Page 26 - 2017 AMA Winter

Cadet Centre For Adventurous Training (CCAT)
Dragon Venturer
Yosemite Rock
Wow, what a trip! I am sitting in the airport at San Francisco, waiting for the flight home, reflecting on the last two weeks. It is hard to know where to start. I could run through the ‘stats’ (everyone climbing between 50 & 60 pitches or 2500 to 3000m of rock over the course of the trip, picking up around 50 ‘stars’ from all the quality routes at 14 different venues etc.), but this does not really tell the full story...
It was very much a trip of two halves, with the first week based at Hodgson Meadows campground, just inside the Yosemite park boundary. The team of 5 cadets, 5 adult volunteers and 5 instructors used this as a base to explore the climbing in the Tuolumne meadows area. The scenery up here is breathtaking, with a series of granite domes offering accessible multi-pitch climbs and larger ‘alpine’ type peaks requiring full mountain days for an ascent. All of this set in a stunning landscape of pine forest, rivers and lakes.
We had quite a lot to adjust to; firstly there was the climbing style, with Tuolumne offering delicate (and sometimes ‘run-out’) slab climbing where good footwork is essential. This proved a useful foundation, and it was noticeable how much more confident the students were by the end of the trip. The altitude also took some adjusting to, we were operating between 8000 & 11000’ in Tuolumne and had to allow time to acclimatize; initially we all noticed how out of breath we were just walking up to the bottom of a roadside crag! Finally, there was the heat; this was a bit of a shock after UK temperatures. Consequently, there was much perusal of guidebooks and maps to try and work out where you could climb in the shade.
We soon slipped in to a happy routine of early starts so that we could get off the routes before the worst of the heat. This had the added benefit of being first at the crag, so we had our pick of the routes and did not need to queue on the more popular lines. Once off the route, often feeling hot and sweaty, we would stop at lake Tenaya for a ‘bracing’ swim on the way home. This was a chance to wash and was great for morale as our campsite only had basic facilities; it was lovely to head back to the tents feeling clean!
As the week progressed, we enjoyed exploring new venues and progressing to longer, more challenging, routes. We had big mountain days with ascents of the SW buttress of Cathedral Peak and the NW ridge of Tenaya peak. This required a 4am start, forested approaches, lots of climbing and lengthy/complex descents; making for memorable experiences. Other venues, such as Dozier Dome (bear sighting!), with high quality 3-4 pitch routes and a beautiful walk off beside a waterfall, also made an impression. We used this time to develop
24 ARMY MOUNTAINEER