Royal Arches
29 August 2019
This summer was my second trip to the Valley. (The first trip with Cam and Audrey was QUITE memorable – hopefully I can write about it sometime.) Ting and I climbed Bishops Terrace, Jamcrack, and The Grack – Center on our first day, then romped up Royal Arches the next. Notable moments from our first day included:
- Getting gripped on the wide section of Bishops Terrace. This section comes right before the optional halfway belay. Thankfully I was able to fall back on my animalistic instincts developed at Mt Woodson, and wriggled up sans problemo. Then I ran out of slings before completing the pitch. It really is a full 70 meters !!!
- Absolutely roasting on Jamcrack. It turns out the Valley is a bit toasty during summer. However, Ting and I both “onsighted” the two pitches. Stoked!
- Relaxing in the shade on The Grack at the end of the day. Washington Column looked so magical in that golden hour of late afternoon. The Grack had a few pieces of gear stuck in the cracks, and it seems for professional booty cleaners, this is a primo spot to build a rack on the cheap!
After our day of cragging, we were both feeling prime for Royal Arches the next day. We even hiked over to the base after dinner just to be sure we got started up the correct chimney the following morning.
Our time on the Arches turned out to be one of the finest climbing days I’ve ever had. Very much reminiscent of a story by Glen Denny in his book “Valley Walls” which I had read before the trip to get inspired. It’s a long adventurous climb that wanders a lot and links big features on a big awe-inspiring cliff. It’s wall climbing for noobs. You won’t believe how high you can go, all by free climbing! Notable moments included:
- Ting destroying the first pitch chimney. I led it, but she carried both our packs since I wussed out of leading with the pack. This first chimney is slippery!
- Enjoying shade for a surprisingly long time. It takes the sun a while to make it around Washington Column.
- All types of movement — pinching pin scar crack, straight-jamming splitter crack, liebacking crack, slabby smearing, and yes rope swinging (briefly, yet memorably).
- We made good time up the route and took some time to eat lunch and take our shoes off at a shady spot before the final pitches. As I recall, this shady paradise was just before the big slab traverse to the left. It gave us an opportunity to reflect on the climb, a proud moment for both of us. It also helped to recover the senses for the numerous rappels we were about to undertake.
- My feet just about caught fire on the very last easy slab pitch to the rappel anchor. IT WAS SCORCHING! There’s no pro either, so it forced me to block out the pain and keep my head.
- Getting into a sweet rhythm on the rappels. It helps to have a good partner along so you can check each other’s systems. EVERY. TIME.
The sun started dropping toward the horizon near the end of our rappels, and
I had the most tranquil peaceful feeling.
Total nirvana.
