ElCap Reports

ElCap Report 10/19/07

 By Tom Evans

Yo.... Today’s report is brought to you by the RN at the Yosemite Medical Clinic who looked at me this afternoon after I developed a fever and an abscess in my jaw... I said ... "give me the drugs" She said "Ok, that will be $232 please" I paid and left with my "unusually high fever" with instructions not to die without notifying them first... nice bedside manner!! Anyway it was a super nice day here perfect in almost every way with the exception of the smoke from that "controlled burn" they started a week or so ago... guess this one is one of those "visually controlled burns". Anyway it did make for some difficult lighting on the great stone... Here it is ... Today’s ECR..

Zodiac: Chris (YMS) and Debbie (a guide in her own right) did climb to the black tower pitch when I was forced to leave... they are moving at what one would call a "measured pace"..good luck on the BTpitch.

ZM: Ted and Kevin made two more pitches today out of the white circle and toward that long, thin, peanut feature that runs across the face at 2/3 height... Ted likes to belay in a nice red shirt and red jacket and save the black one for leading... really messes up the photos as black and white are the worst two colors one can wear for photos on the Big Stone... Ted.. talk to the Euros when they go by on the Trip... you need fashion advice... and of course Kevin is in white when he leads.... oh the Humanity!!!

Trip: Well the two guys who were on it yesterday were up on it retrieving their ropes from the top of 4 as the Euros, who fixed a few several days ago, showed up at that belay... they were dressed to the nines and as a result got a lot of attention.. another team on the "measured pace" plan.. but man they looked great!!

NA Wall: Saw a team of two fixing ropes to the top of three and leaving a bag there...

Nose: I did talk to Colorado Kevin in the cafe this morning and he was pretty pleased with his solo run up to Eagle ledge yesterday... made awfully good time for using a new system and solo too... Higher up did watch the team that Kevin passed yesterday around dolt tower go to ECT and then the boot for the King Swing.. not bad there but they were kind of poking along in the gray bands and will most likely stay at C4 tonight. Lower down there was a team of two without anything who were going to dolt tower for the exercise... moving along smartly they were too... nice with out the bags No?!!

Salathe: I saw a team at the conclusion of the monster crack and above ECspire later.. I missed them lower down yesterday and can only conclude that they went from hollow flake this morning as they were not higher on the route yesterday..

In other news... the bridge was really quiet today.... except for 20,000 vehicles and as many Tourons... all of whom expressed the most profound ignorance of the whole climbing "thing".. it was a long day for me as I was far from my usual, cheerful self... Aaaarrrrrhhhhh... the other part of the McNeeley crew made it on board this afternoon after an uneventful drive from SoCal...Ammon of course failed to recognize them, even though one of them was his brother Gabe!... something about banging his head in a recent fall!! They went off to plot the demise of another route on the cap at their hands... I was sworn to secrecy with the threat of having a digit lopped off if I breathed a word of the plans... I was afraid to ask "which digit would that be?" ...I put my hands over my ears and ran for the Van.... I don’t want to know!! More news... the Cafe has suddenly turned into a black hole that climbers are having difficulty escaping from in the morning... some are seemingly glued to their seats until noon when the staff collects them and throws them into the street.. perfect weather too... Ed, is it possible for a climber to escape a black hole or is all lost??!!!

So that's the way it is for this the 19th day of October 2007.. I'm hitting the sack Bros... Later Tom Evans