Yosemite Day 3 – 27 Oct 25

David was a 50 plus year old teacher at a technical school in Montpellier, France. He just came down from El Capitan and was looking for some chill climbs to do. He asked me if I had anything in mind. As I'm not familiar with the area I asked him to suggest a route.

Reed's Pinnacle Direct. A 5.9 route rated 5 stars on Mountain Project. It was first climbed by Reed and friends in 1964.

I expected the route to be easy. A good first multi-pitch in Yosemite. I was eager to impress with my well-trained fingers.

We reached the bottom of the crag. David told me to use all his gear. He had a huge array, from totems to gigantic friends to microcams and nuts.

I wanted to bring some of my gear I painstakingly carried over from Singapore. But it turned out not to be necessary. Still, I brought my DMM offset nuts, hoping to at least contribute a little to the rack.

We used David's twin ropes for the climb. It was my first time climbing with twin ropes. David taught me to clip both ropes into the quickdraw just like a single rope. I had to use my ATC tubular belay device instead of the familiar Grigri, as only ATC has two holes for the twin ropes to fit through.

David lead the first 5.9 pitch while I followed. By the time I reached the anchor, my hands were sore and ankles hurting. Crack climbing was really something else for me. I was used to grabbing limestone jugs and pulling on crimps, stuffing hands and feet into vertical cracks was however very new to me.

Thank goodness, I practised on that one crack route in NUS wall before coming.

I lead the next pitch. A 5.9 30m endurance crack test piece. Halfway up the pitch, I was so in pain that I wanted to stop. My ego and my fear of falling on Trad gear were pushing me through.

In Trad climbing, you stuff cams or nuts into the crack between the rocks as protection. This was relatively new to me as a sport climber. And for each time I did Trad climbing, I did it in a way where I knew I would never fall.

At 15m up the second pitch, my body was giving up. As I struggled holding myself with a fist jam, I knew I had to put in a cam soon otherwise I would be taking a whipper.

I screamed as I fumbled with finding the right-sized cam and placing it in the crack. It wasn't the most well-placed, but it was enough for me to shout Take, and not fall.

This was the first time I sat on a cam. I stared at the piece of metal above me, praying that it doesn't slip out. I spent the next 20min crawling up the crack, while calling for Take after each placement.

Finally, I got up to the top of the pitch. It was humbling to be utterly destroyed by a 5.9 crack climb. I remembered before that I was telling David that I can climb 5.12 back home.

David walked up the route. He moved his hands and feet in and out of the crack like he was climbing a ladder.

The next pitch was a 5.8 offwidth, with a 5.10 ending. David wasted no time in embarking on the climb.

Offwidths are large cracks, with the width of a fridge. You slither up with your back against the wall on one side and feet on the other.

I couldn't see David but I heard him grunt as he made his way up. Part of my ego was glad that this route seemed difficult for him. Yosemite routes are sandbagged even for him.

It took a long time before he reached the top. David pulled in the rope and it was time for me to second up.

Leave the bag below! He shouted. I trusted his wisdom and left our multipitch bag on the ledge.

The route looks terrifying. It goes deep and dark. The wide crack narrows down as it reaches the exit.

I took a deep breath and jammed my body into the crack in a L sit position. My progress was measured in millimeters and excruciating grunts. I never felt this intimidated by a climb before.

As I entered the crack, I shivered in the cold dark air, while I looked up wondering how long it would take before I made it to the top. The first protection David placed was a Microcam 5 meters above the ledge. Thank god I didn't lead this pitch.

Moving up was painful, not moving was painful too. I could feel my feet and back slipping off the rock, as I struggled to hold myself in place.

I wondered if this was what hell was like. Moving up an offwidth that never ends, with an abyss of nothingness below.

At some point I reached a section where my chest was stuck between the narrowing crack. I was relieved that I finally could rest. The relief was short-lived as I realized I could barely move myself out. After a long battle between me and the rock, I got myself out and inched my way into the light.

Stop! David whipped out his phone to take a photo of me. I tried my best to smile while I desperately pressed my body against the wall to not fall.

At some point, I gave up trying to free climb this route. I pulled on the giant cams David placed to get my body out of the strenuous position.

It was a long while before I reached the top. I felt elated that I escaped from hell.

David gave a wide smile as he routinely began to setup the descent. We would be taking two abseils with his twin ropes down the route.

It was slightly embarrassing to take longer than I needed to get my abseiling gear setup. I was used to abseiling with a Grigri. It had been a while since I did an extended rappel with an ATC.

David taught me some tricks to setup faster. Wrap your prusik cord first he said before setting up the ATC. And when you are done with abseil, pull up some rope from the prusik so that there's slack after the ATC, which will make it easier to remove.

I felt like an overconfident gumby learning climbing all over again. When we reached the ground finally, David asked me if I was up for another route. My hands were by then tearing apart and my lower back hurting from sliding up the offwidth.

I'm good but I don't mind belaying you!

Before this, I had always been the one leading up pitches, projecting routes as my climbing partners patiently belay me. Now, I'm the one playing the supporting role, belaying David, while I gave my body a break.

David lead up a 5.10 crack climb called Lunatic Fringe. The name of the route was enough to scare me away.

He onsighted it the first go. He wanted to setup a top rope for me, but the rope was threaded wrongly so it couldn't move. We went back to the car to grab a Jumar so I can ascend the rope and clean the gear. Part of me was glad that I didn't need to do another climb.

I thought jumaring would be easy, because after all it's such a basic skill for any climber. But it's been at least a year since I ascended the rope. David had to help me with my setup and gave me a refresher on how to jumar. I started off slow and inefficient. But I finally got the hang of it at the end.

The sun was setting when I finished cleaning the gear. We drove back to Camp 4 while I reflected on the day.

Today, I was humbled by the rock and David. Yet, I was deeply satisfied to have climbed up such beautiful granite with a master of the rock.