Yosemite:  N.B. Middle, Thief, Megaforce  5/23-24/92

Joel and I climbed the North Buttress of Middle Cathedral on Saturday.
I had been up to pitch 11 in ~86 with Dave Coombs, where we bivvied
and headed down after it rained at dawn.
We started at 8am, employing various simul-techniques to reach the
Right Rabbit Ear, where Joel took the first hard lead, supposedly a
5.9 lieback, but more like a 5.10b finger crack for us.  Maybe I'll
have to really try liebacking it the whole way sometime (I thought I
tried this last time and it was "barn door").  I got to lead pitch 11,
which I'd had to aid in '86, and I thought it was 5.10d (it was 5.9 in
the guide then; now it's 5.10a).  More like 5.10b.
A bolt has been added in the middle of the crux section, and I
found a lot of rests that I didn't see last time on aid.  p12 is listed
as a 5.7 chimney, but actually it goes great on wide stems with several
fixed pins.  p13 was long, with a belay at a nice ledge with trees, which
allowed Joel to combine the next two (5.10a), as the sun began to shine
on us.  We extended the 4th class traverse with a 5.2 traverse to the
Thirsty Spire notch, and rapped down the Ho Chi Minh Trail and Turret
rap route, arriving back at the base at 6pm.  The temperature was much
nicer (cooler) than we expected, so we left 1.5 liters of water at the
Turret cache.  A nice route, with no nasty pitches, and many moderate
ones.  We watched the headlamp show on El Cap, and I spent some time
swatting mosquitoes at the base of Moby Dick that night.

On Sunday we went up by Leaning Tower, where Joel led The Thief 5.10d.
A nice route, and I was glad for all the rests.  Next we TRed Megaforce
5.11c (5.11a in guide).  Joel had about 3 hangs while garnering the
beta and scuffing off some of the lichen in crucial spots.  It would
be a hard lead, as some of the flakes/plates are loose, and the crux
traverses are near the end of a long sustained section.
Joel then led Drop-out 5.10a, and I led Beat the Clock 5.10c.  This was
an interesting thin crack with golden-brown face holds.  I failed attempting
a direct start, lowered, and instead traversed in from the left.  I found
two hard sections in the crack; fortunately the pro was great and it was
studded with rests.  It ends with a traverse past a bolt to a corner, which
got thin and Joel took a fall there.

I heard today that Phyllis and Rita finally chose to climb in The Meadows
after considering JTree, Red Rocks, The Needles, etc.  Unfortunately,
they were almost literally done in by the holiday traffic -- Phyllis was
passing a string of 3 cars when one of them decided to pass without
looking carefully.  Phyllis' truck ended up wrapped around a redwood;
she and Rita spent the night in a hospital for observation but were
released.  Phyllis said her back is somewhat tweaked again, and Rita is
in some pain from where the seat belt folded her, but fortunately they
did not become statistics.