ElCap Report 10/4/16

Submitted by Tom Evans on Wed, 10/05/2016 - 15:37

By Tom Evans

Yo… Ahhh the winds have subsided, the sun is bright and warm, and the race is on to climb ElCap. The Nose is back to ruling the rock but the Salathe/Freerider is not far behind. So this just might be the moment you’ve waited for to get off your butt and come on out to get on that route you always wanted to climb. I am shooting for Adidas tomorrow so there most likely won’t be a Report then.

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

1) Zodiac: Gustav, the Swede, seems to have everything under control and I believe will spend the night on Peanut Ledge tonight. Here he is cleaning the MOZ pitch this morning.

Lower down a team of several was spotted on the lower pitches. I think it is a Paradox Sports team, supporting Enock Glidden.

On the Trip Nice was last seen at the start of the first bolt ladder this afternoon. He seems to have it in the bag. I didn’t get a good shot of him today.

2) Andy has decided to stay on SSPO and soon confronted the difficult Rubber Band Man Pendulum. Here he is leading up to the pendulum point…getting some justice with the hammer.

3) After a few moments of watching Andy try the pendulum, the meadow crew could see there was no way that he was going to be able to do it in a conventional manner. He was just not able to get the distance he needed… so we wondered just what would happen at this point. Andy, always the improviser, went into rodeo mode and after many tries managed to lasso the flake that was miles out of his reach. Andy was soon across and the meadow erupted in cheers!

4) Over on Heartland the crew passed the Cyclops Eye this morning… pretty wild belay!!

5) Late in the afternoon they were moving on.

6) Lots of congestion on the Nose today as suddenly everyone decided that this was their day to climb the route. Here is a team that made good time past the Great Roof.

7) High up on the route the posers were posing for that last shot.

8) Late in the day, after doing Adidas shooting, I spotted this team on the Boot flake…I wonder where they slept?

9) The Mescalito team of three are working well and making rapid progress up the introductory pitches leading to the Molar Traverse.

10) I did see a team of two working the start to Golden Gate this morning. Who are those guys?

TOM’S SHOT OF THE DAY!!

11) This team, on the Salathe, did the classic pitch to Sous le Toit, belayed and hauled from the pendulum point. I have never seen this approach and was pleased to get a shot I hadn’t composed before.