Pine Creek with Kai

Kai and I took a quick trip out to Pine Creek near Bishop, CA. We camped out near Bishop and drove into Pine Creek for a quick day of climbing. First tick was Pratt’s Crack (T 5.9), which is a 170 foot offwidth. Took us each about 45 minutes to send it. What a fight. It’s the dihedral on the left in the photo.

After, we hopped on The Big Deal (T 5.9, 4 pitches) and Chip Off the Old Block (T 5.10a, 6 pitches). We bailed early on Chip in order to beat the sunset on our rappels and drive home. This means we didn’t get to try the crux pitch, which looked both stellar and intimidating.

Grades out at Pine Creek are pretty old school. Feels like Tahquitz levels of sandbagging. Fair, given that Tahquitz is the birthplace of the YDS.