Objective: Quick camping and climbing trip

Date: 08.06.16 – 08.07.16

Crew: Sara/Connor + Tahomies

Location: Strawberry, CA

I had to write up a quick post about a recent overnight at Lover’s Leap, mostly because we finally had the privilege of climbing the infamous Corrugation Corner (3 pitches, 5.7). It has been on our bucket list since we moved to Cali and it really lived up to the hype!

Classic corner stemming on the second pitch

We decided to forego the usual Friday traffic rush out of town and left the bay area reeeeal early Saturday morning. When we arrived at the Leap, we were shocked to find that there were multiple sites still available at the campground! It’s typically full on weekends (it’s all first come first serve), so we were planning to camp on a forest service road somewhere, but we’d much prefer to stay at the Leap with easier access to climbing and the ability to have a campfire. We were stoked. Not sure why there was so much availability… Could have been the insane heat or maybe even the bugs. In particular, there were bees (yellow jackets) everywhere, which had never been the case in our previous trips here. And yes, I got stung. On the hand. While I was belaying Connor. Kind of a nightmare, but we all survived. Most importantly, I didn’t let go of the rope!

Cruising up dikes on the final pitch

We hadn’t been climbing much lately so we took it pretty easy on Saturday. We climbed Pop Bottle (2 pitches, 5.7) which is at the end of the East Wall. We’d climbed it before and it was a great way to warm up our climbing skills. We then found some shade to escape the midday heat, drank few beers with some friends, and then made our way to the Lower Buttress, which has some shady climbing. Connor took on a bold lead up The Groove (5.8) and crushed it! The rest of the crew was then able to top rope the first pitch which was fantastic.

View from the top of Corrugation

We got up early Sunday morning and headed straight for Corrugation. Luckily, we got there with only one group ahead of us, so we were able to get going pretty quickly. It was as dreamy and as exposed as everyone has promised! The views were incredible and there was a lot of variability on the climb. There was some exposed face climbing, a radical chimney, lots of dikes, and of course, the classic corner with lots of stemming moves. I’d say it’s by far the most fun I’ve ever had trad climbing. After chillen on the top for a while, we decided to wrap up for the day and end on an incredibly positive note. We hope to knock out a few more classics at the Leap this year before winter (e.g., especially Bear’s Reach), so I’m sure we’ll be back soon.

Happy to be on top!