El Cap Report 05/29/07

ElCap Report 5/29/07 By Tom Evans

Yo... here it comes straight to you via a low pass by Chuck Yeager in the Bell X-1 at Mach 1.05... I rapped off Heartbreak hotel today to find that some guys had taken my spot at the bridge and that threw a snag into the days shooting as I need the van to block the wind... but I made do... so pack your imaginary haul bags and get your gear racked and head out onto the greatest big wall climbing in the solar system this side of Neptune... remember I am the hard eye of honesty, coldly looking at the rock with a remorseless gaze... you can't fake me bro and the dirt flies if you even try... Thanks Chuck for your faster than sound delivery of the dirt and the delights fresh from the epicenter of the center of the big wall climbers dreams...  Today's ElCap Report....

 

Zodiac: The lads were seen moving up nicely with the ledge that went a-flying yday.. seemed to be working for them.. they were heading to peanut ledge when I left this early pm.

Trip... Steve and his friend were getting up past the bolt ladders high on the face and they may be off tonight... nice job lads... did get some sweet shots of your climb.. PO Wall: Marc was making a bee line for the Island in the sky when I last looked at noon...

SSPO: Ragon was working his way up the 6th pitch when I spotted him this am.. unfortunately the lad was making liberal use of a cheater stick and I shot a few for use as evidence in the coming trial! He should be making the great white shark this evening sometime...

Mescalito:.. Ottawa Doug was climbing the pitch above the Bismarck and will do another before the day ends... getting close now for Doug... keep it going bro.. Lower on the route two very nicely attired young men were at the stork ledge and I did get some shots of them with the beast looking on... they were on the seagull pitch when I left..

Nose... some action amidst the trees but no one visible yet except for three guys who seemed to be fixing some lines or making some kind of weird ascent... shot them late in the day when I came back from glacier pt and the hike to Taft point..

Muir R and J were seen above the stemming pitch working on the traverse and climb upward... saw R going down on the fixed line marking holds for that pitch... seems like it is holding them up a bit but they have worked on it and it should go for them again...

Shield.. CSD (cotton socks Dave)and SEG were seen at 4 pm under the shield roof digging through haul bags to maybe do the roof pitch before dark.. two others were seen a pitch below the split with bags and clothing to indicate they were headed that way too... step it up DT!!

El Corazon.. did get a view of TC and BR's bag left on the face at the left side of the Tonsillectomy Traverse ceiling.. they were not in attendance.. Salathe/Free Rider... did see the relentless gang of 4 plowing their way up the wall from Sous Le Toit covered with their baggage and heading up to the roof ... seems the JD is doing almost all the leading and the others are in charge of logistics which as you BW Heroes know is 85% of the job.. they are off tomorrow.

Salathe:  Saw Cedar down at the bridge as I was passing by toward the west end at 4pm to shoot things there... guess it went ok for him and Nick.. The rest of the Salathe was empty so the others including the 3 Colorado climbers must have topped. The Salathe is kind of funny this year... so many on it just practicing and fewer actually climbing the entire route... I don’t have the best angle on it from the Center and do get down in the afternoon... plus most of those climbers don’t tell me they are going and I have heard nothing about a female doing FR or the S ... while I am here I am not always in the loop for those who don’t tell me what is going on... 

Dihedral: The team of two high on the route were seen at the 18th pitch late this pm and seemed to be in cruise mode. The Flash and KFC got a late start on their push and were closing on the black arch late this afternoon.. looked hot over there...

In other news:   Like I said earlier, I was gone for part of the day on a nice break from the routine... speaking of breaks.. We came upon a older Asian woman who had fallen on the trail and had a broken arm or wrist... didn’t look very nice and she looked disoriented and was a long way from the road... they said SAR was on the way and she had several friends and family members with her so we continued to Taft point... when we returned she was at the parking area in the able hands of ambulance attendants and rangers.. Happy Mt. Everest Day!!! So that closes out another day here at the center and I am dragging the old rocker back up the fixed lines to my little corner room at Heartbreak hotel.. oh yes... Walleye, Walter Flint, came by the bridge today and we had a chat and I thanked him for posting the view from the veranda here at the HH on Supertopo.com..... until tomorrow... remember... style is a reflection of character..

Later Dude... Ansel