ElCap Reports

ElCap Report 6/12/10

By Tom Evans

Yo… One of the best days of the spring passed today. No wind, mild temps, few Tourons and visits by good climbing friends. The SE Face is emptying out and the big trades there are empty now. I still have the Plague so I have to make this quick so I can get to bed.

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

Trip: Justin topped out this morning a little after Kate and Kitty on Aurora did. Nice climbing for both teams.

Lost in America: This team is 4 days into a supposed 6 day ascent and are just finishing the mandatory free pitch as I type these lines. They are going to be in deep dodo if they don’t pick up the pace soon.  They would be smart to move over to the Trip and go up that route.

Mescalito: Jan and Mark topped out this afternoon after a pretty speedy ascent of this great route.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

　

　

Last pitch on Mescalito.

　

New Dawn: The Ben, Scott, Eric team are topped out this evening after doing this long route in a brisk 3 days of climbing. They have to be worked!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

　

　

 

Climbing toward the Dawn Roof.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

　

　

Climbing over the Dawn Roof.

　

New Dawn Korean team: The team of 4 climbed to Lay Lady Ledge this afternoon. They will most likely fix one above this evening.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

　

　

KYoung Han, the most experienced climber on the team, leads his party to LLL.  He climbed Lost in America last year, and seems to be the point man for the Korean teams.

　

Nose: The crowds have returned to the King with a vengeance. A wall team topped out in the afternoon just after they let Hayden and JP pass them on the last pitch of their 3D in a day climb. JP and Hayden  were going to do the Muir but didn’t have the mojo for such a long and demanding route…. So they bailed up to the 3D. Lower down a couple of wall parties climbed above the King Swing and attacked the Great Roof and beyond.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

　

　

"Dude, did we forget something?"   Usually the bag goes over before the second but these guys hooked the bag on a bolt and hauled from the Grey Bands.

　

Lower down, the leading team, of a swarm of teams, pushed over Dolt and broke free of the masses. Below them a team of 5 Korean high school students slid into the Legs and dragged along for several hours and were still far from Dolt when I left at 5:30pm. Who dresses these Pukes?! Black seems to be the color of the season these days. KFC started out on a push of the route late this morning only to be overtaken by the realization that a platoon of Gerkas couldn’t fight their way through the masses assembled above. The lad wisely returned to the parking lot! It could be ugly over there in the next day or so.

Shield: Mash and Justin bivied at the ledge for one, a pitch below Chicken Head, and quickly climbed to the fabled ledge in the late morning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

　

　

　

Hanging out on Chicken Head Ledge on the Shield.

Salathe: The upper part of the route saw several teams climb out this afternoon. Lower down three teams ascend the easy pitches to the Ear this afternoon. Madeline and Kate also made the journey, looking at making a run at Freerider. Hopefully they will climb better than they dress. What has happened to style in woman’s climbing these days? The woman on the bailing party on Zodiac kicked their butts for style, but not, unfortunately, for climbing. It’s a mystery up there!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Talking it over, in the early morning, on the Salathe Headwall.

Lurking Fear: My man on the scene over there reported that there are three parties jockeying for position at the base of the route and that tempers may flair if cool heads do not prevail.

I am kind of short of pics I liked from today, so here are a couple of extras from the archives.

Evans’ Extras of the Day!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

　

　

　

When things get tough it’s nice to have a pair of helping hands!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

　

　

　

Rocket launch as seen from my deck at home.

　

In other news: A nice day here at the bridge. I stayed late but still couldn’t avoid the jumbled mess of traffic here “in town” this evening. The places people park around here on the weekends is enough to make you wonder if they left their brains at home or what? The traffic control guys are doing a good job keeping the traffic moving at the intersections and it could be a lot worse.

Some people, coming down the East Ledges, reported seeing Mark Hudon herding his collection of pigs down past the rapps this afternoon and Walker even stopped to help take one down for him. Surely the worst part of all wall climbing on the Cap is getting down after the climb.

So that’s the way it is on ElCap for this the 12^th day of June, 2010.

I’m out of here… Tom