Outrunning Chaos and Laughing at Misfortune

Last year in September of 2023 several of my friends from my local climbing gym got together and planned a three day weekend camping trip to Tioga pass. We didn’t put any details together except for the name of the campsite and to get there sometime on September second. No time, no packing list, no plan. That’s my favorite way to go camping. My friend Nate and I left our homes in the Bay Area around five in the morning and jammed out to Yosemite Valley to get some climbing in before having to head to the campsite. Both of us were drained but with a healthy dose of Monster Energy we both managed to wake up. We drove into the valley sometime around nine AM and headed over to the Mountain Room to grab some food. We had parked right across the street but we knew that the parking near El Capitan would be packed like always so we decided to walk but as we left to head toward our climb we ran into my buddy Alonzo who is a professional high liner and who happened to also be out climbing that day.

He warned us that a storm was coming through and that it might rain on us but we were undeterred. We knew that we wanted to climb and we knew that we would make it back safely. As we walked down the road we got picked up by some guys in a pickup truck as they were driving over towards El Capitan and we hopped into the bed of the truck. When we finally made it we slapped the bed of the truck to let them know it was the end of the road and we hopped out. Just as we walked away we saw two rangers directing traffic who definitely would have seen us so we jogged off toward the base of the cliff. When we put our bags down at the base of the cliff we knew we only had an hour so we decided to stick to the classics and flew up pine line and then soloed the above pine stein. Just as we made it to the top it started to rain so we made a hasty retreat and started jogging back to the car but unfortunately for me the burger i had eaten at the Mountain Room decided it didn’t like being in my stomach and came flying out onto the side of the trail. I had food poisoning and one of the worst cases of it ive had ever. We got back to the car and made our way up into the mountains, through tioga pass and eventually made it to the campground. I sat down and relaxed because I thought all the chaos was over but boy was I wrong. That night as I slept I was sweating profusely. I had to get up to run to the bathroom three times and slept with my head outside of the tent. I kept hoping beyond all hope that I would wake up feeling better and in the morning I did. I thought I could finally enjoy the day and that the chaos was gone.

We spent the day climbing in Bishop canyon on a classic three pitch 5.6. I lead two of the three pitches but as we were coming up the second a party was descending from above us and threw their rope, with no warning, into the middle of my belay ledge. After that I lead the third pitch. I climbed up the sloping double splitter finger cracks for around thirty feet before placing my first piece of protection. Then the climb traversed to the right with some awkward undercling moves before continuing upward. When I finally started to climb up I realized that the rope drag was so bad that I could hardly move so I climbed back down and took out the two previous pieces and continued past the traverse unprotected until, sixty feet past the belay anchor, I replaced my first piece. I made it to the top and thought finally the chaos is over. We drove back through town and stopped at a gas station that happened to have a pizza oven and were offered free pizza by the staff as we danced to classic rock with them while they closed up. The day was incredible and I was so ready to pass out when we made it back to the campsite. We pulled into the parking space an hour after dark and had a horrible realization. Our tent was missing. We jumped out and ran around looking for it and finally found it fifty feet down the hill and completely soaked with rain. Everything was wet. Our tent, sleeping bags, food, bags, everything. I was so tired but wouldn’t be able to sleep in a wet sleeping bag so I did the only thing I could think of. I grabbed my portable camp stove, lit it and used the flame to try to dry out my sleeping bag. When I finally went to bed I thought ok the chaos of this trip has to finally be over. I was so ready to be home in my bed. It had to finally be done. And it finally was.