Mountain Lifestyle: A 'fifteen star points' day of climbing

This mornings objective was a route called 'Sloth Wall' (5.7)****. Clare got us started up the route with a few initial tricky moves.

Then somehow, I got to do the next pitch which, like yesterday, involved running out great lengths of rope between placing protection.

It was good to get a different view of the valley as well, looking west.

Our next route involved climbing the crack in the photo below (known now as the crack of pain). I was actually not too bad, and Clare managed to layback the whole thing after I'd thug my way up inside it with painful fist-jams. As reward for my efforts, near the top I found a cam and krab that marked the high point of the previous teams ascent. (The climbers equivilant of finding a fifty pound note stuffed in the crack!).

The top pitch was much more civilised, but the temperatures were now reaching the eighties, so we descended to the valley and had lunch in the meadow, with El Capitan on one side of us and Bridal Veil Falls on the other.

Once again, we've been super lucky with the weather. In fact, it was so hot after lunch that we decided to go and get ice creams at Yosemite Lodge. After such a refreshing break, the sun had left the crag of nearby 'Swan Slabs' so we went over and climbed three more routes in the cool of the evening. It was the perfect temperature for climbing; without the glare of the sun but with the rock still hot to touch. At the top of our third (and best) route we had a fantastic view of Half Dome. The sun was low, and the rock was glowing orange in the evening light. The camera couldn't take in all the contrasts of light and dark, so I took one pic of Clare, one pick of Half Dome, then we just sat and soaked it all up.