ElCap Report 10/07/12

ElCap Report 10/07/12
By Tom Evans

Yo…Splendid weather has produced some great climbing and photos … so stay tuned for more of the same.  Traffic at the Bridge has slacked off in the Touron department but the number of climbers is growing.  
I am running real late today as I took many shots today so I will get right to it.

Today’s ElCap Report… written just for you…unique in all the world!

Zodiac:  Alice Ng made the top late this morning to a big cheer from the monkey’s at the Bridge.  It was a sweet moment as I could see her burst into tears at the top.  We were all really pleased that she did real well and realized a dream.
1)  Alice on top!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2)  Lower down the Spanish solo climber, Luis, was close behind Alice in making the top.  He bivied at Peanut last night.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lowest down was Roger Putnam and sweetheart Robin.  Roger is one of the geologists who has put so much work into doing the map of ElCap.  He is so fast it is hard to keep the camera focused on him!  He and Robin are smoking up the route and will do it with one or two bivies.
3)  Robin cleaning the Nipple pitch, while Roger takes it easy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4)  Lost in America:  Max and Mark will top out late in the evening I think… they appeared to have no problems on the route.
Max letting out the Bags, high on the route.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mescalito:  I hear that a team is fixing down low but have yet to see them.  The Austrian team of, Gerald and Ewalt, I missed for a day or so did the Molar traverse this morning..  They must have gotten their topo from the 99 cent store!  Ewalt climbed to the pendulum point but never made any move to pendulum!  Instead he started a hook traverse out to the left.  It looked pretty sketchy and he only got a short ways before coming back up and trying hooking lower.  That didn’t work either.  So, after some time, he started hooking again stopped to consider his options.  Soon he whipped out a long cheater stick and managed to clip a random bolt in the middle of nowhere!  He eventually finished the pitch!  Don't get me wrong here... these are strong climbers, just misinformed!
5)  STICK OF THE DAY!!!!!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6)  Reticent:  Ben Doyle and Dave Allfrey spent the night below the crux pitch and let it be know that Dave would start it at 9:30am.  I was there shooting and watched as Dave cruised it in under two hours!  They were soon heading for the top and were off by 1pm.  Nice work guys!!
Dave... tapping on heavens door!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

7)  Dave and Ben bringing it on home.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

8)  New Dawn:  Two teams of two are playing bumper cars up the right side of ECT.  There have been two convicts loose in the Valley for a couple of days and I was able to spot them at the belay.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nose:  The Nose continues to be a freeway with the slow lane moving bumper to bumper.  The teams high up yesterday were lined up to climb off late today.   A new crop has sprouted and the Stovelegs were full for most of the day.
My buddy, Scott Deputy, did make a solo NIAD, topping out early this morning.  Just as night fell a piece of gear pulled on him and he wheeled off for a 100 footer.  He was almost to the ramp leading to Camp 5 and plunged past a team of two at the belay below, just missing them as he came by, inverted!  His grigri was stuck open.   He continued downward, lingering in the twilight between life and death.... the rope tangled in his legs and that flipped him upright... the grigri engaged and he was back in the world!  His grigri seems to have been jammed by his fifi and kept the device from engaging properly.  He was not tied into the end of the rope and had no back up!  He got some burns on his leg and was bruised but continued on the route.  He said the guys at the belay were horrified as he sailed by.  When I saw him this morning it looked like he had gone 10 rounds with Mike Tyson!  Pretty tough dude that Scott!
9)  Late in the afternoon a Jardine Traverse team gained Eagle as a King Swing team climbed the Boot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3D:  The woman’s team of Jen and Jackie, from yesterday, climbed to the start of the traverse where the Shield goes left and I assume they made Camp 4 this evening.
10)  One of the women at the junction.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A little higher was a guy dressed in black with a big set of bags.  He seem to be alone.  What is he doing?

Shield:  The dark party passed the roof this morning and were finishing the pitch to the Groove as I departed.  The wind was howling up there all day.

11)  Fighting the ropes at the Belay above the Roof.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The “Mike’s”, Mike Tupper and Mike Ierien, laid out a day to give the Dark party a chance to get some distance ahead.  I saw them hauling kit to Grey Ledges this afternoon.  Their colors are spectacular!!  You will see a lot of them in the next few days.

Sunkist:  The team I have been watching, thinking they were on El Corazon, are really on Sunkist.  They looked pretty cool over there until they went to all black clothing as the wind came on …yuck!
12)  Early light on Sunkist… before the blackness!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lost World.  The Steve and Pete show moved operations from the Real Nose to this route, far out west.  Cory joined them, and they moved kit until early afternoon.

Salathe/Freerider/Golden Gate:  The mob scene over there continues to confound and confuse.  The Salathe teams of the past two days passed the headwall in the afternoon and the Fin’s on Freerider passed under the Roof and out of site.  A two man party turned right a couple above the Spire and hauled kit up several pitches on Golden Gate.

In other news:  Busy, Busy today… got to go…
So that’s the way it is, for this Sunday, the 7th day of October, 2012.
Bye, Bye,
Tom

 

A HUNDRED FOOTER!

Hey Tom,

I've missed most of the reports this fall as I've been uber busy, which is unusual for lazy old me. Lovin' this report though and as always the pics are stellar. How much longer are you in the valley for this fall? Hope all is well. Take care of yourself.

Cheers,
Doug (of the Ottawa variety)

Go Alice

Awesome Job.

Whew! Scary!

Thanks again Tom. Neat angle on that boot flake shot.
I've never seen it like that before.

A Fall Like That….

Might give a guy a new lease on life….

After all, it could have been done already.

Good luck Scott and thanks for the Report Tom.

Holy hell! A hundred footer

Holy hell!

A hundred footer in those conditions...talk about freaky. Glad it came out OK and congrats to solo NIAD #11!

So awesome to see Alice top out, she had a hard start and obviously has a world of determination.

And then another top out on a very difficult route by the Ranger boys...

Great Report!

Travis

gri gri / fifi

many times while rope soloing, i have looked down to see my fifi hooked on the pivot section of my gri gri and wondered if conditions could occur where the fifi could disengage the grigri during a fall. i guess it can.
hope you're ok deputy dog. time for a silent partner ??

ian

Thanks for taking the time to

Thanks for taking the time to bring us this. Very much apreciated!

CS2

great report as always Tom..

great report as always Tom.. i'd be intersted to hear more about the jail outfits. reminds me of the base jumpers in jail outfits thing back in the day...

Congrats to Scott Deputy! Solo NIAD is super proud. and that fall sounds wild! back up knots dude! hopefully one day i can join that ever growing list..

British Chris

cool

Wow whats up with the guys in the jail outfits?

Thanks Tom for working so

Thanks Tom for working so hard to bring us the Report! Sounds like you are busy lately, but know that's appreciated!