Subject: a close call, aka those dreaded 20% "chance of thunderstorms"
Melissa and I met up with some friends in the Porcupine campground in
Tuolumne on Saturday night, had a nice BBQ and beer/wine... needless
to say, we weren't getting an early start on Sunday. And about Eichorn
Pinnacle's W face, the supertopo book said to start climbing after
noon anyways - since then the climb is in the sun... seemed perfect
for our schedule. Except for that dreaded 20% chance of thunderstorms.
But there was also a 20% chance of thunderstorms on Saturday, and we
climbed not too far away from there... there were a few storm clouds,
but they didn't come until 8pm. So I figured even if the weather
moves, we have plenty of time to finish the climb before. Hence...
while packing up at the car at 10am, let's take the single rope
instead of the doubles to save some weight (can you see where this is
going yet? pretty silly, I always take the doubles when there is a
chance of bad weather). There isn't a single cloud in the sky, not
even small puffy ones...
We get to the base and rope up, climbing at noon. Totally blue skies
everywhere we can see. I get up to the first belay w/ a little
swearing, and there is a small black cloud above... We both worry, but
by the time Melissa arrives, the cloud rolls past, and disappears into
nothingness - our concerns diminish alongside it. Blue sky again, so
we keep going, but I wonder why the hell we didn't bring the double
ropes. I get to the base of the "10b" fingercrack, belay there, things
still look good for us. The next pitch goes quickly (it's only 2
moves, and then it's easy after) - I top out on the ridge, and get hit
by very strong winds that make me glad for my Houdini. The winds are
accompanied with a wall of clouds, but it's still pretty far away...
by the time Melissa comes, they are not so far away, and they are
becoming black in color, shit! I quickly head off, not knowing where
the next pitch goes... bailing down and left does not look good, we'd
have to leave a lot of gear. But going up doesn't seem appealing
either... I do most of the 4th pitch, about 150' out and realize that
we have minutes until all hell breaks loose - so I go to the right,
glad to see the ground is not too far away on that side of the ridge,
and find a huge solid flake to sling with my triple runner. I sling
the horn, and radio to Melissa to come (barely being able to hear the
walkie talkie, the wind is hauling). By the time she joins me & we
thread the rope, I see a lightning bolt striking one of the Echo
Peaks, and it's hailing, it's 2:30pm, the storm came a lot earlier
today. We are screaming in order to communicate, the wind whipping the
rope into a crack 10 feet sideways from us as I'm flaking it... argh.
I rap off the triple sling - thankfully the ropes feed out ok, and
Melissa soon follows: finally we are protected from the wind, but we
are getting soaked... we pull the rope: thankfully, it doesn't get
stuck. We scramble to a tree, I leave my 2nd sling (one I found as
bootie in the Bugaboos in 2006, ha), and a 30 meter rappel gets us to
the ground. The rope hesitates while wedged into a small crack, but a
stronger tug gets it free. With thunder still around us, we hurry the
hell out of there.
Coming around the base of Cathedral Peak, we see 1 poor person on the
summit, with his buddy 30 feet from the top, and at least 2 other guys
waiting at the last belay ledge. Shitty place to be in a lightning
storm... seems like they got lucky, as lightning didn't hit the
Cathedral summit.
The beer, chips and avocado at the car taste amazing.
I dunno what I would've done differently (I feel like if you don't
climb when there's a 20% chance of thunderstorms, you wouldn't ever
get anything done around here), but it felt like one of the closest
weather-related calls I've had climbing... we both got pretty scared
on the exposed ridge - the wind made it feel pretty serious, probably
more than it was. In retrospect, we got lucky that we could get off
with the single rope with just leaving slings (the doubles wouldn't
have actually been helpful, as there was too much loose shit, and a 60
meter rap would've had a high chance of a stuck rope...). Phew!
