Joe Schiefman and I went up to Tuolumne Meadows last weekend;
Joe wanted to check out the recommended crack climbs in 
Olmstead Canyon and I wanted a crack at Shipoopi.  I guess we 
both ended up a little disappointed.

Saturday we found the Olmstead Canyon routes with the help
of the Rock and Ice topos (20 minutes).  For a warmup I led Ivory Tower
Center (10a), a 30' leaning thin hand crack, nothing 
special.  Then Joe went for Tideline (60', 11a+, 10d! in the most
recent Tuolumne guide).  He got right to the end of the
overhanging 1 1/4" section with a few falls, pulling his
rope each time, but ended up hanging just short of a 
"resting" hand jam.  Quite a bit of hanging was used to
finish the route, particularly figuring out the 11a
finger sequence to reach the final, grass-filled, hand slot.
I wasn't even close following.  We agreed that the rating
is fairly optimistic.  I then tried Lord Caffeine (10d), but
was repulsed by the 15' of ow reached after groveling up
a ramp/wide crack with marginal protection in crumbling pockets
in the back of the crack.  Joe had long pants and also tried,
but retreated as well.  Now who was it that had recommended 
these climbs?  Oh yeah, Bruce Morris and Elliott Robinson...
Now they *like* the wide stuff.  One more recommended route,
Air Cooled Unit (11a).  I led the gritty leaning hands without
any problem, but screwed up at the crux where one switches 
cracks and hung briefly.  Joe and I both got it on TR, though.
Joe is always eager to add to his gobie collection, so he
tried to TR the 11d seam to the left of ACU.  He never
really got more than a couple heinous moves in a row.  I
think Joe summed up the area best: "I like the geometry (i.e. steep
cracks) but not the texture."  I was typically less charitable:
"like the worst of JT, big waste of time, etc."

Sunday it was my turn to flail.  We hiked up to Mendlicott, and
armed with some sketchy ideas of the line and the pro, I 
attempted Shipoopi (11b or c?)  To start I had to relive the
unprotected bush moves at the start of Shambles.  I then
place pro high in the crack and tiptoed across a dike and
reached down to clip the first bolt.  Dropping down, I then
did a blind undercling on loose flakes to gain a stance
under and to the right of the (crux?) roof.  I had a few
scary moments when the Spectra sling with which I had girth
hitched the jug at the lip of the roof pulled through...
fortunately the nuts I had placed under the roof held.  I
replaced the sling with a TCU but couldn't commit
to pulling the roof and braving 20' of vertical knobs to the
next bolt.  Too much fear and shakey natural pro for an alleged
sport climb so I retreated.  We proceeded to Low Profile Dome
where Joe renewed his battle with Memo from Lloyd (10d+).  This
time he almost got it, failing a few feet from vertical ground
having powered through 25' of severly overhanging hand and
finger crack.  He walked it on TR in a impressive display of power.
I didn't even try it but instead led
Shit Hooks (10b, 70 degree knobs) to salvage my day.