ElCap Reports

ElCap Report 9/25/07
 By Tom Evans
YO... Great day here in the big Ditch.. clear skies, warm, real climbers climbing on the big stone... and I did make it down to the west side to see what was up. Lots of action so I will get right to it... Here it is straight from the bridge...today’s ElCap report...

Zodiac: The two Austrians got into the gray circle today and I got some real nice shots of them leading the nipple pitch. The accomplished solo from yesterday bailed....
Shortest Straw: Andy Kirkpatrick and the paraplegic woman, Sharon Darke, started this route today in the company of two other women friends and were on the second pitch when I left..
Lost in America: A team of two that I thought might be on the trip went right above the first pitch and were slowly working up the route when I left.
Trip: Everyone below the 4th pitch bailed... the team of three pushed up to 5 yesterday and today were way up at 10 closely behind the two who have been on the route for a couple of days before them... all are high on the route and will be off tomorrow most likely... nice climbing lads.
Iron Hawk: The two "stickers" climbed the pitch above the roof and spent the afternoon on the infamous "knifeblade Traverse" pitch today finishing it before I left at 5pm.
DNR and Ivo Direct: Both lads were down today and I had a nice chat with Ivo at breakfast ... later saw Dave and his mom down at the bridge where she gave me some super cookies and brownies.. Thanks B!!
Mescalito: Strange stuff this... Two Croatians climbed rapidly to Anchorage (now known as Stork Ledge) yesterday and I spotted them jugging the, long overdue to be taken down, ropes that TC has left on Adrift for several months now. Looks like they may have been suckered onto the lines thinking they were on Mescalito. Anyway after a few pitches they rapped down to the Mescalito corner system around pitch 7 and got re-established on the correct route. Tommy!! Hello!! We love you guys but how long do we have to see these ropes and bags hanging the face without seeing you there too??? Mutt and Jeff were off today making ready for the start tomorrow.. New Dawn? Did see the solo guy over there making it to Lay Lady ledge and hauling bags late in the day...
Nose: Well the throngs of "Wall Style" climbers moved up today from the vicinity of Dolt and ECtower and were last seen lined up the corners from camp 5 to the top late in the day. A couple of teams were still struggling in the gray bands and into camp 4 late when I left. A couple parties broke into the stovelegs this morning and soon ground to a halt and were bailing by around 3pm. Lots of traffic and no NIADs today.. actually the lower part seems pretty open so if you are a NIAD crew you might want to get on it early and kick it in gear.
Triple Direct: Maybe Muir... Did see a team at the end of the Muir traverse atop the gray flake who can either go Muir or 3D. Below them were a couple teams of guys in the big corner at and above gray ledges going where? Who knows... also a party just above Mammoth terrace headed to gray ledges..
Shield: Among those in the big Muir corner was a team at the top of it with the leader going left to the Shield so we should have good things to see on the headwall.
Jolly Roger: Yeah since I was down to the west side I did see EE, Bill a pitch above the level of the top of the heart on a pretty nice looking ledge.. past some of the nasty stuff they are.. Nice!
Salathe/Free Rider... Saw a couple of guys climb to the Alcove from Hollow flake ledge today and also a couple from yesterday go to Suis Le Toit and on up toward the roof.. didn't see which way they went... also spotted young Alex Honnold, of recent solo fame on Astroman and Rostrum, working the headwall on a top rope. He is a really nice, unassuming young man with tons of talent and a good positive attitude. The fixed lines: Saw a couple of parties working up the lines going where?
Lurking Fear: A glance over that way showed a couple of parties but I don't know what was really going on...
In other news... Very quiet at the bridge today climber wise.. most were probably climbing as the weather is great... but many Tourons were there to make up for the missing climbers. Nice light today and I shot another ton of photos for the teams up there. Big doings tonight at yellow pines, sorry to miss it, tomorrow the Clean up starts with thousands of pickers and a killer schedule of shows and events to attend in the evenings... hope you all can get here. So that is the way it is for this day 25 Sept. 2007 ... hope you have a nice night and a great tomorrow!!
Signing off... Telescope Tom Evans