After having such a good time on the Beckhorn Slide Nanga and I got right back to it 2 days later. Our goal this time was Basin East. Basin East is a sloping face, gentle enough to allow free-climbing but pitched at an angle that puts it into a category well beyond hiking.
The adventure began on the summit of Saddleback where it was chilly and gloomy. Basin East is something I've been looking at for years and from Saddleback it took on a new, more ominous look for me because that's where we were headed. But first we had some gorgeous off-trail hiking to enjoy. Once off the wall and on the trail we cut left into easy woods and cut over to the Saddleback South slide, which is best done in winter but which opens the way to new worlds. We picked our way down and around a lot of slopey-slimey rock and then cut over through thick woods to the massive slab referred to by Glen as “Big Pink”.
Big Pink is getting pretty dirty and after some discussion we decided not to climb it. Best decision all day. It is nevertheless an awesome and huge feature and our pictures describe it well.
We next headed down to the confluence of the Big Pink-Basin East drainages. Huge wow factor where people are very, very small relative to the décor. We have the pics to prove it. The walk along the Basin east drainage is one I've done several times but it was Nanga's first and as such I got to re-live it through him like it was the first time.
Soon, we finished our lunch on a luminescent green mossy perch, stowed our poles and switched into rock shoes. The rubber hit the road. This ascent was unlike anything I have ever done. There was a certain comparison to the Eagle Slide because of the width and depth of exposure but this was a much more sustained and steep pitch from bottom to top. IIRC, on the Eagle there were lots of gentler sections and connecting the dots was relatively straightforward. On Basin, detailed route-finding, identifying and using holds - many obvious, many not so obvious – was key and this required a constant and unwavering focus from beginning to end. Being a relative newbie to the sport I was happy to follow most of the way and when Nanga spoke, I listened carefully and heeded everything he said.
I was under the impression that an experienced rock jock could go up the same face any which-way with no difficulty but we studied the rock continuously for the safest and easiest lines. We remained in the confines of two parallel lines about 30 feet apart but zig-zagged continuously. Several times Nanga would lead a tough section and point out each foot and hand hold as he move up it fluidly. When it was my turn the holds somehow had evaporated into thin air and I covered the same segment with a lot less elegance. Placing and shifting one's weight upon one's feet for minimal effort and maximum stability, moving with fluidity and not hugging the rock were of paramount importance but were easier said than done.
From experience on many easier slides I know just how easy it is to mis-read the terrain and to get “stuck” and to have to do a hairy and delicate downclimb. That wasn't going to be an option here and I held my ambitions and impulsiveness firmly in check. Every single move was thought out and made with extreme care, with an understanding that falling or slipping would be ruthlessly unforgiving. This was easy rock climbing but the fundamental, mind-sharpening factor was that it was unprotected. The toughest move of all came at the end and involved a traverse over wet, smooth rock followed by a two-handed chin-up maneuver. It was quite a feeling to relax and sit quietly in the lush moss and switch into runners while looking out across the valley to Saddleback-Gothics-Pyramid in the late afternoon sun.
The bushwhack to the trail was gorgeous. We approached the summit from the Haystack side and I said to the people there that we had come up from Saddleback with a bit of a detour. The hike back over Saddleback was a very nice treat and the walk out from there was, well, what I call the price of admission although it was not without its charms.
PICTURES
The adventure began on the summit of Saddleback where it was chilly and gloomy. Basin East is something I've been looking at for years and from Saddleback it took on a new, more ominous look for me because that's where we were headed. But first we had some gorgeous off-trail hiking to enjoy. Once off the wall and on the trail we cut left into easy woods and cut over to the Saddleback South slide, which is best done in winter but which opens the way to new worlds. We picked our way down and around a lot of slopey-slimey rock and then cut over through thick woods to the massive slab referred to by Glen as “Big Pink”.
Big Pink is getting pretty dirty and after some discussion we decided not to climb it. Best decision all day. It is nevertheless an awesome and huge feature and our pictures describe it well.
We next headed down to the confluence of the Big Pink-Basin East drainages. Huge wow factor where people are very, very small relative to the décor. We have the pics to prove it. The walk along the Basin east drainage is one I've done several times but it was Nanga's first and as such I got to re-live it through him like it was the first time.
Soon, we finished our lunch on a luminescent green mossy perch, stowed our poles and switched into rock shoes. The rubber hit the road. This ascent was unlike anything I have ever done. There was a certain comparison to the Eagle Slide because of the width and depth of exposure but this was a much more sustained and steep pitch from bottom to top. IIRC, on the Eagle there were lots of gentler sections and connecting the dots was relatively straightforward. On Basin, detailed route-finding, identifying and using holds - many obvious, many not so obvious – was key and this required a constant and unwavering focus from beginning to end. Being a relative newbie to the sport I was happy to follow most of the way and when Nanga spoke, I listened carefully and heeded everything he said.
I was under the impression that an experienced rock jock could go up the same face any which-way with no difficulty but we studied the rock continuously for the safest and easiest lines. We remained in the confines of two parallel lines about 30 feet apart but zig-zagged continuously. Several times Nanga would lead a tough section and point out each foot and hand hold as he move up it fluidly. When it was my turn the holds somehow had evaporated into thin air and I covered the same segment with a lot less elegance. Placing and shifting one's weight upon one's feet for minimal effort and maximum stability, moving with fluidity and not hugging the rock were of paramount importance but were easier said than done.
From experience on many easier slides I know just how easy it is to mis-read the terrain and to get “stuck” and to have to do a hairy and delicate downclimb. That wasn't going to be an option here and I held my ambitions and impulsiveness firmly in check. Every single move was thought out and made with extreme care, with an understanding that falling or slipping would be ruthlessly unforgiving. This was easy rock climbing but the fundamental, mind-sharpening factor was that it was unprotected. The toughest move of all came at the end and involved a traverse over wet, smooth rock followed by a two-handed chin-up maneuver. It was quite a feeling to relax and sit quietly in the lush moss and switch into runners while looking out across the valley to Saddleback-Gothics-Pyramid in the late afternoon sun.
The bushwhack to the trail was gorgeous. We approached the summit from the Haystack side and I said to the people there that we had come up from Saddleback with a bit of a detour. The hike back over Saddleback was a very nice treat and the walk out from there was, well, what I call the price of admission although it was not without its charms.
PICTURES
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