ElCap Reports

ElCap Report 6/5/07

By Tom Evans

Yo... grab your raingear and get your bailing bucket out of the trunk because you are going to be floating down the river of tears today as the bailers bailed and the hard men continued undeterred... yes.. it rained on the Cap today.... impossible you say?? Yes, it is true that I predicted it would not rain but just blow over... well guess what rodents??? I was wrong!!! Read the Disclaimer!!!  The day started out cloudy and cool with some wind and it got colder and colder and the wind picked up a bunch... the Bridgies were dressed for the cold... Eric, Cedar, Aaron, Matt, and yours truly started off the day with a nice bottle of wine, complements of Cedar and after a time Ottawa Doug rolled up with the chips, gin and tonics, cobras etc. We also had The "Dean" of photography, show and climbers fresh off the Cap, Arnout, Stephanie (recently freed free rider) Stephane (also freed free rider roped solo), DT and Mom, BW Kate with her new dancing shoes on and Kyle just off a forced bivy on higher spire... Several other just off the wall teams stopped by to bask in the glory too....well the deluge started around 1:30 and we retired to the trees next to the bridge and remained quite dry... the Cap was a different matter with high wind and driving rain for a few hours... here at the bridge we felt badly for our suffering brothers and sisters on the Big Stone so we partied even harder to make up for their absence! So here it is brought to you by Surfer Bob riding the storm surge down the mighty Merced to my ISP... thanks Bob!!

Zodiac.. well when I got here at 10am the sky was looking kind of dark and the wind was up ... I looked up to see a ledge deployed at the top of the BT pitch with the folks appearing to be asleep... no rain-fly... Erik said they should start climbing as they were just a pitch away from overhanging heaven here no water falls on you... but they seemed content to just stay there.. during the rains there was no rain-fly deployed... maybe they don’ have one or perhaps the water was missing them after all...

SSPO: Ragon has his ledge and fly deployed and stayed on Island in the sky all day... the guys from the recent two man ascent of Mescalito had a chance to chat with him on the wall and said that he was doing just fine and was in no difficulty and was enjoying the wall and spent time in the afternoons reading some... sounds causal to me!! Glad that he is ok and going on his own pace.. The 5 man team is really busting it out on this route.. in two days they have climbed to Island in the sky!! Well maybe 3 if you count fixing... and we always count fixing!! Anyway these guys are a well oiled machine with a plan that rocks.. way to go lads..

NA Wall... the two man team there finished the pendulun and climbed up to the black dihedral and were protected from the elements by that corner and continued to climb right through the deluge.. smart move ...

Nose: Well the two Oklahoma guys who climbed fast up to the gray bands two days ago were back to make the one day ascent and were at the start of the Jardine traverse at 10am. They moved right along and were at the great roof when the sky opened up but continued climbing and were last seen at camp 5 when I left a little early this afternoon they looked determined! The two teams climbing to Dolt and ElCap tower yesterday decided that they were too low on the route in the face of such weather and both bailed in a group together.. seemed they knew what they were doing and the exit was a graceful one...

Salathe /Free Rider... Ranon and Amee were seen climbing to the Hollow flake as the rains came... they had been snaked by another party that appeared to come up from the fixed ropes down from HF Ledge and wedged in front of the duo.. On the distaff side, Jean and Anna were in the back of the line holding their position on lung ledge in case a retreat was in order.. none of them had bailed when I left but it did rain some more after that... The Gong show, directed by the famous O'Neill brothers was in full swing today as the cooler conditions must have made it a bit more pleasant for Sean who was doing pull-ups rapidly and was well ahead of schedule it appeared... Delicate Arch Dean was moving up with the skill that only a few possess ... he had previously fixed to the base of the left side of the monster crack thus avoiding the infamous ear and the problems it could cause Sean... is someone there doing some "logistics"? Seems to be the case as the team is really rolling. It was particularly interesting to watch DP as he cruised up the notorious monster crack with little apparent effort... but just when it looked like a cake walk... the rains came and he had to do the last part of the pitch in full on rain... off-widthing in the rain!! We were glad to be watching from the bridge!! But the Lad got it done and before you could bail out a dingy he was hauling the 4.8 ton loads to the base of the spire... We at the bridge toasted the effort with another gin and tonic ... it was the least we could do in the face of their efforts...they are in the cover of the alcove tonight and must be pleased with how the day went in difficult conditions... nice work men and great to see Sean just blowing up the lines...

 In other news:  Well it partially cleared off this evening and what tomorrow holds in the weather dept only can be guessed.... Hopefully our friends up there are well equipped to handle the turn in the weather and our one day nose guys climbed over the top... will be down early tomorrow to see how things are shaking out... We were sad to see DT depart for his summer down south and the now famous Ottawa Doug is taking the first stage out of town in the morning after coffee call in the cafe... So thats it from the far end of the bridge to adventure.. the van is packed and the cameras dried and put away until tomorrow... hope you are all well and happy and warm and dry... remember that it can rain or snow almost anytime here in the big Valley so don’t leave that gear in the car... the guys who bailed on the nose today didn’t have the proper gear and wisely decided to come down... 3 extra pounds of gear and they would still be up there poised for the attack tomorrow...

So that's the way it is, for this 5th day of June, 2007.

Later Ansel