Pinnacles:  Exiles + chase   1/13/91

Our Sunday Pinnacles trip with Joel, Nancy + Renata was fairly standard --
we ran into lots of friends and did 3-4 routes.  Joel led Exiles 5.9 after
I clipped the first bolts with a cheater stick to eliminate the runout; Nancy
followed.  Next we toproped Here Comes the Judge 5.11b.  The initial face has
crumbly pockets, and the crux reach has the bolt at your feet, so I wouldn't
recommend it for a lead.  Joel and I got it, and Nancy got it except for the
crux reach move.  I then led Mammary Pump, with a hang again at the 3rd bolt
(my only improvement was that I didn't have to grab the sling to clip in this
time).  Everybody followed, including Andy.  Nancy followed Andy and Alice
up Stupendous Man 5.10a, while Joel and I toproped a new route left of
Mammary Pump.  We may bolt it, although it does have one discouraging "mud
rail/ledge".  Ranger Tim put 2 bolts in the line we tried to toprope last
Saturday, and the creaking jug has broken off (at least I didn't break off
the hold this time...).

When it got dark, an unusual drama unfolded.  Joel and I dropped our packs
and went up to clean the toprope anchor, but when we came back, they were
gone.  We belive 2 hikers took them, and we followed a car which we believe
the two were driving.  To make a long story short, we eventually gave up
following them after making many circles around San Jose streets (things
eventually got somewhat reckless and we were running low on gas...).  It
was tough to let them go, but I'm just glad nobody got injured.  We have
their license plate # and descriptions, and a police report has been filed.