ElCap Reports

ElCap Report 10/7/07

By Tom Evans

Yo... Well it was another beautiful day here in the Valley. Many climbers are on the Big Stone. The Hubers are going tomorrow at 7am hoping to knock a few minutes off their recent record on the Nose. Anyway here it is... Today’s ECR brought you by the loudspeaker operated by YOSAR legend John Dill down by the bridge... Today’s Report...

 Surgeon General: Watched Ammons portaledge all morning but he was sleeping in and didn't stir until around 2 pm... I shot a few shots of him and then left to go down to the west side to shoot down there to finish the day... I was driving back on southside drive, headed home, when I suddenly decided to go back to the Bridge to shoot a couple of late in the day shots of the solo on Zodiac and maybe get one of Ammon too. I Never go back after I fold up shop, but this one time I did. I got a few of Ammon and noticed that he was really running out the 5th pitch or maybe it was the 6th. Anyway, he had traversed off to the right and up and was hooking up a corner with no other protection for a mile. About then I decided to shoot the solo next to him... then I heard a scream come from the cliff. It was not a good monkey call or anything like that but a nasty scream, like someone knew they were falling into big trouble. So I naturally turned back to the spot where Ammon was. But the wall was empty there and at first I just said to myself..."that's strange, he was just there a moment ago". So I looked at this belay, some 60ft down and there he was, hanging upside down on the end of the rope not moving. I couldn't believe my eyes, so I refocused the scope and looked closely again... there he was, hanging motionless in a inverted V with his face next to his feet, motionless.

I let out a yell "Oh my God, Ammon, Ammon". I felt a rush of nausea sweep over me and I started to shake. I looked again and still he was hanging like a sack of laundry. So I raced across the street to my van and got my cell phone and raced back to the scope saying "Oh no, oh no.. Ammon, Ammon". The other people on the bridge must have thought I had lost my mind. I checked the scope one more time and there he hung as before. So I dialed 911 and told the dispatcher what I had seen and that he appeared to be hanging unconscious from the end of his rope and they said they would send someone down. I told them to hurry. In a little while Ammon seemed to wake up and lowered himself to a ledge and laid flat on it moving his hands to his face and then just laying there. The Huber’s happened by and I told them what was going on... they looked thru the scope at him, as did Kate Rutherford, who had Ammons Cell ###. She called but no answer. I told the brothers and Kate that I had called it in and they assured me I had done the right thing and later Alex and Thomas offered to climb up to Ammon, as he was near the speed route they did on Zodiac.

In a few minutes John Dill was there and set up the big megaphone down by the river and soon he was talking with Ammon via voice and hand signals. The chopper soon flew in and all the vehicles were there and ready to go. By now Ammon was stirring about and was able to communicate... finally he was able to make it clear that he felt he was ok and didn't need to be assisted. So, after a while the decision was made to call off the rescue but keep an eye on him for a while. The chopper flew away and the trucks and YOSAR crew packed it in and I hung around for a while just to make sure Ammon was ok. I left around 5:30pm as Ammon was back up on the lead again... hardy lad, that Ammon... Anyway the incident ended with the best possible result... no rescue was needed...

Zodiac: The team of two above the solo climbed into the center of the white circle and were settling in at the nipple pitch belay for the night.. Lower down, Michael, the soloist, climbed the bolt ladder and on to the start of the Black tower pitch... when Ammon wheeled off he rapped down a pitch to get close to him but couldn't get over there...he is staying at the Black Tower ledge and will do the tower in the morning...

NA Wall: A couple of Euros are fixing and blasting tomorrow. The Timmy O'Neill haul and jugfest made it over the top today around noon... Stanley and Martina were off yesterday I think..

PO Wall .. I saw this team climb to the Island in the sky today and I think fix above it... Ivo said they will be off in two more days...

Mescalito: Mutt and Jeff topped out around 2 today and Winky went up to meet them on top... Nice work ladies...!!! Lower down I saw T2 lead the 7th and 8th pitches today and was climbing well and comfortably... signaled me via Morris code to tell his wife that he loves her!! Nice touch Tommy!!! Lower down than that, a 3 man team made Stork ledge this afternoon and fixed some higher.

New Dawn: YOSAR Charley and friend were seen on Lay Lady ledge this morning with another team that was climbing a different route nearby... both teams are going smoothly.

Nose: There are probably 3 or 4 teams of 3 people and a couple of 2 each.... so the route is getting crowded ... all the teams are doing well and everything seems fine... it is impossible to keep track of individual teams on this route in my limited time so all I can say is that everyone is going up and all seems well... Huber’s tomorrow will have their hands full getting by all these folks...

Salathe: Saw a team going over the headwall at mid-day... also another climbed to ECSpire in the afternoon... and another was crossing to Hollow flake late in the afternoon.

Golden Gate: Did see Lee and Lawrence, the Aussie shit hot free climbers, going toward lung ledge late in the day... this one should be fun to watch as they practically ran up El Nino...

 Horse Chute... did see PTPP lead the first pitch after the Dihedral cutoff at his normal 1/20th normal speed... ;)

Lurking Fear.. saw the team that was in the lead yesterday ahead of SSchneider... SS was long gone by then... the quick pass worked it appears...

In other news... another nice day with a shaky ending but all is well that ends well they say... The weather looks good for the foreseeable future and the monkeys are sending... just the way we like it.... I am kind of tired now and need to get to processing the 200 shots I took today... BTW Irving and Lisa.. they are doing fine and about 8 up now...

So... That’s the way it is on this 7th day of October 2007... stay safe and have fun....

Out of here.... Tom Evans