Ryan Site #10

I am calling this page Ryan Site #10 because that is where I spent the entire weekend. I drove up Friday 12/13/2002 after I left work at 2 PM. There was some traffic so I didn't get to the park until about 5:30. Hidden Valley was full as usual so I headed to Ryan and found a spot. I set up camp and headed back to Hidden Valley to leave a note for a few people that might meet me for the weekend.

That night I didn't do any climbing. I did meet a few people though. The guys next to me where from Minnesota oddly enough. They didn't talk much though. A guy named James from Montreal wondered up and we started talking. We also played a few games of chess, he beat me both times. I also met Mark and Shawn from San Diego.

The next day I waited a while in the morning in case Dave, Michael, or Gerald showed up. While I was waiting I wondered around the Manure Pile looking for something to do. I found two routes right in my camp I thought I could aid. I walked up top, setup a fixed line and headed back to camp. The two routes are the two routes to the right in the picture below. Neither are in the guide book by Vogel. They are to the right of "Deception".

They aren't very tall but I was just looking for something to mess around on until someone showed up.

I led (aid) this route with the Solo-Aid backed up with a gri-gri on the fixed line I setup. The crack was straight forward but it was pretty shallow when I got to the bush. The only placement I could get was 1/2 a cam. I stood on it for about a minute while I was putting in my next placement and it blew.

I finally got to the top and took this picture of the site I was staying in. I took a break and got some food, then I cleaned the route. I headed down to "Ahead of our time", I think it could be aided but don't feel 100% confortable with the Solo Aid yet so I opted out.

It was mid afternoon and no one had shown up. At this point I was pretty sure I wasn't going to see anyone, oh well. I checked out the above crack which is to the far right from "Deception" in the first picture on this page. It was an easy climb. I left a good deal of slack in the gri-gri so if I did fall the Solo Aid would catch me first. Other then the fact the flake expanded so my pieces would slip as soon as I bounc tested them, everything else was pretty easy. The crack ate gear between .5 and 3 inches, the bigger placements at the top.

I cleaned the route and met up with Mike and Ruth. Mike was also waiting for several people to show up to do some climbs. We talked a bit and exchanged info while I sorted my gear. By this time it was dark. I ate some dinner and got a fire going. Mike, Mark, and Shawn all came by the fire. I had setup a loose slack line earlier in the day just to mess around on. Mark showed me a quick way to tighten it using a 2 to 1 system. He also said to check out www.slackline.com which I just did, it's pretty cool. We messed around on the slack line a little bit, talked for a while, then I turned in for the nigh.

Here is a picture of the slackline we setup, it's pretty short but it worked. I can't walk more then 3 steps before I fall anyway.

Mid-morning on Sunday, Mike stopped by with Cheryl and Shawn. They TRed "Deception", the left most climb in the picture at the top of the page. It's also in the guide book if you're looking for it. I had to look back at my site, I hadn't had my climbing shoes on since June. Much to my surprise, I was able to get up the route without too much problem. Mark and Shawn came by and led the route after we TRed it. It has three bolts and doesn't look like too bad of a lead, maybe next time. We also exchanged info and I headed home. Even though no one one I planned on seeing was there, I still had a great time and got a few new climbing partners out of the deal.