Waking Dream.Next day, after a casual breakfast we hiked back up to the route. The first pitch is a low 5th class affair with mostly dirt, roots, and tree climbing to get above the jungle canopy. A bit of extra shenanigans are required as the haul line does not follow the meandering scramble. The start of pitch two was a head scratcher – even with the topo and the beta from David and Stephan. After a ten footer (soft landing) onto the ledge, things became more clear. Per David’s recommendation, we broke up the meandering pitch 2 into two and arrived on the sloping ledge system below The Great Roof in the afternoon. I have to say that the granite was taking some getting used to. Flaring cracks that would’ve been a mindless C1 hike on say Yosemite granite were spitting out gear in many cases. The rock texture felt almost chalky in some of those cracks – perhaps the result of thick lichen build-up? We set up our hanging camp, enjoyed some canned food for dinner and watched the small thunderheads build over the sea. Given our experience of the previous two nights we were expecting a light show out in the distance and foolishly did not bother getting the fly ready. We faded out to sleep just past 6.
Six Hours Later
Riding out a thunderstorm, Click photo for the video.
Photos
An alarm cock in Mukut (May 2014).Shirley jugging the first pitch of Waking Dream – a slab and jungle affair (May 2014).Starting up Waking Dream (May 2014).Some well seasoned bolts at the second belay station (May 2014).Shirley on pitch 2 of Waking Dream (May 2014).Views from the top of the true pitch 2 (May 2014).Shirley on pitch 2 (May 2014).The jungle canopy below (May 2014).Shirley arriving atop pitch 2 (our 3) of Waking Dream (May 2014).Views from pitch 2 (May 2014).Under The Great Roof on Waking Dream with the shadows of the Horns visible below (May 2014).Shirley at our bivy high above South China Sea, two (our three) pitches up Waking Dream. The puffy cloud would magnify into quite a storm that would engulf us staring after midnight (May 2014).A storm building out at sea. What we did not expect is that it would NOT stay at sea…Settling in (May 2014).Riding out the thunderstorm on Waking Dream. Click photo for the video (May 2014).Morning views from the bivy (May 2014).Morning in camp (May 2014).A bit of a downpour (May 2014).Preparing to go down (leaving fixed ropes in place; May 2014).Coming down in the rain (May 2014).Hiking down to the village in a downpour (May 2014).Some fauna (May 2014).Wet jungle hike (May 2014).A little break (May 2014).The drying operation at our chalet after a night of hosing. Hard for anything to dry in the 90% humidity and particularly on that drizzly, cloudy day (May 2014).The Horns still socked in (May 2014).Trying to dry out our stuff in the cabin (May 2014).Our cabin mate (May 2014).“No, it’s nothing.”What kind of turtle is this?
