El Cap Report 06/07/08

ElCap Report 6/7/08

By Tom Evans

Yo. Nice day here for a Saturday. Great weather, nice folks, heroes down from the Cap and not too many Tourons. Unfortunately the controlled burn was not quite out in Foresta and after noon the skies got kind of hazy. I have the show to get ready for tonight so this will be to the point. Brought to you today by Lori who worried all day yesterday about her man Tony and friend Clay and in the end it was all for naught. So here it comes direct as the Direct on the Dome, to you, now..

Zodiac: My man Matt Thomsen went over the top today around 1pm and I am sure is just about sick to death of aid climbing on the Captain right now! He made a nice ascent for his first solo on the Great Rock.

Matt rapping back to Peanut Ledge after climbing the pitch above. Notice his shadow with aiders.

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Matt on top of Zodiac!!

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Aurora: Ken continues to move right along. Unfortunately the lad has a fleece that exactly matches the color of the rock and the shots I am getting of him are not so good. But of course it is not about the shots but how he is enjoying this great route and he seems to be in full stride now, ticking off the pitches.

Mescalito: Ollie and Chris were seen this morning hauling to the top of the Bismarck and heading out on a couple of pitches above that landmark. The lads are going well.

Chris hauling above the Bismarck.

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But! As suggested, the Aussie solo, Simon, did in fact catch the lads at the Bismarck late yesterday after sending 5 pitches that day!! He was seen lounging on the deck for the rest of the day. Nice work Son!!

Nose: The so called “Russian Team” spent the night at camp 4 and did the Great Roof this morning and were headed into camp 5 when I departed early this afternoon due to the lack of good shooting conditions. They are moving right along and will most likely be off tomorrow evening.

Jim, Russian Team, leading the Pancake Flake Nose route

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Long view of Jim, Russian team, leading Pancake Flake, Nose Route.

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Lower down Beat and buddy stayed on Dolt Tower last night and did the Jardine Traverse this morning instead of the regular route. Last seen heading toward the Great Roof in the afternoon.

Lower down yet the legendary Hans Florine was seen with a friend of age 54 climbing over Dolt Tower and on to ECT this morning. The word is that they are trying for a somewhat contrived “record climb” of the Nose in a day. The oldest two man team to do it. But as you know the Bridge Record committee will have to review the results and the idea that this is even a worthy category in the first place! They were seen passing through Beat’s (pronounced like “be at“) team around the vicinity of the Great Roof.

Hans doing the “King Traverse“, as he didn’t swing at all but did a tension traverse.

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Shield: Holly and Lorna were seen on the last pitch of this route this morning. Man, those girls are setting a blistering pace these days. Most other teams don’t do it this fast. They are becoming a force to be reckoned with. Nice job ladies!!

Salathe: Saw a party around Sus Le Toit heading up to the roof pitch early this morning. Lower down a party bailed from the pitch above the Hollow Flake. Since the news is thin and the pics few today I am adding 4 I shot from 5/23/08 of the Cossey Brothers, from Australia, when they were working on the Zodiac free attempt during the bad weather.

Ben is in red and Lee is in green… Notice the difference?!!

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In other news: Nice day today. Lucho and Chilli were down from a successful send of Free Rider. The guys from the recent El Nino ascent were about the area too. Did talk to the leader of the so called “gang of four” who said they shouldn’t have been so nice and let so many parties go by as it limited their time on the Salathe. But they were psyched anyway! A lot of the locals were seen hanging at the tree in the meadow in this really nice weather. Tony and Clay on the nose yesterday just ran a little low on energy and rested at camp 4 part of the night and thus were late to the top. No real problem otherwise.

So that’s the way it is on this the 7th day of June 2008.

Bye, Bye! ECP’S