Getting out for a climb is a challenge in this heat, especially if you don’t have time to wind your way up high into the mountains. After hiding in the house during the day Saturday, we decided to see how the Alabama Hills felt. We left about 5:30pm, pulled into Lone Pine around 6:45, and stopped to buy a guidebook and some Stoli. These little transactions seemed harder than usual, the sports store’s card reader was down, I had to use my PIN and signature to get cash at the grocery store, etc. We pulled up to the crag & I decided I had left the climbing guide in the grocery store. So we went back, looked all over the store, gave up, and would have bought another but the sports store had closed. Sounds like a good state of mind for rock climbing, doesn’t it?

Well, the guide was in the back of the car the whole time. We got ourselved geared up at the Shark’s Fin with enough light left for a couple of climbs. Luckily, things went much better on the rock than in the town, and we had fun. Ann was still a little nervous about belaying me on lead, and I don’t blame her after all the screamers I took last time. When it got dark we left the rope up, spent the night in the wind under the full moon, and played on the rock for another hour in the morning before it got too hot. Not much climbing for the trouble, but it’s always worth it.