El Cap Report 10/21/07

ElCap Report 10/21/07

 By Tom Evans

Yo... Well it doesn't get much better than today here in the Valley... sweet weather, great fall colors, good company, lots of climbers around the bridge today... and.... the weather is looking good for the foreseeable future... Today’s report is brought to you from the back of Jody's CHP car where he was holding the entire McNeeley crew for "orderly conduct". Yes, it seems the lads came down for their last load just after Jody showed up and he was so mystified my their good behavior that he arrested them, figuring they must be doing something wrong to be acting so good!! So here it is ... on one of the best days you would have ever spent in this super duper place... Today’s ECR...

Far east side... ie.. East Butt... yeah, I know ... I never report on that climb because it is not recognized as a "real" EC climb.. anyway this really nice woman, Liz Weber, was watching for her husband on this route so we looked over there from time to time to see if he was visible... as he was climbing this route at the "advanced age" of 63. Anyway, it was a horror show over there... looked like the line for the first public screening of the Paris Hilton sex tapes... some party of two was in front and just couldn't figure it out... so miles of others had to wait and wait and wait and no one was passing these guys... they are still on the route!!

On the Water Front... you know the first big Brando movie, 1953 I think... anyway I was able to extricate the Crew from the back of Jody's squad car by telling Jody there was a bear nearby smoking some illegal herb... so off he went, gun drawn, and so off they went... Mike said to send his love to his lovely wife and of course the others seconded that motion so as not to appear uncaring, in case the other women talked to her before the guys got down.... nice move guys!!

Zodiac: Well, I did talk to the guys who did the push on the route yesterday and they were a little on the tired side but reported that Deb and Chris were real nice and let them pass quickly... however that didn’t bode well for C and D as I saw them bailing from the White circle this morning and they made the ground around 3pm... another YMS guide bites the dust on the Cap...it must have been the awful colors he was wearing, because she was dressed to the nines!! Lower down Adam hoofed his last bit of stuff up and with two fixed will be blasting in the morning... lower down Gene Fischer was trying to get out of the bridge all day with his load to solo the route but couldn't escape the strong magnetic field that has formed around the bridge of late and a planned trip to Oakhurst was put off ... but he did get moving around 3:30pm toward the base after an afternoon of procrastination with the Bros here... he has enough food and water up there to feed the entire New Orleans area when the next flood strikes.. no starvation here folks...

ZM: Looked up today to find that Ted and Kevin are within striking distance of the top now and could be off tonight if they hustled up on the last pitch...

Trip: Did see the East European team climbing higher on the route today... looking very fashionable as always but staying in view on some of the pitches a tad too long... Lower down another team started the route with the regular approach.. nice bags and shirts too.. NA Wall: Who were these guys?... here one day and gone the next... down it seems...

Nose: Well, well, the plot thickens... I think, and am, pretty sure that "you know who" made an appearance on this route, his favorite, today.... guess!.... did you guess?..... this man?...... ..... Hans Florine... Yes! The great Hans himself on a quickie run up his favorite route. Or, it is his stunt double, twin brother.. they were in hot pursuit of another NIAD team that seemed able to keep a separation from the former holder of the Nose speed record... Lower down the team of three, two Swiss and an Italian, who were in crawl mode yesterday were seen going to the KS this morning and disappeared into the haze late in the afternoon.. Lower down a team of two was on the way to the king swing when I left... Lower down yet was a team of two, NZ climbers, with the coolest looking shirts... yeah for sure... I gave them the shirts!!! They were battling it out headed for Dolt Tower and will probably do the night there and get on the 4 day plan... I absolutely forbade them from bailing until at least Dolt tower where I figured they would have invested too much to bail... pretty sneaky of me ..No? Even further down in the bowels of the route itself was another team timidly venturing into the Stovelegs late in the day.... I will search the base for their remains in the morning...

Salathe: Well the team with the plan and the Stick make it to the headwall this morning and so not as to break their style managed to use the stick several times on the C1 pitches above the roof..... consistency lads... go with what works!!! Lower down I observed another team of two moving from the block to Sus Le Toit and headed toward the scene of the sticking incidents.. hardened men these, to have to see such life and death struggles so as to require the use of said implement. Lower down yet...mmmmm well.... mmmmm... can't seem to remember if anyone was there or not... Old Timers Disease I guess.

Further west... well no one has reported anyone down there on ST so I figured I would save the gas and not go down there today..

In other news.. the cafe was filled to capacity today at breakfast as the normal regulars and some of the famous types were seen hanging out including our own Chris Mac, Supertopo originator.. I hear that the AMGA folks are having some kind of meeting here this weekend so it was like old times for some folks... I just figured they were here to rescue some of their own off Zodiac... go figure... It was a stellar day down at the bridge with lots of local heroes showing up and of course Trooper Jody, who came over from the east side for the day due to the high winds over there... you know folks... make a note of this too... when you meet a lot of the Super Topo people and don't talk about religion and politics, you find that they are really good people that anyone can have something to relate to... Jody and I have the photo thing in common and we shared a bunch of information helpful to both of us.. it was a good time, even with the squad car incident... So I guess the lesson here is to forget about religion and politics and just deal with people as people and you will probably make some good friendships... you aren't going to change their views and they are not going to change yours... so why beat yourselves over the head for nothing... just find some common ground and enjoy your time here... you will be dead for a long time so don't waste your lives hating people you might otherwise have friendship with... Wow where did that wisdom come from??? Sorry if I lost it there for a moment... but nice weather and colorful fall days will do that to you...

So on that note... that's the way it is on the Big Stone and around the Great Valley on this the 21st day of October 2007...hope your days are long and warm and filled with the things that make you happy.... mine are!!!

I'm out... Tom Evans