ElCap Reports

ElCap Report 10/18 /07

 By Tom Evans

YO... Geeze the rain is gone and we had a great fall day here in the big valley.. plus the action is back on up on the Captain.. so grab your package and hang on tight because the ECR is brought to you by bailing Jesse, bailing ranger who has "duties" that keep him off the cap with SAR Charley who was ready to go... nice Jesse, bailing from the desk at the office.. so here it is ... Today’s ElCap Report...

Zodiac: Saw a team of a man and a woman climb to pitch 4 today after fixing two the other day... heard somewhere it was a husband and wife team or maybe a wife and husband team...

ZM Saw Ted and Kevin climb into the circle and were on the way out when I left... I think they did two pitches today... Trip: There are lines fixed to 4 but no on them ... however, did see a team climb to pitch 3 with a bag that looked too wrinkled to hold much more than some ropes.. nice yellow bag and a shirt to match..

Nose: A NIAD team was making pretty good time but seemed to slow down in the gray bands this afternoon and were not at the corner of the GR by 3pm, which is the cutoff time for a daylight ascent... should be a chilly upper dihedral for these lads... Lower down did see CO Kevin, of the NIAD last week with OK Tony pass a couple of people on a roped solo up to what I guess will be Eagle ledge and then down... he was moving very well and climbed to dolt in just 5 hours... Lower down was a party of two who were hauling to dolt when I left to get some of that $4.16 gasoline at El Portal Shell this afternoon... yuck...

In other news:  Talked to Miles Smart after his nose climb in threatening weather... he reported that the weather was good compared to the stuff he is use to guiding in the Alps and Alaska.. Liz, his wife had a good time on her first trip up the cap... Did talk to members of the Horse Chute party who had a Mini-epic when they rapped the LF route instead of walking around and down east ledges.. the female member said she would never do that again and was not very impressed with the route.. see report elsewhere... In other news... the weather is nice now and parties are starting up again on the Cap... so this might be your last chance before the snows of winter send you scurrying for a comforter beside the fireplace... the leaves are at their peak now so get here this weekend if you want the full fall experience here in the valley... The McNeeley Brothers and one Mike O are due to start something on the cap this weekend.. Gabe and Mike are due in tonight or tomorrow... always good to have those guys in the valley. I am hanging on here for a couple more weeks then it will be back home to SoCal for the winter... Noonan.. I am coming to Moab in Nov so clear a place on the couch... I miss my GTO's but will tough it out here just so my readers can have the up to the minute news until the first snowflake drives the climbers off the wall... So that's the way it is on this the 18th day of October 2007....BTW PTPP has retracted his rash accusations of Alex and the Salathe/monster ascent.. the truth will set you free son... Ok one more thing... the ElCap shuttle has stopped running so plan on getting your own transport to and from the Rock.. Later Tom Evans