On Saturday, we had a bigger climb in mind: the South Face (Beckey route) of The Warlock, a nice 6-7 pitch 5.9 climb that Karen had done 9 years ago and remembered it as a nice climb. In the morning, the car thermometer showed 29 degF - a bit chilly to be rock climbing! Of course, the approach is long and we wouldn't be climbing for a few more hours anyway, but we still brought fleeces and light down jackets just in case.

Warlock, South Face shown by dotted red line (photo from 2008)

Walking on the lookout trail, we warmed up fast and shed most layers - the approach went by pretty quickly until the Witch/Sorcerer col, and then it started getting more interesting. Some navigating through manzanita bushes and an exciting slab was necessary, but eventually we found what we believed was the start of the climb - a vegetated gully that was described as "hard to find" in the already cryptic guidebook. Without memory of the last time he was here, Karen scrambled up the gully ("pitch" 1), I followed and then started up what I believed to be the correct route. I won't describe what happened next in detail to save embarassment, but there was some wide climbing with only a tipped-out #3 camalot to protect from decking (the largest we carried). I eventually mananaged to set it securely in a constriction and got above it, but didn't get far before I got way too scared to continue with no protection in sight - so I downclimbed and grabbed the piece, already exhausted. After a couple of more tries I decided to lower 15 feet and pendulum into the next crack, which was much easier and about 80 feet later I was able to tie off a bush as my next piece of protection (the bush had some 30-year old sunbleached rappel tat, perhaps a sign). Easier climbing gained the large tree that we believed was the correct belay. Despite the 50 degree temperature I sweated so much on this pitch that my sunglasses were dripping... how's that for a warm-up! I had a painful ear infection in one of my ears, and by now it was all forgotten.

The next two pitches were much less eventful, although certainly memorable with a few runouts as well as a vertical crack with a bush to pull on, with dead leaves and dirt falling on your face. And having to clean dirt out of one section to get in a blue TCU... priceless. By now we were used to this "adventure" feeling, and it didn't seem all that unusual that holds were crumbling. I belayed under a beautiful looking roof corner with a thin crack splitting it - at this point I thought we must have rejoined the route. This must be the 5.9, I first thought? It surely looked harder though... we weren't sure where we were, but we knew we were a bit off-route. This turned out to be the original Fred Beckey pitch, which was aided at first. The topo says it goes free 10+, the online guide says 11+... whichever one you pick, it was too hard for us. Karen fought up with some alpine-style climbing tactics, and when he cleared the roof he recognized the original line on the left and below us (we now joined it). He continued up the chimney and setup a belay at a small stance - now it was my turn, and since I was freezing I was very determined to give it all I could. I went as quickly as I could up the initial section barely holding on, but slipped at the roof and fell - like I said, too hard for us no matter how you look at it.

From there, I took us all the way to the top, a full 60 meters later. The last "5.6" groove was fiercely fighting me to the point that I climbed a steep finger crack on the left wall stemming the groove and tried to escape left on the face - which was unsuccessful. Anyway, these shenanigans took way too long but I was soon on top, happy and nothing else in the world mattered at that point, I was just happy not to be in the "groove" anymore. Karen followed shortly. Now we were on "top" and it wasn't obvious how to get down - he claimed we have to squeeze through this crazy-looking horizontal 6" chimney. I remember saying "No way I'm going through that, we have to find something else" - then I watched him snake through in disbelief. It turned out to be quite easy to a 2" foot ledge that allows you to walk across at mid-height. Then 100ft up the gully, there are some good good bolts from where a 200ft rappel gets you all the way to the ground on the backside (barely). It's possible to do a short pitch to the true summit, but we didn't have the time or energy for that. The last hour of the hike was in the dark, lit by a full moon. Walking by the Witch, Sorcerer and Magician in the moonlight felt special, especially as it was Halloween night. Back in Ponderosa, there was a Halloween party with a handful of people in attendance (probably all of the residents in a radius of 50 miles). After beer and some food, we were happy to go back to our camp spot and pass out.

On Sunday, we came back to the Sorcerer and wanted to do Thin Ice. We showed up at the base around 11am, and figured the sun would be hitting the climb around that time (as it's shadowed by The Witch earlier in the morning). Well, unfortunately the sun was only on the first pitch for about 30 minutes, and never on the rest of the climb - then it turned the corner not to be seen again. Unlike on Saturday, it was much windier and that made it bloody cold - but I started up the first pitch wearing my fleece with the hood on. It took me about 40 feet to start feeling my fingers, which may have been a good thing because the rock in the crack was sharp! Then I got to the crux area, and there was mucho hanging - I felt weak and frustrated. After getting through that section (liebacking and hugging the right face) I made it to the bolted belay and in a couple of minutes time I went from comfortable to freezing again, despite putting on my houdini to keep off the wind. Karen joined and we decided to rap off there and go home... we'll be back, hopefully in friendlier conditions next time. The drive back to the Bay Area was tiring and long as usual... why couldn't the Needles be closer? Still, we felt like we made the most of this trip. Didn't see a single climber all weekend, apart from running into some guys from Texas in the parking lot, who had just arrived and needed some beta.

	Karen starting up Anti-jello crack on Dome Rock	On the 2nd pitch	The Needles as seen from Dome Rock

	Kern valley	The third pitch of Anti-jello crack (moves left in corner at this point)

	On top of Dome Rock, photo by Karen	At the trailhead for the main trail

		The Sorcerer, home of Thin Ice and others	Upper section of Warlock

	Cairn at the base of the vegetated gully		Pretty Needles granite

	Karen starting up pitch 2	Nearing the 5.11 crack (upper left)

	We climbed the crack to the left, which is the original Beckey aid line (5.11+ free according to online sources)	Looks hard (it's overhanging)	Looking down our third pitch

	Hmm where do you want me to go next?

	Steep, thin crack		Looking down the groove on the finishing pitch

		Umm.. we have to go through THAT?	It turned out to be less wild than it looks, but still cool

		Voodoo Dome and the Kern Valley	White Punks on Dope on Voodoo Dome

		The Sorcerer	Pyromania (5.13b) - looks crazy!

	Looking up at the steep Thin Ice	Starting up Thin Ice in cold & wind	In the crux area on the first pitch of Thin Ice

	Freezing	Airy Interlude starts in the left corner and traverses right in the diagonal crack to join Igor Unchained	A close-up of Airy Interlude