ElCap Reports

ElCap Report 6/2/07
By Tom Evans
It’s Friday ... or so they tell me so the rooms at the Heartbreak Hotel are filling rapidly for the weekend and I got down the fixed lines early today in hopes of getting my usual parking space by the Bridge to adventure... got it!! Settled in early with Lance, KFC, Bailer but they left to go do a push on the Zodiac... tons of climbers came by this afternoon and Ottawa Doug is still basking in the glory and is thinking of pitching his family/home and moving onto the east end of the bridge... we had quite a time today.. so much so that I hardly had time to do any shooting!!  Even though you are going out this weekend for some fun remember that your punk existence pales when stacked against the big wallers here on the big stone... so loosen up, listen up, brew up because straight from a shit bag dropped from high on the Cap comes today’s ElCap Report...
 

Zodiac: The three man team topped out early this afternoon while the team of ladies was dragging behind a bit but are going to peanut ledge as I write this report... off tomorrow... another 3 person team was seen today doing the bolt ladder pitch and then going into the white circle when I left around 4pm...tomorrow the subbie crew mentioned above are going to hit the wall at first light.. Go guys, remember we will be watching every placement and looking for any ethics violations.
 
SSPO: Ragon was making his was through the nothing atolls this day and should be ready to go into the Bearing straits in the morning..
 
Mescalito: The two parties, one solo and a team of two, are going strong above the Bismarck and could top out tomorrow late if all goes well.. Nose: A party of three is still dragging up the gray bands this afternoon on a warm day on the Cap... camp 4 tonight and the roof in the morning.
 
Shield.. Well both parties that were on the route have finished the route and hung out for a while at the bridge... DT and SEG were delighted with the route and the guys behind them had high regard for the line, if not the holes where cracks once were.. The origin of the shit bags is still a mystery as these parties swear on their mothers apple pie that they were not the miscreants.
 
Salathe/ Free Rider... the air was pretty thick today and I didn’t see that part of the wall very well... did see a certain Dash and friend do the Monster crack but they vanished after that into the deep shadows.. the European woman was seen for a moment below the block but just for a moment... The O'Neil extravaganza is turning into a debacle as the team seems to have not learned the meaning of the word LOGISTICS... there seem to be many Indians but no chiefs who have a real plan, so things are done off the cuff instead of off the written plan that was figured out well in advance so the operation would go smoothly... What written plan?!! So the thing has seen another postponement... tomorrow for sure... I did hear some muttering in Bulgarian but couldn’t quite decipher what it was ... marching orders ... or orders for cheeseburgers?? At any rate ... all kidding aside.. we are all hoping for a good and safe climb for the team of centurions...
 
And that my friends is the report for today... I have to go and get the slide show I am giving at the lodge tonight at 8:30 ready so I will head out now without the flowery report ending I usually thrill you with.... Later ECP