ElCap Reports

ElCap Report 9/28/07
 By Tom Evans
Yo... busy with all kinds of things so right to the action on the Cap.
Zodiac: KFC got down and was in the cafe this am having had a speedy climb of this route in 12:51... not as fast as he wanted but close enough for now... Sweet! The party of two lower down did get to the start of the nipple pitch as I left and seemed confident and efficient.
LA: Supposedly this is a party of a Korean man and wife... they are moving steadily along and will be off in a couple more days or so..

.PO Wall: Started seeing this team of 3 today as they climbed to the Continental shelf by the time I left. They look pretty good up there and have thus far avoided the dreaded clusterfuck that can arise with such a party. they are not short fixing but running the regular system in good style.
Mescalito: Did see the Serbians (or maybe Croatians, I get reports of either) climbing above the Bismarck today. They are moving right along and maybe off tomorrow... Mutt and Jeff climbed the seagull pitch and another after it today on a steady pace.. no sign they are having second thoughts and we are settled in here at the bridge to enjoy the two local girls adventure.
New Dawn: I don't remember if I mentioned that this solo bailed from EC tower in good form. No walk of shame for this guy!
Nose: A party did the king swing and them retreated in the face of some threatening weather... all down ok. Higher on the route there were a couple of parties that came over from the 3D and the usual Nosers climbing toward the top. SAR did get a call from a party at camp 5 but everything seems to have worked itself out without any problems. SAR always vigilant and always willing... love those folks!!
Shield: The top team climbed out today and the lower team was going on to chickenhead ledge when I left.
Jolly Roger: EE and Bill pushed higher up on the route today in the big corners left of the Magic Mushroom on cruise control.. these guys are always silky smooth.
Salathe: Shot a team going over the headwall in the morning and toward the top later. Another team was in the vicinity of the Block when I went down to the west side today. Another was at the infamous Ear pitch around 4pm when I was down there. The lower part seems empty at the moment.
Never Never Land: Did catch a glimpse of woman’s party way over there getting high on the route and moving right along.
In other news... the shows given by the Face Lift came off great with Timmy O rocking them hard ... the Huber Brothers showed their film which was great to see as many of the locals were involved and even the great Chongo was seen bagging some screen time with his usual musings... nice stuff Brothers!! Today was cloudy and cool most of the day with some poser clouds that probably jangled the nerves of any newbies on the Great Stone. The bridge was very quite with just a few visitors and the regular bridge rats scurrying about nibbling on some chips and dip and charming a few Cobras... All in all a pretty nice day... gotta to be a better one than any of you worker bees had if you are reading this to get your ElCap fix!! Kinda chilly down here at the Bridge but cleared off a bit later in the day and tomorrow looks like a good one too. BTW I have a few posters left to sell for the YCA ... they are signed by Tom Frost, Royal Robbins, Alex and Thomas Huber, Timmy O'Neill, Ron Kauk and sell for $60 with all the proceeds going to the Yosemite Climbers Association. Contact me via email or come by the bridge and pick up one of these historical posters...
So that’s the way it is this the 28th day of Sept 2007... stay well and stay safe!
Signing off. Telescope Tom Evans