ElCap Reports

ElCap Report 10/16/12

By Tom Evans

Yo… Supposedly the weather for the next 10 days will be sunny and ZERO chance of precipitation.  However, it is unseasonably warm.  So be warned and take extra water!  So much going on now that it is hard to keep up with who is on what.  The lighting is wonderful, so I am staying longer down at the Bridge and out west so I may be late getting the Report out…perhaps the next morning.  Lots going on today, so I will get right into it.

Today’s ElCap Report…written just for you…unique in all the world!

Lunar Eclipse:  “Low hanging fruit”, Hondo calls it.  So he and Dave Allfrey went on the route today, to get the speed record.  Dave is one of the best aid climbers among those climbing these days and Honnold is, of course, a super free climber.  The deal was for Alex to do the first 5 and the last 4 and Dave would do all the aid climbing in the middle.  I didn’t see Alex climb at all, but Dave zipped right up some hard pitches.  Alex wasn’t in his element, cleaning aid pitches, with a hammer some of the time, and it showed.  But he got better as he went, and I think they most likely bagged the record.  The rock on the route is awesome looking and I wish I could post more photos of it.

1)  Dave leading some tricky aid, on some cool looking rock.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2)  Alex cleaning high on the route this afternoon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shortest Straw:  Matt Lambert is moving right along on this excellent route.  He is doing 2 or 3 a day and seems to be having no problems thus far.

3)  Matt, doing some thin aid on the 4^th pitch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ZM:  Alex Evans and Ryan Baker are moving along well and were doing the Lightning Bolt Roofs as I left this afternoon.

4)  Alex cleaning near the belay while Ryan looks on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Native Son:  Marek saddled up early and climbed the scary, strenuous Wing pitch.

5)  Here is a shot of him rapping to clean it, miles from the wall!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PO Wall:  I did see DGriff lead another pitch today while Marta hauled a ton of bags to the belay. 

 

Mescalito:  The top two teams are going to climb off tomorrow.  They have played tag all the way up the route and have decided to keep the order they originally had.

In the middle the Belgian Team is moving quite well and may catch the lead team by the last pitch. 

The lower team of Tommy and Kevin climbed the Seagull pitch this morning and were well along toward the end of the long right leaning corner by the time I left.

6)  Seagull pitch, on Mescalito.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

7)  Last light catching the belay on Mesacalito.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New Dawn:  I missed them yesterday but saw them this morning climbing above LLL.  Brandon Latham and Lincoln Else are moving smartly along as would be expected from two seasoned veterans.

8)  The team climbing the right side of ECT this morning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nose:  The Nose was a freak show all day.  Dolt was the Hotel California last night and, although 4 guys bailed this morning, two more parties continued on, both via the Jardine.

The mixed couple from yesterday, Bria and Nadav, pushed on to ECT last evening and did the King Swing this afternoon.  Bria went down to do the swing but seemed to have no beta for it.  She tried everything and ran for miles and miles.  Finally, some divine intervention, must have swept her across the face and she got it done.

The team of three guys from the last few days made the top this afternoon.

There was a party of three in the Legs late this afternoon… I don’t know about these guys!

Muir:  The UK team climbed off the Free Muir to the ledge leading to Chicken Head ledge this afternoon.

9)  Neil giving a hard section a go as James and Hazel look on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lower down I missed the Doug and Luke team… just got busy and forgot about them.

Salathe:  Several teams are on this classic track.  A team came up from Hollow Flake and was giving it a good go free climbing.  The leader took a whipper on the notorious pitch above the Ear but continued in good spirits.

Higher up two teams pushed to and above the Block.  They were almost invisible in their drab clothing so I didn’t get many shots of them.

Mash and the Kauffman brothers topped out this morning.

10)  Mash Alexander heading for the top this morning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

11)  Dihedral Wall:  Drew, Jack and Matt were sitting under their ledges this afternoon on “The Ledge”.  They had fixed three above and were shaded up in very warm conditions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Never Never Land:  Jim and Cameron are moving right along in the center of the route.  They didn’t seem to be bothered by the heat.

12)  Cam and Jim on NNL this morning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

West Buttress:  Yeah… I saw him out there in the morning, on a long shot from the Bridge.  I recognized that damned white shirt and that lanky physique.  You can’t hide from me Gerberding! 

13)  Steve, climbing past what I call, “Half Dome on ElCap”, this afternoon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I did see a team on Lurking Fear at the traverse.

14)  Scenic shot of the Day!  I spotted the sun illuminating some of the trees, on the rim of Middle Cathedral Rock this afternoon, so took this shot with the big gun!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In other news:  I have come down with the Valley Plague and am getting too little sleep… so I need to get this thing on the Internet.

So that’s the way it is, for this Tuesday, the 16^th day of October, 2012.

Later, Tom