ElCap Reports

ElCap Report 6/28/07

 By Tom Evans

Yo... OK, you knew this was coming sooner or later and now it is here... so suck it up, take a deep breath, read it and weep because ....THIS IS THE LAST ELCAP REPORT FOR THIS SEASON... Yep it is true... the last of the reports direct from the glory hole at the epicenter of the center of the big wall climbing scene here in the Ditch.. direct from the bridge this comes to you from the balding head of our own Chuck Pratt look-alike, Logan, who is only here a couple of days more and then back to the grind in the city... enjoy what little news there is because it will be the last news from this correspondent for a while... So pound it in, tie it off, bounce test it, and then commit to it... Today’s ElCap Report... the last in a great series of reports direct to you...

Zodiac: Did see the 3 person Korean team climb from peanut ledge this morning and later in the day were seen on the next to the last pitch... they will most likely top out tonight after a very photogenic climb of the most photogenic climb on this side of the Cap... The solo who was at the base a couple of days ago has vanished.

The Ranch. Saw Big Wall Kate rope-solo the last pitch of the NA finish to this route... but of course with these guys it isn’t over until the last pig is hauled squealing to the top where an army of porters will carry them down... it has been a long time since we last saw our friends Kate and Pete and it will be nice to have a cold one with them at the bridge and hear their stories of a great route... much good work was put in replacing the junk rivets, Pete's job they tell me. Epic Ed and Beautiful Brenda hiked today from the Tioga road to the top of el cap to join the duo for tonight’s bivy on top...

Mescalito: The two polish climbers are ticking off the pitches with slight distractions from the rappers who regularly come whizzing past and jugging up. With parts of their ledge on the ground I would guess they are looking forward to the Bismarck ledge!! The Rope: The rope still hangs from top of the dawn wall and is getting frequent use by the cavers who hauled it into the valley and put it up... fun watching them and talking with them about the technical aspects of the sport and especially working on such a long rope...they will take it all down tomorrow afternoon... they are mostly from Ohio and West VA.

Nose: Well the three Korean climbers who made it to camp 4 last evening have somehow vanished from the route... they didn’t go up for sure so they must have decided to bail from there...hope they are all ok... The Fins topped out at around 3pm today which means that the lovely girlfriend of one of them will not be hanging around the bridge with us anymore... rats!! Anyway they made a nice climb and maybe will stop by on their way out of the valley for some good cheer and story telling.... Kyle and Klaus stopped by this morning from their recent climb of this great route... Klaus and his friend left today but Kyle stayed on to revel in the glory for the day at the bridge. Now when Tourons ask questions about this or that we point them to Kyle and say..."this young man has just returned from the very jaws of death on the mighty EL Capitan, he can answer any of your questions." Thus relieving the rest of us the burden of explaining things for the 40,000th time this season...Thanks Kyle!!!

Shield: Yep... they said they were going and so they did... two guys appeared going over the roof today and onto the headwall... think I talked to them last week but of course can't remember conversations from today much less last week... they look like they know the deal up there...

Salathe:I  did see Oli and Chris go up the headwall to long ledge this morning and expect they will be off by now...

The Fire: When you come into the park you will notice the signs that say "Extreme Fire Danger" ... so in their infinite wisdom, the NPS has decided these would be the perfect conditions for having a controlled burn. So they have one going now... not good for me or the climbers as thick smoke obscured much of ElCap today and will most likely do so for several days... as if the auto exhaust on this 4th of July weekend wont be bad enough we have clouds of smoke billowing up from the west side of the valley and being blown into the main part by the prevailing winds... come at your own risk...

In other news... we had a nice day at the bridge today... Anna (cute little biscuit) brought food and drink for the crew here... thanks Sweetie!! Many others drifted by today to see what was up on the Cap too... As this is the last report I would like to say that it was fun being your man on the scene and comment that all the dire predictions of physical endangerment, ranger scrutiny, CIA files on each climber, etc, etc, have all proved to be just so much smoke... to my knowledge no one was stalked, no one suffered any trauma, no one was particularly embarrassed.. so all in all it was just a pleasant sidebar to the valley scene... hope you all enjoyed it... from the Montana Girls to the Korean legions it was a good time to be here and to relate things to you, dedicated ElCap fans...

So that's the way it was for the spring climbing season in 2007, this is your man in the center of the fray, signing off... take care and we will see you here at the bridge again... ElCap-pics