ElCap Reports

ElCap Report 10/13/08

 By Tom Evans

Yo.. Well now... yeah it was very nice here. Light winds, warm sunlight, comfortable conditions, even in the shade. The Wall is pretty empty so with this spell of good weather forecast, this might be the time to come on down!! The speed record is in the books and the photographers are heading out. Today's Report is brought to you by the personable and talented Eric Perlman who was here for the speed run on the Nose and will soon depart. I have always found him to be friendly and generous to a fault. Thanks Eric for being an important part of our climbing community.

"That's ElCap over there", Eric tells Ammon.

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So uncage the monkeys, toss them the bananas, go hide with your computer so you can come with me to the Captain for some October climbing. Here it is ....

Today's ElCap Report....

Zodiac: The new lead team, Gary and Nate climbed into the White Circle today and was at the start of the Nipple Pitch as I left around 3pm. I think they were going higher today. Below, the team that fixed two yesterday, Bob and Ryan, were at the top of the 6th pitch when I left. There is another team starting tomorrow I understand. The two guys who came down after the lengthily stay at the top of the Nipple said that they were ill equipped for the cold and that drove them down. Zodiac is getting the attention it deserves.

Getting the kit up to the top of the 3rd on Zodiac.

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Climbing in the lower part of the White Circle.

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Trip: The team of three guys climbed late into the night and bivied at the top of 6. I saw them climb 7 and 8 this afternoon. They are moving along pretty well. Steady but not fast. There are two teams talking about starting tomorrow but you never know until the bags are hauled to the first belay.

Climbing off the top of the 7th pitch on the Trip

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PO Wall: Holly and Janet did bail today from the Continental Shelf. They made a very orderly and well managed descent this afternoon.

For their good efforts they get the highly coveted.......BAIL OF THE DAY!!!!!!!!

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Nose: Eric and Roger climbed to camp 4 this afternoon and I think they might just stay there but you never know. The rest of the route is EMPTY.

Salathe: Well, it is hard to keep track of who is going up and who is going down on this Robbins, Frost, Pratt classic. The Montana Boys were seen climbing over the Roof this morning and on to Long Ledge in the afternoon. My guess that they would stay on the Block last night was accurate. The team below them bailed. There are a couple of teams below the Ear at various ledges. I left too early to tell what their intentions were.

First light on the Salathe Headwall.

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 The whole damn Montana team on the Headwall of the Salathe. Worst dressed team of the week too!

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Never Never Land: I looked over there this morning and this mixed team of 3 was mostly just lying around doing nothing much. Later in the afternoon I did see Lori leading the pitch to Timbuktu. They must be stuck in first gear.

In other news: Hans and Yuji came by the bridge to say Hi and sign some posters for me. Yuji is leaving in the morning. They promised that this last climb would indeed by their last record run. They had a nice write-up in the Chronicle today. One would be hard pressed to find two more friendly climbers here in the Valley. They put on quite a show for us and their efforts were well rewarded. Thanks for the memories guys!!

Hans, Tom, Yuji at the bridge today. Eirk Sloan photo.

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The monkeys have been put back in their cages now that all the filming work has been completed. Several of the lads made some good coin to be used for adventures later to come. I went to my favorite tree this afternoon, the Sugar Maple across from the chapel, and found that it has a week or more of colorful display left.

Leaves on the Maple Tree across from the Chapel taken today.

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So that's the way it is for this the 13th day of October, 2008.

See you around town... ECP's