King’s Canyon Again
With the road open Shay, Josh, Konstantine and I returned to King’s Canyon to retrieve our gear stash, but also to snag some more of the low hanging FA fruit. An ominous weather forecast had a couple of us doubting whether we should go, but then Konstantine called us on our shit. Are we not men? No, we are Pullharder! 
We arrived late Friday night and crashed in the campground. On Saturday morning we retrieved our gear and headed up to North Dome to scope some new lines. Unfortunately a lot of stuff was still wet, but we eventually settled upon an area in the middle of North Dome. Shay and Konstantine climbed two new 2-pitch crack routes which they named after their girlfriends, Persian Kitty (5.8) and Lizzy Pop (5.8). Josh and I climbed two new 1 pitch crack routes. The first one was quite wet, slimy and somewhat miserable, but would be good once it dried out. Josh named it “Good Oil” (5.9) after the famous Stamatiou olive oil. Adjacent to Good Oil, Josh cleaned out a nice finger and hand crack which required one bolt at the start. This one went at about 5.10b and was named “Hot Wine” after the ubiquitous Konstantine concoction, which we also enjoyed while crashing at Phil’s house that night.
Sunday we went and checked out the 5.12+ tips splitter we had spotted/tried on our previous trip. Josh gave it a good go but ended up bailing. The obvious implication is that this climb is quite difficult! I dug out a nice finger crack which I named “Wish You Were Here” and goes at 5.9. It required one bolt. You can climb this route to set up a TR on the 5.12+ tips splitter project. Meanwhile, Shay and Josh went back to the Foolproof Plan area and finished bolting “Greek Salad” ground up. It goes at about 5.10b/c and has 7 bolts.
Posted in Climbing, First Ascents | 13 Comments
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I am honored.
So when we are going there again? Hot wine is waiting…..
Where can I buy some of this olive oil?
Love it! Konstantin the great.
Oh wait ew I just saw #14. Did you name that route “You wish you weren’t here”?
Worst route name ever…..greek salad=totahl dumb
So nice of you Komrade Konstantin to share a picture of your fruit basket with us!
Looking to head to KC, interested in the two 2-pitch 5.8′s you just mentioned. Any approach or other info?
You guys might want to talk to some of the locals before you start claiming that thing like a 5.8 crack at the base of North Dome is a FA. People, some living in Cedar Grove, have been climbing here for decades. If you already talked to someone like Phil Gross in maintenance and got the lay of the land, then great! But I doubt it…
Actually Jason, it probably was Phil from maintenance. He worked in King’s Canyon and was putting up new routes. So…. that means that we did, in fact, consult locals. Your negative doubting comment is lame, to say the least.
We hung with Phil every time we’ve been in Kings Canyon, discussed routes with him, etc.
Touche’
Too many annoying encounters with SoCal people I guess
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