ElCap Reports

ElCap Report 5/28/22

By Tom Evans

Yo… Nice weather these past two days… cloudy and cool!  We are loving it after several days of hot weather. Lots of action but not much on the Big Two.  In fact,the Nose has been practically empty and Salathe is the same.  I hope you Cubicle Pukes at work are jonesin for some more shots of the big stone to keep your mornings worthwhile at work. Wake up!! This is the time to get your sorry asses out of the cubicle and on the road to Yosemite.

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

1) El Corazon.. Jordan Cannon and partner Brent Barghahn are moving up this Huber classic track. Here is a shot of Jordan working hard on the super splitter in front of “The Eyes of ElCap” yestersay. Today they moved their kit higher to the base of the big chimneys that define the route.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2) South Seas to Pacific Ocean..Kiven DeWeese, Quinn Hatfield, and Ross Goldberg are running the three-man system like a well-oiled machine and are spending tonight on Island in the sky. Here they are lower on the route after the “sidewalk’ pitch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3) SSPO..Yesterday they climbed past the “Shark’s Fin headed to the difficult “Rubber Band Man” pendulum.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4) SSPO.. Kevin Deweese stuck the RubberBand Man pendulum without a hitch!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5) Tribal Rite.. Ryan Larocque, fresh off a Zodiac solo teamed up with Kyle Hayward to climb this route. Ryan led the entire route as it was the first time up for Kyle, who did quite well for a rookie.  Here is one of the belays high on the route in some impressive rock.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6) Tribal Rite.. I talked with Ryan this morning and he said the Carrot pitch, seen here, went well without much expansion. Kyle is seen here at the belay.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

7) Muir… A team of two smoked up the route over the past few days. Here the leader is high in the upper dihedral on their last day… the long smooth corner is one of the most beautiful on the great rock.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

8).. Zodiac has seen a few ascents this spring and several have been by three person teams. Here two climbers are waiting for the leader to finish the 5^th and 6^th pitches combined.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

9) Zodiac.. A climber from a previous team is seen here in the middle of the Great White Circle at the step across in the Jaws of Death.

 

 

 

10) VA to Tangerine Trip… This variation has become the way to do the Trip this season. Here the leader has turned the corner of the roof and is pausing for a moment. The famous “Black Cat” is letting them pass!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

11) Trip… The previous team is seen here starting the long corner leading to the two long bolt ladders that are the way to the top.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

12) North America Wall.. Miles Fullman, Danford Jooste and Zack Little are easily making their way up the route. Here they are at Big Sur Ledge last evening.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

13) Nose in a Day.  53 year-old Tom Herbert and partner, Sam Phillips made a 10.5 hour run up the route a couple of days ago. A new film, by Max Buschini, "Legacy on the Muir" is coming soon and is about Tom’s climb of the Muir route, put up by his dad, TM Herbert, and Yvonne Chouinard in an epic first ascent in 1965. The film is a blend of historic and recent footage.  I have been bugging Tom for years to climb his dads route and he got it done last year in the company of Roger Putnam and Brandon Adams and broke the speed record of 19 hours by 10 hours! I recently saw a first copy of the film which is 25 minutes in length when it comes out..Here is the link to the trailer.       https://vimeo.com/714275990              It is well worth viewing!  Here Tom is finishing the Great Roof on the recent climb.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

14) SSPO again… last light illuminates one of the team on the second day of the climb. He had just taken a plunge off the route!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

15) Tom's Feature of The Day!!  The Camp 5 Surfer. This formation rises above Camp 5 on the Nose.. you can’t miss it and once you see it you will see it from then on! The surfers head is at the bottom of the King Kong Chimney., on the left edge of the shot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

16) Meadow crew hanging out two days ago.  Come on out and relax with the best view money can’t buy! Earl Bates photo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So that’s the way it is on this Saturday the 28^th day of May, 2022.

Capt. Tom