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yosemite july beta 25-Aug-2009 At 9:35:49 PM pisces

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Hi y'al and FYI re US climbing. I'm back from a trip to the states. Arrived in Yosemite 9 July with
intentions on the Muir wall of el cap solo. I have climbed there before (25 years ago) and was thrilled to
be going back. Didn't work out however. Temperatures in the day were 40-42 degrees C, forest fire
filled the valley with smoke on one or two days, absolutely packed with tourists, which is fine except
they also filled camp 4 (only a handful of climbers) and were noisy until midnight or later (no ranger
intervention that I could tell) so sleep was compromised. Go 100 metres off a main trail however and
you'll be completely alone. I did a few climbs and reconnoitered the descent, but it was obvious a
major wall in these conditions was not advisable, especially solo. Tootled over to Colorado (got to be
the most spectacular 1000 miles of driving in the world) and spent a couple of weeks climbing 14,000ft
peaks, backcountry camping and mountain biking out of Aspen, where the annual music and cultural
festival took care of the evenings. Moral: global warming = no Yosemite in July/August.