ElCap Reports

ElCap Report 6/19/07

 By Tom Evans

Yo.. So Tuesday is a memory and you still are feeling the drag of your efforts thus far this week... well man-up again because the week is far from over and you are going to be a lot more tired at its' end... this report is brought to you by the emergency crew from Maryland and Minnesota who came to the rescue today with some food and beers... thanks folks... it was getting critical here with some of the regulars slumped in their chairs babbling incoherently! Today was nice with a breeze and few high clouds... but the air sucked as it was quite hazy and the temp. differential make for a lot of movement .. . but I did my best to record the events for posterity. So straight from the curb where the shuttle bus let out three older women who stumbled into my telescope and sent it flying, comes the Report for today. So kick off those shoes, loosen that belt and hit the chair hard with a cold one because here it comes direct from the glory hole... Today’s ElCap Report...

Zodiac:  As planned the German couple, Peter and Martina, were on the ropes early and had lead the pitch into the circle by the time I arrived... nice going ... I shot them most of the day and left as peter was about to embrace the nipple having climbed the first half of that pitch... The Korean team, formerly known as the Lost in America team, got smacked down hard by the Zodiac and were seen coming down the trail by my man Wigball Zak who reported that from the looks in their eyes they were toast... in a related item Zak hauled up some provisions to the top of 4 getting ready for tomorrows climb of the route with his lovely girlfriend Holly. Zak’s dad came to the bridge and we chatted for a short time.. turns out he is a retired teacher like me...

The Trip: My man Todd was seen this morning resting on his portaledge drinking something out of a bottle... seemed just fine and had already done a pitch... he then climbed another getting close to the start of the bolt ladders that lead toward the end of the route... my worries fortunately seemed to have in vain as he continues to move right along and he was close to the Korean team on Aurora if he needed anything... seems he didn’t... GO TODD!!!

Aurora: The big Korean team continues to roll up this route like a runaway locomotive... they are having a good time and are moving along fine... their videographer seems to be having a blast jugging up and down the route filming everyone... the route will never be the same...

The Ranch... Well Pete was out on the lead part of the day and made good progress.. looks like some of the sketchy rivets had been upgraded to bolts, or at least that’s how it looked to onlookers through the telescope...they will need to move bags late today and into tomorrow but seem to be hitting their stride...the lad was fully clothed all day ....a nice turn of events for sure...I did allow some older, battle hardened vets, to view the team through the scope...

NA Wall: Saw that team climb out of the Cyclops eye today and the second come off and take a 30footer cleaning when he sailed unexpectedly off the traverse ledge.. pretty cool as he seemed just fine... the air was thick and they were hard to see later in the day...

Nose: The lead party from yesterday were seen just for a moment just above the glowering spot when I arrived so they must have stepped on the gas yesterday and early today to have gone so fast...Did see the Cheese heads, actually Derick from CO and Dan from Minnesota... still Cheese heads to me...as they climbed the boot and did the king swing with a little coaching on the radio... they pulled it off in good style.. and were seen late in the day climbing toward camp 4 where they will most likely stay... Chris and Clay were picked up on the pitch above dolt tower on a NIAD ascent... they struggled a bit reaching between the bolts on the Jardine traverse but quickly were back on task and beat the Cheese heads to eagle ledge and climbed ahead of them from there... I last saw them on the last part of the pancake flake around 4pm... a little on the late side but they will gain time in the straighJ up upper part of the route and may be off by dark... nice to watch them go up the route especially since they were consulted by the ElCap pics boutique on the proper fashion for the route...

Salathe; Did see the lead team of john and Julia go up from Long Ledge toward the top this morning, looked like them anyway. Later in the day I saw the trailing team from yesterday as it went over the roof pitch late today ... did see someone around the spire this morning but don’t have a clue who they are...

In other news.. there were several monkeys around making plans for a push starting early on the NA tomorrow ...and a big SAR Stud and a cute Little Biscuit are going on the Nose early after an unexpected delay today...plus rumors of this team or that team getting poised for a start abound... talk is of course cheap around here and we will see what transpires...I will be here so you can enjoy the full benefit of knowing all the details from the insiders perspective... from the delights to the disasters... brought to you in the mercilessly brutal light of reality... the dirt will be dished and the praise will be heaped. The valley is full of Tourons for some unknown reason, maybe the summer run is on in full force.... I need to get out of here if that is the case... but I have a show this weekend and the big Half dome celebration is the weekend of June 30 and I am on for that too... after that ..... I am out a here!!!

So that’s the way it is,  for today, the 19th day of June, 2007..

signing off for now, your telescopic eye on the wall...ECP’s