having time to pack on Friday before work, so we decided to leave on Saturday morning. It’s been a while since we visited Yosemite last time, and I had forgotten how long of a drive it was. We didn’t arrive at Ron and Liz’s Yosemite Blue Butterfly Inn until past ten. It was a […]

Yes, I did it again, and better 🙂 Remember how excited I was when I did it last time? after two unsuccessful attempts, finally I managed to get up Generator Crack. However, I had to start off the tree because I couldn’t figure out how to get up the first five feet or so. But […]

Updated in 2017: For more elaborate beta, check out my new post (12 years later): What I know about Astroman… unsolicited beta Actually Astroman is perfect the way it is — it doesn’t need improvement. But we do, and we did improve. Erik and I got back on the climb again this Saturday. We both did […]

Updated in 2017: For more elaborate beta, check out my new post (12 years later): What I know about Astroman… unsolicited beta How many hard 5.11s can one handle in a weekend? Let me make it clear: That was Erik’s idea; I had nothing to do with it. I was too normal to come up with […]

Oh, my gosh! I was on the brink of freaking out. Well, maybe not that bad, but I did toss and turn for more than two hours on Wednesday night worrying about this trip. East Buttress of El Cap is a long route. The crux move on the route is rated 5.10b, my limit in […]

Lucky Weekend by Debby My good friend Mei and I decided to go climbing together for the weekend. As was typical, we agreed on the weekend, but didn’t bother to finalize any details about location, time, or anything else. Thursday night, we decided that we should go up late on Saturday (so we could have […]

It is not looking promising. I need a climbing partner for this weekend, but I’ve been crossing out one name after another on my list. Erik will be on a wall, Bill wants to leave on Thursday, Debby needs to pack for Burning Man, Nate is leaving for Beijing, Hamid found a partner while I […]

Erik had to work this Saturday, so we made an extended day trip to Yosemite — drove out of the bay area on Saturday evening and returned on Sunday night. The trip was short but the route was long — we climbed a 15-pitch route: Chouinard-Herbert on Sentinel Rock. I posted following report to Supertopo. […]

      Yes, I did it! I had tried to toprope Generator Crack twice starting off the tree. Despite the best effort I could give at the time, I probably made three feet of progress the first time and five feet the second time before being shutdown by the crack. But today, Aug 13 […]

On Saturday morning, when my climbing partner Allen and I headed out for the The Third Pillar of Dana, I was aiming for speed. But the plan was soon doomed when Allen decided to “just relax a bit and enjoy” when we arrived at the plateau. I thought it was not smart to offend a […]

It all started from a message on a climbers’ Internet forum, SuperTopo — this guy, going by username climberweenie, expressed interests in training for a physically demanding classic climb, Steck Salathe (SS), and was looking for a partner. I responded to him before I regretted. was I really going to climb with some total stranger […]

What make a climbing trip perfect? Compatible climbing partners Climbing abilities match (or not as you get to follow hard routes or do more leading) Personalities complement each other (or match) No need to turn on the radio in order to fill in the uncomfortable silence in the car When one did not get chance […]

By Friday, my back was hurting so much that I planed to read my book at the campsite over the weekend while Allen climbs with other friends. It started with me rolling on two tennis balls on Tuesday. The exercise was recommended by a friend and was supposed to help loosen up those tight muscles […]

I had been having a knot in my stomach for a few days – ever since Allen brought up we should go to Cookie Cliff this weekend. Cookie is famous for its hard crags, but am I up for it? Well, up for it or not, we spent two days — two afternoons since we […]

On Saturday morning, we arrived at Bunny Slopes at 11 am. Surprisingly, there was only one party on the right side, and we went left. Wild in the Streaks (5.7) was supposed to be easy, so I picked up the sharp end (i.e. I took the lead). Looking up, I couldn’t see a bolt until […]

It turned out to be a perfect weekend. I do not use the word “perfect” casually, so there is no doubt that this weekend was perfect. It first started out with me driving all by myself on Friday evening after work for four hours from the Bay Area to Tuolumne Meadow Campground to meet Allen […]

Having Friday off, Bill, Janelle, and Allen headed to the Valley on Thursday night. On Friday, they enjoyed themselves at Pat and Jack’s Pinnacles where Allen found a diamond ring sitting on a tree branch. Later he posted a note at Camp 4 which reads: “Found Ring! Contact Smiegel at 510-xxx-xxxx for more information.” (Note: […]

The weather was too nice, so we had to get out of the house. How about Yosemite? Allen and I jumped on Serenity Crack. The first two pitches were a foot killer. The pin scars provided nice finger locks, but my feet were screaming at the crack. Imagine this: place your big toe, and big […]

One night in the dark This is the first trip report I have ever written. Didn’t mean to make it so long, but the words just kept flowing out of my finger tips. Ricardo wrote a trip report on his 7 day solo ascent of Zodiac for his first big wall. 7 days, and his […]

Ahh… This weekend was perfect. By perfect, I mean it was really perfect. The weather in the valley was perfect — not cold nor hot. The climbs we did were awesome. And most importantly, we got chance to hang out together! On Saturday, Allen and Steve sent Astroman, one of the best and hardest multipitch […]

I spent a steaming hot day with Steve, Florence at Reed’s Pinnacles and Generator Crack. Florence on Stove Grove at Reed’s Pinnacles Florence hugging a tree after struggling in Generator Crack Steve high on Lunatic Fringe at Reed’s Pinnacles Mei attentively belaying. Mei getting higher and higher on Stone Grove at Reed’s Pinnacles Mei trying […]

It is my birthday. So doing a climb that I’ve heard so much about and have always wanted to do sounds like a perfect idea for this special day! Snake Dike is an easy climb on the side of Half Dome (note: it’s not the same as the hikers’ cable route). The approach from the […]