ElCap Reports

ElCap Report 5/21/07

 By Tom Evans

Direct to you from a U2 spy plane flying over the valley this afternoon... a beautiful day here with a few clouds appearing from the northwest late in the day.... Here it is ... the news from the Nipple of Zodiac to the Ear of the Salathe... Today’s ElCap Report

Zodiac: Well folks the drought is over for Zodiac... The Solo guy from yesterday jugged up to his fixed lines at the start of the notorious BLACK TOWER pitch and proceeded to sit at the belay for two hours causally looking around and down at the gapping Tourons below... he started on the pitch around 2pm and went right up it like a flight of stairs.... Ran into Ricardo a couple of times today and he was poised to get on those lines he fixed to the top of two yesterday, unfortunately he was out maneuvered by a couple of Euro squids who jumped in front while he was in the bushes relieving himself.. so he had to wait until just before I moved down valley to shoot other stuff on the wall, to get moving... I feel certain he is really pissed!! Speaking of Euro Squids.. they are dressed in nice bright colors and appear to be moving well enough but not so fast as to catch the great Ricardo when he hits his stride in the morning! I will keep you posted on the developing race to the top...

LA... Kate and Mike are a few pitches from the top now and I expect them to top out late tomorrow ... they are off LA now and onto the end of Zenyatta Mondatta which both have done before...

Tangerine Trip... Seems as though a southern guy has saddled up for a solo ride on the trip by the regular start, something not done much anymore as the direct start is just that.. Steve is a big dude and I speak to him only when spoken to and in a very respectful manner...the lad makes Dave Turner look like a chicken!! Good luck Steve!!

NA Wall The two women are zipping up the route and were on the pitch to the black cave when I left the East side today... I figured they might reach the black cave by dark but am way off and they might just squeak it out to Cyclops Eye by bedtime.. Both are climbing really well and seem to have clicked as a team...

Mescalito: Well the two who were in the picture doing the pendulum yesterday, posted elsewhere, are rolling along and will spend the night at the luxurious Bismarck ledge... I saw Ottawa Doug slinking into the Lodge cafe this morning hiding behind a rather large women in the coffee line... well.. I waved him down so he had no choice but to come over to our corner table where I was hanging with my posse... I acted like I didn't know that he was trying to avoid me to protect his fragile psyche... after a handshake and a warm greeting I radiated sunshine on his plans and told the lad how the route was a perfect fit for his advanced solo skills and the summit was a foregone conclusion...he left with a renewed enthusiasm for the sport and Mescalito in particular.. the man likes to suffer...

Space/Mescalito... Mo and Eric were hanging at the bridge after descending last night with some friends who met them at the top and helped haul stuff down... Man I would love to have friends like that!!.. anyway Eric said, for those who must know everything, that they had done the space pitches on the upper half of the wall before and wanted to do the regular Mescalito finish instead of doing space again... they both looked like they had gone on a casual hike!! Old Dudes rule!!

Nose: Well... there were a couple of parties that showed up above the trees today... one was a couple of guys doing a one day ascent and they were moving right along short fixing every pitch... they were on the boot by noon but some how lost focus and were still wandering around below camp 4 at 2pm.. when I left they were back in gear and rapidly putting the Great Roof away... the other party were going wall style and moving steadly but not very fast...however they were two pitches below ElCap Tower when I moved to the west to shoot other climbs. The party I described yesterday as settling into Camp 4 late in the day vanished from the earth and no trace was seen of them today anywhere on the route.. who knows... abducted by space aliens? There were a few parties who finally emerged from the bushes and made a dash for the first pitch... one was very stylishly dressed in the finest colors and went from the ground hauling their bag with them.... Sidebar here folks... there was a time when it was very bad form to fix any pitches... you started off the deck and up you went... then in the late 60's some climbers were seen to fix the first pitch for supposed "place holding purposes" and shortly thereafter the safety committee ruled that they would be allowed to do that without getting dumped upon.... but 4 pitches? That would have resulted in being banned from camp for the rest of the season!! ANYWAY.. most of the teams today were on the fixed lines taking bags up to sickle ledge.. which by the way is getting to resemble the baggage claim area at LaGuardia with piles of haul bags lashed to the belays.

3D Well Mikey Shaffer and party were seen coming into view on the Muir traverse to link to the nose... you know that guy yesterday with the orange shirt that could be seen from Tokyo?? Well he is with Mikey it turns out and they were coming into camp 4 just as I left and behind the one dayers on the Nose.

Freeblast/Salathe:Several other groups of random climbers are making their way up the freeblast with bags in tow to go with the hordes yesterday who are bound for who knows where...

Shield: My wish was fulfilled and one of the parties from yesterday on the 3D start went to the shield... I caught sight of them as they were going left at the muir junction and then as they went over the roof in very stout winds. The leader hauled the bag with the ledge open and tied to it... Oh yes!! The thing turned into a propeller and started flying all over the face, periodically smashing into the wall and flying off at 45 degrees to the vertical... but they managed and were getting the leader to the start of the groove pitch as I departed... did get some nice shots of them...

Salathe... that party of three from yesterday on the ear and crack above were spotted when I went to the west end of the meadow to shoot in late afternoon... they had sent out a leader from the Block who was making their way toward Su la Toit ledge...

At this point I will point out, as if you hadn’t noticed, that I am not a great speller and make frequent typos... I was a physics and math teacher for 30 years and have a bad memory for spelling and  peoples names... if you are offended then skip over to another post...If you know some climbers on the wall who's names I do not then please post up and let me know and I will make corrections...

 In other news.. Lucho and Aaron left the bridge this afternoon to have a go at the reg. on Half Dome tomorrow... a member of my posse, Matt is hauling stuff to the base of Zodiac for a solo attempt... watch out for the squids Matt!! The other member of the posse, Dave, is taking a member of the fair sex on easy climbs in hopes of gaining her favors...go Dave!

Well that’s it .... from the East to the West Butt.... your man on the screen at the center of the action.... signing off for today.... remember to take some extra water!!! ElCap-pics