ElCap Reports

ElCap Report 9/03/07
 By Tom Evans
Yo.. yes that's right... your man with the plan is back at the ElCap Bridge for a few days... so all whiners can just log off and get over it. Drove up last night from down south in the firebird as I am just here for a few days and didn’t want to tank the van up here sucking big time gasoline.. had a nice drive across the Mojave desert at 2am with the cruise control set for mach 1... headed for the cafe right off and ran into big Dave Turner who is about to blast on one of his new obscure lines connecting heretofore undetected features with miles of hope and prayers. Got down to the Bridge later in the morning and started some shooting... the wall is pretty active as you will read below, and the weather was pretty nice after several days of sweltering heat. A nice breeze came up in the afternoon and it was downright pleasant! So without further fanfare here it comes to you fresh from the towel that Hans Florine’s kids were using at the swimming hole... the ElCap report for Today...

On The Water Front... yes this obscure route has two suitors at the moment... did see Mike Ousley and friend lines just above the black rock on the far east side of the SE face.. didn't however see them but reliable sources say they are the team with the plan for that route... maybe tomorrow I will see them..
Zodiac.. saw a bag at the top of three but it was unattended...who?... who knows? The Trip... Great masses of climbers have gathered on this timeless classic... there are two parties of 4... yes that’s right FOUR on this route about half way up... looked hot over there until the afternoon zephyrs cooled things off.. rumor has it that these teams are attended by a certain Dave of Marta fame and a reticent connected Steve... many bags... many ropes.. many days...
NA Wall.. did see a bag at the top of 4 and it wasn't long until Cam, of Scott and Cam and YOSAR fame came up for a hug and told me that the bag was indeed theirs and they were blasting in the afternoon on the route. I gave Scott a nice orange shirt to wear but he later returned it to me saying that he had a nice shirt he liked better... it was of course the exact color of granite!! So they left to blast and shortly there after a Euro walked by with a big pack on his way to the start of the route too..
Tempest... did see Aaron of KFC fame about 4 pitches up the route on a solo mission... he was proceeding in his usual style of casual climbing with much time spent just hanging on the portaledge.. I yelled up various insults to the lad who responded in kind with hand signals and verbal abuse!
Mescalito I saw Nevada Matt up on the 8th pitch going solo and doing some honest work in the bright sun... he soloed Iron-Son last year and is back again for the fall season... good luck Bro..
Nose... Mostly empty with a team of 3 climbing above ElCap tower.. did get some shots of them doing the King Swing in the standard way with no problems... when I left they were headed into the gray bands. Noticed a two person team at camp 5 climbing to the Glowering Spot.. other than those people the route is empty.
Salathe: I spotted a group standing on ElCap spire early in the day and moving upward... didn't shoot them at all as the angle was not the best. That is about it for the routes...
In other news... Dave Turner and Ivo Ninov were hanging out here at the bridge getting ready to take some water up to the base of the lower east side as Dave is going for a new line near Mescalito and Ivo is going to solo a link up of several routes in an effort to make a super direct line, as a drop of water would fall... both solo... Hollywood Hans came by with the kids for some swimming as the family is here for the long weekend doing some painting and fixing up on the house in the west. Tom MacMillian came by after a day of climbing at the base of the Cap and we talked mostly about the big mountains and stories about the great Herman Buhl.. a good time....Corbin was hanging out without is brother Clay having recently done a nice NIAD and is wanting to go again on the route... wow, nice to see people who want to climb!! Several others drifted by as the day progressed... It was nice to be back at the bridge even without the van and all that it makes possible to bring... the day was sunny and beautiful and the rock was getting some attention too... I am just up for a few days to hang with my girlfriend Mara and will leave at the end of the week to go home for a car show ... but I will be back around the 20th to stay for the fall season... Ivo tells me that the Huber Brothers are coming around that time too and they always bring a lot of excitement and energy to the scene here so it should be a good fall to be in the valley... So that's the way it is here at the great rock on Sept. 3rd 2007... direct from the scene at the elcap bridge... come on by...
Signing off for now ... the real deal... Tom Evans