Kim-chee and Soju - Yosemite Korean Style
In the summer of '00 I left Georgia for Yosemite, the place I'd dreamed of climbing since my first days on the rock. After a couple of weeks, I needed to head up to Seattle to meet my friend and climbing partner from grad school, Mike White. That little excursion ended up with me leaving Seattle not with Mike, but a guy he introduced me to and currently one of my best partners, Jamie Harris, but that's another story. I felt like doing something cool as a send off climb, even though I was returning in two weeks.
Camp 4 is a dirty-ass campground in the Valley, and the only cheap accomodations at /night. The history, and the fact that most climbers have low standards and even lower incomes, assures a large selection of smelly climbers from around the globe. Across the "aisle" so to speak, from my campsite was a group of 3 Korean climbers. I tried to engage them a few times, and found that the two guys spoke little english while the girl spoke maybe 20 words and understood basic words and phrases. We shared beers, dinners, and the Korean plum-flavored vodka called Soju over the next week or so.
Soju is the most consumed alcohol in Korea and the folks there have unique packaging ideas. Before leaving the Valley, team Korea hooked me up with 6 drink-box style containers of Soju. Sweet idea! Light weight, burnable, can't break it, very nice indeed. I attempted to drink all six one night...that's another story too, but one I don't really remember.
Since the "team" was also leaving to head back to Seoul soon, we figured we should climb somthing together. Guidebooks were consulted and we settled on the Lost Arrow Spire tip. A super classic and sickly exposed two pitch line up one of the most spectacular formations and unique spots in the whole valley, this climb is really known for the tyrolean traverse off the spire back to the rim (see a pic on the opening page of this site). The logistics of rigging the tyrolean are pretty complex considering you never use it in general climbing scenarios. I laid out the system with a mock-up in the campsite. After once through, they got it. After the second time, they could rig it themselves. Cool, language barrier my ass!
We agreed to head up first thing in the a.m. and I took off a little ahead of them to get going and have time to rest in case I ended up leading the whole thing. The hike up was on the Yosemite Falls trail and although fairly steep (gaining about 3000ft elev in 4 miles) went quickly enough. I waited at a branch in the trail and we were soon strolling together to the base.
Arriving at the base, we found the route empty. Rigging our ropes, three of us rapped in with one of the Korean guys staying on the rim to shoot pics. Marcus Floyd, a climbing gym owner from Columbia Missouri, had met us in the campground the day before and came up to shoot video. I had problems getting my ascender off the rope when I passed the knot, but soon we were in the notch and ready to go. The scheme was for the guy to lead the first pitch free (.10d), then I would lead the second on aid (A2). Stepping off the notch bewteen the spire and the rim is sickening, 3000ft of instant exposure. RAD! The free pitch went down with homeboy aiding the fist crack off the first ledge. I followed free and found the .10a fist section harder than the .10d lower on the pitch. The little lady followed on jugs and I prepared for the aid lead. Mostly bolts, there are a couple of tricky placements including a scary downsloping no-thread, no-hanger rivet. I was in sport-aid mode, only clipping about every fourth piece for pro, and back cleaning the gear between bolts. Even with aggresive tactics like those, the rope drag was horrendous on the 10ft of 5.easy slab at the very top. I just clipped my aiders and the rack to the top bolt and fought the drag to the top. These guys must have jugged alot, they followed super fast on ascenders. We set off on the tyrolean with me going first and securing the second line. The traverse was a struggle, but the pictures are well worth it! We ended up spending a long day out there between the hike in and out and the route itself. Darkness hit us at about the 1/2 way mark on the hike out and we managed to stumble our way down the falls trail in the dark. Reaching camp we were all smiles and I fetched some Old English from the lodge store. Malt liquor and funky weird-ass Korean food made the night complete. All in all, one of my best days climbing, and a reminder that it's about the companionship as much as anything else.
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