ElCap Report 10/17/2014

ElCap Report 10/17/14

By Tom Evans

Yo…Great weather continues and climbs are being done to take advantage of it.  Lots of action, all over the cliff today.  The girls were out today and I think are, right now, finishing up the first woman’s team climb of two ElCap Routes in a day!  See the shots below! 

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

1)  PSD:  The team of Erik, Dana, and Charlie are off the cliff by now.  Here they are waiting to haul bags up the last pitch, this afternoon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2)  Surgeon General:  Marek did a short pitch today and set up the bivy early.  Here he is leading off, from the ledge shared with Sean, a Zodiac solo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3)  Zack Wasserman finished his solo of the route this afternoon.  Here we see him just below the top.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4)  Lower down on Zodiac Will, Gerry, and Phill climbed the MOZ and are seen on the pitch above with Gerry coming up last.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5)  Lower yet is the two man team of, Aaron Liebling and Tom Bielskis, here doing the 5th pitch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6)  Zenyatta Mondatta:  Bud Miller got the Lightning Bolt Roofs pitch this morning, and here the Budster is, in all his glory!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

7)  Phill Wesseler got the next pitch and we can see him using a beak as a hook… or maybe .. trying to use a beak as a hook!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

8)  Jim Beyer worked the crack he found above the Wing, for most of the day.  Going good too!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

9)  NA Wall:  John and David are climbing well and we see them here doing the pendulum leading to the Black Dihedral.  The leader was not successful trying to grab the flake because his weight is mostly supported by one hand… hard to hold on!  So what most people do here is put a hook on a sling, wrapped around a wrist, and when they get over there they hook the flake.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nose:  Lots of traffic on the Nose today including Libby Sauter and Quinn Brett who are, right now, finishing Lurking Fear to become the first woman’s team to ever do two ElCap Routes in a single day.

10)  Libby leading the Pancake Flake, while Quinn tends the belay, as they pass some of Quinn’s friends from Colorado.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

11)  Libby leading into Camp 5 this morning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

12)  Quinn leading the last pitch, early this afternoon.  They finished the Nose in 8:25 and came down for lunch at the Bridge, where we all had a nice time chatting about their progress.  Recall that they did Lurking Fear a few days ago in 7:47.  Go Girls!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

13)  Lower and slower down, we had several teams moving along wall style.  Here we see a crash and burn on the King Swing!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

14)  Muir:  Alice Ng leading the short roof pitch to the start of the final pitch of the route, this afternoon.  Mark and Alice both climbed well and made excellent time on this super route.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

15)  Shield:  Josie and Dave are on the route now.  Josie lead the Roof pitch, through very windy conditions, this afternoon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

16)  Salathe:  Several teams are still on the route.  Here the Armstrong Brothers, James and John, are seen on the Roof.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

17)  This afternoon I spotted some guys rapping down the Dawn Wall, to Wino Tower.  Looked like years past with Tommy and the boys back for another go at the most difficult free route ever attempted on ElCap.  Should be fun to watch all the action!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In other news:  It is late and I need to get out of the Café as the noise is over whelming…so…

That’s the way it is, for this Friday, the 17th day of October, 2014.

Later Tom

Thanks for the pictures of

Thanks for the pictures of Sean, the Brit!

Great report as always. Thanks Tom!

Marek looks to be moving well on Surgeon General. Congrats to Libby and Quinn on the Nose and Lurking Fear. I am assuming they made the one day ascent of the two. Wow!

Cheers,
Doug

The unidentified team of two

The unidentified team of two on the Zodiac is Aaron Liebling and Tomas Bielskis.