ElCap Reports

ElCap Report 10/18/14

By Tom Evans

Yo… Every day, in the introduction, I keep saying the same thing.  But we have perfect weather and the cliff has many interesting climbs being done.  The results are in on the women’s attempt to climb two ElCap routes in a day…. YEP THEY DID IT!!  The time was a little north of 21 hours!  A proud send on the distaff side!  Be sure to look at the last two shots, showing the girls at the Bridge today.

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

1)  Surgeon General:  Marek (aka Ragan) is officially in the Great White Circle.  He hooked his way in this afternoon, as seen in this shot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2)  Zodiac:  The team of Jerry, Will, and Phill climbed off the route early this afternoon.  Here they are climbing above Peanut Ledge, where they spent the previous night.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3)  Lower down the solo, Sean the Brit, climbed the Nipple pitch and is shown rapping back to his bags.  He later climbed the MOZ pitch.  He needs a new shirt.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lower down yet, the two man team of, Aaron Liebling and Tomas Bielskis, climbed into the Circle and were about to do the Nipple pitch when I left around 3pm.

4)  Zenyatta Mondatta:  Phill and Bud are moving along smoothly without any major problems thus far.  Phill lead out of the Circle this morning and then Bud, seen here leading, got to do some crunchy climbing on varied rock.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5)  Tangerine Trip:  The two guys on the route climbed the 5^th and were on the 6^th when I got this shot of them from way out west, this afternoon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lower down a solo, Danny Coltrane, dressed to be invisible to the naked eye, fixed to the top of three.  Hope he figures out the clothing thing before he blasts!

 

6)  Jim Beyer made a new connection to the Knifeblade Traverse and is seen here climbing the traverse toward the Spoon.  No telling where he is going… hope he knows!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

7)  NA Wall:  When your haul bag is the best dressed thing on the route, then you have a clothing problem.  This shot shows John and Dave rocking that grungy dumpster look, on the Roof pitch.  They are making very good time on the route and could be off sooner rather than later.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

8)  Tommy (you know the one) and Kevin and a friend came down a bit from Wino Tower and set up a camp in the middle of the section they have been working for… aaa… ugh… a long time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Nose:  Still pulling them in, this great route is busy but not crowded.  A nice NIAD team zipped up the route, passing a few wall style teams on their way.  A couple other wall style teams came alone in good order.

9)  The 4 man team of, Russian climbers, went from C4 to C5 as I shot.  Here, the Best Dressed Climber of the Day, is seen climbing the Pancake Flake…is that a cool shot or what?!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10)  He also led the notorious pitch into Camp 5 as seen in this shot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

11)  On the Shield, Josie catches up on her texting while tending the belay, at the start of the Groove Pitch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

12)  Dave finished the Groove and the Triple Cracks by mid afternoon and then Josie led the long pitch above.  Here Josie is just leaving the belay.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

13)  Salathe:  A couple of teams are high on the route which, formerly crowded, is now nearly vacant.  Here a climber leads to Sous le Toit, bathed in the morning light.  The team later climbed the headwall.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

14)  Libby Sauter and Quinn Brett set a blistering pace yesterday in their record setting climb of 2 ElCap routes in 21 hours and 17 minutes.  They came by the Bridge this morning and had some fatigue in their hands and legs.  Libby racked out on the Bridge and bagged some rays.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

15)  By lunch time Libby and Quinn were in full, recharge the batteries mode!  Several other climbers came down from the Cap to hang out… including Ben Doyle and partner (NIAD yesterday); Mark Hudon and Alice Ng, just off the Muir Wall; solo climber, Neal Davis off the Trip; and soloist Zack Wasserman, just off Zodiac. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So that’s the way it is, for this Saturday, the 18^th day of October, 2014.

Later, Tom