On Sunday, after much thinking, the target was Serenity/Sons again (after being turned away repeatedly due to crowds lately). This time, there was a single party already on the 3rd pitch, and another couple of people at the base. After chatting with them, it turns out they were planning on just doing Maxine's Wall and the first pitch - yay for us! The first pitch was a bit wet, and had a 4-5" millipede crawling down it... but eventually, I got over my fear and climbed it (the poor millipede got scared and crawled up in a small ball inside one of the pin scars, cute!)

The rest of the pitches went quickly and without much excitement, apart from pitch 3 that is the definite crux for those 10 feet. Sons of Yesterday provided amazing fun... the hand crack pitch being the highlight, but the winds picked up and that made it very cold (we were shivering at the belays). Quickly enough, we were at the top though, and started rappelling. Here is when the adventure truly started... rappelling the 3rd pitch of Serenity Crack, the rope went inside the 5.9 flake below the crux. Since two ropes are needed for rappelling Sons of Yesterday, I pulled the ropes through at this point, and the red rope just flew past / down, with little chance to control it. Typically this isn't a huge problem as long as one sorts it out immediately, pulling upward on the stuck rope - but it wouldn't come. So, I rappelled the 30 or so feet down to the stuck point, and tried pulling from there, again unsuccessfully - it must have been twisted/knotted inside! I managed to grab the bottom part of the rope, as well, and pulled both from a variety of angles... still no luck. After about 30-40 minutes of exhausting work pulling on the stuck rope, and still failing, I had to get my knife out and cut it. RIP, red rope, and thanks for all your 3-4 years of work almost every weekend. Maybe it was time for new doubles anyway...

Thankfully, Serenity can be rappelled with a single rope, so I went back up to the belay, and we switched to rappelling on blue only. 3 rappels later we were on the ground, now properly chilled. Hot chocolate at the Ahwanhee made things better, not to mention the feeling of being inside a warm car when the snow started falling on the drive out! Phew, that was as close to an epic as I like to get... This was a great reminder that sometimes, things can go a little (or a lot) wrong, and it's good to have a backup plan.

The following weekend, for a complete change of scenery, we went down to San Luis Obispo area - wine tasting, hiking along the coast, sea kayaking - so much fun! Also wanted to drive up Highway 1 back home, but it was closed due to a landslide. The little detour road that we took was windy and incredible driving :) I dream of taking a nice porsche on that road...

	Gloomy Half Dome	Upper Yosemite Falls

	Upper Yosemite Falls with Lost Arrow Spire sort of visible		Wondering what climb is in that corner system...

	There were slings on top of this corner	It was freezing, but since we were moving uphill, we were toasty!	In the cloud...

	The valley far below

	Millipede inside the pin scars on Serenity Crack - it was about 4-5“ long!	Braving the millipedes	An old timer on the face climb to the right (5.10a). He kept falling before the first bolt, a good 15 feet up... and gracefully sliding down the rock, unfazed. Impressive...

		First pitch of Serenity Crack again. So hot, I was dripping sweat!	Serenity Crack, second pitch

		Starting up pitch 3. This is the flake that ate my red rope on the rappel :-(

	First pitch of Sons of Yesterday

	On the amazing hand crack pitch of Sons	Nothing but hand jamming	Pitch 8 - walking the plank

		The storm is coming. At about this time, I was cutting the rope... after 30-40 mins of trying to free it.

		Hiking up a hill near San Luis

	Kayaking	Morro rock	Sea Otter hangout

	Cute overload	Hi there	This guy was just lying on his back...

		These guys were stinky

		Elephant seals hangout	Elephant seal madness

	Sleeping blobs of fat, basically...	The males have the weird elephant snouts	Highway 1. We had to detour due to a slide...