Owens River Gorge    8/18-19/90
Subject:      Tuolumne snow(!) festival

Joel and I started up Shambles to tr the Bachar-Yerian again, but I had only
gotten about 30' up when it started to snow (OK, very lightly).  Not prepared
for the sudden change of season, we headed to the east side and did 3 routes
in the Owens River Gorge (Joel bought a xerox-style guide at Wilson's in
Bishop).  The rock was pretty good -- volcanic but hard, with incut edges
and pockets.  We started with Escapade 5.11a ****, but had to downrate the
stars because it has a slab crux that neither of us wanted to complete, after
nice slightly overhanging pulls.  Also did Melt in Your Mouth 5.10c *** (great
hidden incut pockets and no slab), plus Orange Peel 5.10c *** (I didn't follow,
preferring to use daylight to hike back up the loose approach gully).  The rock
was good quality, mostly of sport climbing length (<85', with fixed chains on
the top anchor).  I would rather have longer routes (like the 14 bolt routes in
City of Rocks), but the rock deteriorates up higher.  The aesthetics are poor,
with loose gully approaches, funky pumice talus, windblown pumic dust, and
old blown out mining buildings.  Good place for a workout when it's raining
in Tuolumne, though.  (Actually I prefer the Valley when it's dry but it was
closed due to the forest fire).  Camped that night at Deadmans Summit.
     Checked out the tuff bouldering in the morning, after a "pumice surfing"
adventure on a soft road with the car.  Headed for the meadows, since the
weather looked pretty good, but the clouds closed in quickly once we arrived.
Hiked around, and then tried to climb at East Cottage Dome, but it got cloudy
and windy as Joel got halfway up the rightmost route.  He hung in there for
at least 10 minutes at the 3rd bolt, but couldn't crank more than a few moves
before his fingers would get very cold.  We left and TRed Pumper 5.10d on the
way out.