The previous year I had climbed
Phobos (5.9, 3p) and loved it. I had wanted to climb its counterpart and the other namesake climb of this cliff,
Deimos (5.9, 3p) but we had not fit it into the day. Plus, when climbing
Phobos, I had noticed an amazing crack just right of it -
Blues Riff (5.11b, 3p). I determined to come back and make a day of climbing both
Demios and
Blues Riff someday. A year later, I did.
Deimos is an excellent steep climb with a lot of hands/fists/OW crack. It has a bit of a reputation as being hard, burly, and with less than perfect protection. But Rob and I found none of these to be true. The climb is truly a bit atypical for Tuolumne, being more reminiscent of Valley crack climbs with lots of wideness and flares. But after the first 30 feet, the rock is excellent, there is pro wherever you want it, and the offwidth is pretty tame and easily stemmed or face-climbed around. The only negative is the walk-off.
I led the first pitch while Rob linked the second and third. We had an 80m rope (since our plan was to climb
Blues Riff next where the 80 is handy), so Rob rappelled all the way back down the the base of the cliff with the gear, after which I dropped the rope to him and then did the walk-off while Rob shuttled the gear to the base of
Blues Riff. The walk-off was a bit wet and I still couldn't figure out a way to avoid a bit of a 'schwack at the end of it to get back to the base of the cliff.
Next up:
Blues Riff (5.11b, 2-3p).