ElCap Reports

ElCap Report 6/14/0

7 By Tom Evans

Yo... if you think it is hot where you are then you had better have that thermometer recalibrated... smoking here in the valley with an absence of the usually cooling west wind... but the action is heating up on the Captain as the temp. rises.. so here it comes fresh to you from the bag that held the 12 beers that the "pink nose" teams parents brought us today at the bridge while they picked our brains for news of their daughter who is the woman wearing the pink shirt on the nose.. They didn’t know where the Nose was but we set them straight... very nice folks.. supposed to be cooler in the next few days...so relax .. tomorrow is Friday and that is close to the weekend so you can start weekending as soon as you finish reading today’s report from the epicenter of the center of the hub of big walling in the USA and probably the entire world, if not the solar system.... mmmm maybe even the galaxy.. or perhaps the Local group of galaxies... anyway there it is.... The ElCap Report for this day

Zodiac: I did see my friends from Germany coming down from the ledge at the top of the black tower but they left most of their stuff and all their rope fixed... one of my pusher friends is down at the moment with his line fixed and stuff at the top of 4.. Returning soon he said.

Lost in America. The Korean team (I am assuming that nationality as some have said so) is moving up the wall in good form with lots of colorful shirts and haulbags.. got some nice shots of them... they have a ground man who I hear in a very experienced climber and a soloist of that route in the past. This three man team seems to have it dialed... we at the bridge tend to poke a little fun at foreign teams because they use a different style than we do but these guys are getting the job done in their own way ...so pretty cool to me...

Aurora: The second team of Koreans is on this route and were seen heading up the left leaning corner toward the Bat Cave... they are a bit strung out on the route as it is very traversing and easier to haul from different stations and not keep the stuff at each belay... it is rumored that they have a leader who is not here at the present and will show up within a couple of days... rumor only...

Trip: The Solo guy who insists on wearing the same white shirt that he has worn for 8 walls in spite of my offer of a free red one was seen climbing the 2nd pitch of Virginia to make the start of the trip in a more direct fashion and also to avoid the ropes and stuff of the Korean team who are taking up the 2nd and 3rd pitches of the standard trip route.. the soloist looks dialed and comfortable and should be done with that pitch by now.. not sure if he has blasted yet .

El Nino: The two guys from yesterday left a fixed line and were not seen on the route today..

The Ranch... watched Kate lead the 4th pitch today with no problems... the clusterfuck of previous Pete climbs seems somehow absent on this one and the belay stations look neat and tidy... ahhh the influence of a woman’s touch just might be the reason.. looked hot up there too...

Mescalito.. saw that team climb to the Bismarck ledge this afternoon... the lads are in the groove now and are making fast work of the climbing... plus that orange shirt I gave one of them is making for some sweet shots!!

The Nose... just two parties on the nose... the team of 3, from Truckee, slept in late on Dolt tower today but quickly climbed to ElCap tower by early afternoon... they have some heavy bags and that slowed them down it appeared... I went down valley to shoot from the west and saw them on top of Texas Flake.. my guess is that they are fixing and will stay on ElCap tower tonight...My “On The Wall Man“, Jon Gleason, went through them on his one day ascent with Ben yesterday and they said to tell everyone that they were doing fine and everything was going as planned... The pink team bivied on the pancake flake last night and the night before they were on the Boot... Jon reported that they wanted to bivy at the most exposed places on the route and they are sticking to that plan... pretty cool idea... they climbed to camp 5 and onward toward the top with her leading her share of pitches.. they are making a fun ascent for sure... I last saw them as she was leading the pitch above the changing corners at 5 pm.. her parents showed up at the bridge and we had a fine time chatting with them and assuring them that there daughter was doing just fine... they came up to see her and were sure they would top out tonight... maybe so... but we here think they just might want to stop at the base of the last pitch to get that final exposed bivy... good for them!!

Jolly Roger: I did see the 3 lads struggling with the pigs above heart ledge this afternoon... a very unforgiving low angle section of the route that is best passed as quickly as possible as its climbing value is little... looked absolutely broiling over on the west side this afternoon...

Salathe.. saw a team of 3 go from the Hollow flake to the alcove on this day... there was a guy in green doing some fast leading while the other two dealt with the Luggage, as the Euros call the bags.. they were moving right along... there are a few plans in the wind around the cafe for the Salathe but we will wait to see if any come to fruition..

In other news:  So there it is for today... another day in the shade of the trees at the east end of the most important bridge in all of climbingdom.. the ElCap Bridge... oh.. almost forgot... Ian and Josh made a brief appearance and went to check on their lines on the New Dawn... remember they got a reprieve on the Walk of shame because of work and the fact that they left all the rope they had fixed... good for you lads... but we will still keep the scope trained in your direction in case you try to pull a fast one on us.... The bridge livened up in the afternoon as several monkeys came by and hung out ... great plans were made... great ideas proposed... Amee and Anna were there getting beta for climbing the gold wall in the ribbon falls area and just making the place a tad more civil than usual.. when they left the usual slander and somewhat more "progressive" language was re-instigated.. various bodily noises were once again free to reverberate around the area... I wonder why beautiful Chics don’t hang out here very often???? As Cedar would say.. "It's a mystery"... So the van is packed and THE EXTRA BEERS have been put away until tomorrow when it will all start again here at the gateway to adventure ...

So that’s the way it is from the ElCap Bridge for June 14th 2007...

Signing off for now ElCap-Pics